# Why did the industrial revolution happen? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 28, 2007, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-industrial-revolution-happen/431484 "2007-12-28T16:59:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2008, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-industrial-revolution-happen/431484/41 "2008-01-06T11:58:33Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] It happened here 'cos we are the bestest…ever 😃 [/QUOTE] I’m just amazed that it happened in the North instead of the intelligent part of England. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2008, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-industrial-revolution-happen/431484/42 "2008-01-06T13:26:42Z")
Aye, there’s allus been that debate, intelligent and poor, or ‘stupid’ ‘n’ rich. So get back to your little expensive crowded house and live on Motorway Roundabouts like the M25, whilst we get on with raking it in our 2 bedroom back to back mansions. tuppeny millionaires is us. I suppose us stupid folk’ll be sending you red cross water ration packs when the next drought somes by, or maybe canoes when the Thames barrier proves to be too little. Naaa thin, whurs me Whippet ? ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-industrial-revolution-happen/431484/43 "2008-01-06T16:56:55Z")
Not sending, “selling” As is well known, “where there’s muck, there’s brass, innit?” 'ecky thump ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2008, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-industrial-revolution-happen/431484/44 "2008-01-06T18:26:31Z")
[QUOTE=casdave] Aye, there’s allus been that debate, intelligent and poor, or ‘stupid’ ‘n’ rich. So get back to your little expensive crowded house and live on Motorway Roundabouts like the M25, whilst we get on with raking it in our 2 bedroom back to back mansions. tuppeny millionaires is us. I suppose us stupid folk’ll be sending you red cross water ration packs when the next drought somes by, or maybe canoes when the Thames barrier proves to be too little. Naaa thin, whurs me Whippet ? [/QUOTE] Actually i was winding up **chowder** but as long as we’re chatting could you send me some toothpaste in my next red cross parcel? ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2008, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-industrial-revolution-happen/431484/45 "2008-01-06T18:30:19Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] Not sending, “selling” As is well known, “where there’s muck, there’s brass, innit?” 'ecky thump [/QUOTE] Dont you dare menace me with your cloth cap damn you…and lets just go easy before we think about lifting that arm holding the Mushy peas,you dont scare me matey! ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2008, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-industrial-revolution-happen/431484/46 "2008-01-06T19:57:30Z")
[QUOTE=Lust4Life] Actually i was winding up **chowder** but as long as we’re chatting could you send me some toothpaste in my next red cross parcel? [/QUOTE] Sterodent be OK? Anymore of your lip you southern pansy and I’ll belt you one with my pullover knitted with week old tripe and cow heel. Mushy peas are for those what 'ave money Nah thin laddies, 'ave yer seen me ferret, 'ees bin missing fer 2 days ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2008, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-industrial-revolution-happen/431484/47 "2008-01-06T23:03:26Z")
> [@](#): > > Why did the industrial revolution happen? It **didn’t! MAN**! It was all done on a **sound stage** , with **Special Effects**! **MAN!** It was done by **The Man™**! **MAN!** 😃 ---
**Author:** ![milkshake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@milkshake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milkshake)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-industrial-revolution-happen/431484/48 "2008-01-07T17:04:22Z")
[QUOTE=APB] Quite apart from the fact it might be thought that by the time he and Bell came on the scene, the ‘Industrial Revolution’ had already happened, Maxwell was the only one of those four to attend a Scottish university. It is true that Watt was the instrument maker to Glasgow University. But he had never been a student there. Like Macadam, he never went to university. Just indeed like Richard Arkwright, Matthew Boulton, Samuel Crompton, Abraham Darby, James Hargreaves, George Stephenson, Thomas Telford and Richard Trevithick. The key figures, whether in Scotland or England, tended not to have university educations. [/QUOTE] Stephenson was a son of a poor coal miner. He was a tinkerer - he had a natural gift for technical gizmos and grew up just when first massive and inefficient steam engines saw their use in mining industry. He first astounded everybody at the Newcastle mine when as a boy with no engineering degree had the guts and ingenuity to repair a giant steam-powered water pump. Eventually he got sponsors. Whats even more astounding is that he could work his way up based on merit, from the lowest of working class to a rich industrialist. ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-industrial-revolution-happen/431484/49 "2008-01-07T17:22:50Z")
I would highly recommend reading [The Birth of Plenty](http://www.amazon.com/Birth-Plenty-Prosperity-Modern-Created/dp/0071421920/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199725766&sr=8-1) by William Berstein. I found it to be the perfect companion to Guns, Germs, and Steel to better understand the macro processes over the course of millenia that have brought the world to where we are today. The book puts forth the theory that the economic revolution of England circa 1820 was the result of four factors coming together: [ul][li]individual property rights, [_]scientific rationalism, [_]a robust capital markets system, and [\*]modern transportation and communication[/ul][/li] It provides a logical contex (with counter-examples) of what is necessary for a society to be “wealthy” – the four factors above. The Industrial Revolution in England is where and when the four factors came together in a sustainable manner. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-industrial-revolution-happen/431484/50 "2008-01-10T13:37:02Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] Sterodent be OK? Anymore of your lip you southern pansy and I’ll belt you one with my pullover knitted with week old tripe and cow heel. Mushy peas are for those what 'ave money Nah thin laddies, 'ave yer seen me ferret, 'ees bin missing fer 2 days [/QUOTE] Just because I wear dresses at W/es and have seen Spurs play at home IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT I AM GAY ! ALRIGHT? ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-industrial-revolution-happen/431484/51 "2008-01-10T13:44:08Z")
Methinks the “lady” doth protest to loud [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-the-industrial-revolution-happen/431484.md?page=2)