At the turn of the century, Manchester's precocious economic growth slowed down alarmingly, stalled by the 1890s depression and growing competition from the textiles of the USA and Europe. Rather than modernise, however, Manchester's mill owners focused on the seemingly boundless markets of the British Empire, ultimately leading to the industry's final decay in the mid-20th century. Manchester was badly damaged during WWII and sustained further economic battering in the postwar decline in manufacturing.
Despite the atrophied state of the manufacturing industries and the rise in unemployment, Manchester remained an important financial centre with a thriving cultural life, though this was hardly reflected in the city's appearance. Then, capping off a decidedly average century, in 1996 the IRA blew up most of the commercial centre around the Royal Exchange and the Arndale Centre in the worst ever explosion on the British mainland. Miraculously no one was killed.
Manchester is synonymous with the Industrial Revolution, but it's been around much longer than spinning mules and jennies. Mancunium was an important town in Roman times, emerging from the fort established by General Agricola in AD 79 along the famous Watling St that linked London with Chester and the north.
Little is known about Manchester's medieval history, partly because the city records went up in smoke during London's Great Fire of 1666. Flemish weavers of wool and linen settled the area in the 14th century, establishing a textiles tradition that left the small town perfectly poised to exploit the arrival of cotton from the American colonies in the 18th century. With its canal transportation, accessible supplies of coal and water, and culture of enterprise and innovation (exemplified by Richard Arkwright's steam-powered spinning frame), Manchester became the burgeoning hub of the new textile industry and, in effect, of the Industrial Revolution.
The cotton mills attracted a flood of workers to the city: the population exploded from 17,000 in 1750 to 70,400 in 1800 and 300,000 in 1835. Living and working conditions were horrendous, and Manchester became a hotbed of radicalism. Friction between the authorities and the disenfranchised 'mob' came to a tragic head in St Peter's Field in 1819, when a popular assembly of 60,000 people rallied to the cause of parliamentary reform, free trade and opposition to the price-inflating Corn Laws. Seriously misjudging the situation, the authorities ordered mounted troops to charge through the crowds with their sabres drawn, resulting in the deaths of 11 people and the maiming of 400. The event went down in history as 'Peterloo', the poor man's Waterloo.
With the spilling of blood, the call for reform became a viable popular movement, reflected in the establishment of the reformist Manchester Guardian in 1821, precursor of today's Guardian newspaper. The 1832 Reform Act and Chartist movement were also born at Peterloo. Matters hadn't improved much by the 1840s, however, when a 23-year-old German visitor named Friedrich Engels visited the city, offering this description of working-class Manchester: 'If any one wishes to see in how little space a human being can move, how little air - and such air! - he can breathe, how little of civilisation he may share and yet live, it is only necessary to travel hither'. Engels went on to draw upon his experiences in the city when discussing the evils of capitalism with Karl Marx in the Communist Manifesto.
The benefits and evils of rapid industrial development are still visible in the face of Manchester today, with grand public buildings standing in opposition to the serried ranks of cramped terrace housing and the 'dark satanic mills' of industry. Two positive outcomes were the development of the first passenger railway, connecting Manchester with Liverpool in 1830, and the creation of the Manchester Ship Canal in 1894, bringing ocean-going vessels direct to the city and removing dependence on Liverpool as the city's entry to the Atlantic.
A frenzy of revamping followed the bombing. The city's industrial heritage has translated into prime real estate - just add varnished floorboards and a visit to Ikea, and you've got warehouse apartment heaven. The building spree turned to outdoors sporting venues when Manchester hosted the 2002 Commonwealth games. The games were a great success and a fitting tribute to a city intent on mounting its own feisty urban comeback.
