The Second Industrial Revolution (from 1850 onwards)

• The demand of the railroads for more durable rail led to the development of the means to cheaply mass-produce steel

• The "second" Industrial Revolution gradually grew to include the chemical industries, petroleum refining and distribution

• The increasing availability of economic petroleum products reduced the importance of coal

• The importance of coal was further reduced by the introduction of hydroelectric power generation

• In the twentieth century, the automotive industries developed (following the invention of the internal combustion engine)

• By the 1890s, the first giant industrial corporations with nearly global international operations and interests emerged: U.S. Steel, General Electric, Bayer AG

• A transition of technological leadership from Great Britain to the United States and Germany began

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