From the first steam engines to the factory system, the Industrial Revolution transformed Britain and then the world, replacing hand production with machine manufacturing.
Thomas Newcomen builds the first practical steam engine, used to pump water from coal mines — the technology that will power the Industrial Revolution.
Watt's separate condenser makes steam power four times more efficient, enabling its use in factories and eventually transportation.
Richard Arkwright's water-powered cotton mill establishes the factory system — workers labor under one roof on a schedule rather than at home.
Smith's foundational work of economics argues for free markets and the division of labor, providing capitalism's intellectual framework.
Textile workers smash machinery they blame for unemployment and declining wages — the first organized resistance to industrialization.
The Stockton and Darlington Railway, using George Stephenson's locomotives, inaugurates the railway age that will transform transportation worldwide.
The Slavery Abolition Act frees 800,000 enslaved people across the British Empire, though former slaveholders receive £20 million in compensation.
Growing awareness of appalling working conditions leads to legislation banning women and children under 10 from working in mines.
The most influential political pamphlet in history declares that 'the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.'
London's Crystal Palace showcases the products of industrial civilization to six million visitors — Britain's industrial triumph on display.
Henry Bessemer's converter makes steel cheap and abundant, enabling railways, bridges, skyscrapers, and warships.
Marx's systematic analysis of capitalism argues that exploitation is inherent in the wage-labor system and predicts capitalism's eventual collapse.