Industrial Revolution (1760-1840)

The Industrial Revolution transformed Britain and the world from agrarian to industrial capitalist economies within a century, mechanizing textile production and powering transport via railways and steamships. It created the modern urban working class and generated wealth at a scale previously unimaginable: between 1760 and 1840, Britain's coal output increased by over 600%, fueling a shift that the French Revolution (#1) could not achieve—permanent economic restructuring. Its environmental consequences, starting with a 20-fold increase in CO2 emissions by 1900, remain the dominant issue of the 21st century. This revolution is faster than the average social upheaval in altering daily life, as it reshaped 90% of the workforce within two generations, a pace that the Russian Revolution (#4) took 70 years to influence globally.