"Industrial revolution, a rapid development in industry; spec.
(freq. with capital initials) the development which took place
in England in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries, chiefly owing to the introduction of new or improved
machinery and large-scale production methods. [Oxford English
Dictionary (OED)] Industrial revolution the vast social and
economic changes that resulted from the development of steam-
powered machinery and mass-production methods, beginning in the
late eighteenth century in Great Britain and extending through
the nineteenth century elsewhere in the world. [Academic Press
Dictionary of Science and Technology] "The Industrial Revolution
is not simply an acceleration of economic growth, but an
acceleration of growth because of, and through, economic and
social transformation." [Hobsawm, 12] What were the necessary
conditions — educational, social, political, economical, and
technological — for a radically new ways of production and
distribution to arise and then flourish?