Why Did the World Change? The Causes of the Industrial Revolution

Imagine you could travel back to Britain in 1750. There are no factories, no railways, and almost no machines. Most people work on farms or in small workshops using hand tools. Now jump forward just 100 years to 1850. Cities are smoky and enormous. Millions of people work in factories. Steam engines pull trains across the country. The whole world has been reshaped. Here is your puzzle: nothing this big happens by accident. A whole cluster of changes had to come together at exactly the right moment. Before you read on, think about what conditions might need to exist before a society can industrialise. Jot down one or two ideas.