Carlyle, like many people of his time period, saw the problems created by the explosion of unregulated industrialism in England. England was the first country to experience full scale industrialization, which helped make it the most powerful country in the world, but also created a host of problems because workers were exploited and abused without adequate laws to protect them. Karl Marx predicted a revolution. Carlyle saw the grimmer aspects of industrialism, but rather than support workers' movements, thought the problems could be solved if the factory owners would step to the plate and take responsibility for their workers rather than just raking in profits. Carlyle was a bit of a Romantic and urged the captains of industry, as he called them, to act like medieval lords and fighters, forging better relations with the working classes and replacing the landed aristocracy as leaders of the nation. Carlyle despised the aristocracy as idle and useless and didn't think government could solve the problems posed by industrialism, so he relied on those in the "middle," the industrialists, to lead the building of a more humane and equitable society.