Most important factor in the Industrial Revolution

Which industries' innovations were most important to the Industrial Revolution?

  • Textiles

    Votes: 7 28.0%
  • The Steam Engine

    Votes: 13 52.0%
  • Iron

    Votes: 5 20.0%

  • Total voters
    25
Just to go by wikipedia, there were three areas in which innovations were most important in triggering the industrial revolution: the textile industry, the development of the steam engine, and metallurgy.

Of these three industries and the innovations which vastly changed them, which would you say had the biggest effect in triggering the Industrial Revolution?

ETA: In the above poll, metallurgy is probably a better word than iron.
 
Just to go by wikipedia, there were three areas in which innovations were most important in triggering the industrial revolution: the textile industry, the development of the steam engine, and the iron industry.

Of these three industries and the innovations which vastly changed them, which would you say had the biggest effect in triggering the Industrial Revolution?

My first guess, access to easily obtainable coal deposits.

My second guess, access to capital to build large factories and mines.

I'm sure that there are a multitude of others,..these two just off the top of my head.
Joho :)
 
Not the steam engine, that did not start to make an impact until the Industrial Revolution was well under way.

Textiles are a good choice, the first factories were textile factories (using water wheels).

Metallurgy was a factor, but again, perhaps not the first or the most important one. Weren't the first textile-related machines on those factories made of wood?

So out of the three given choices, I will go with textiles.
 

MAlexMatt

Banned
I don't think you can really say what is 'most important'. The Industrial Revolution was a perfect storm of many factors coming together at exactly the right time in exactly the right place.
 
Metallurgy was a factor, but again, perhaps not the first or the most important one. Weren't the first textile-related machines on those factories made of wood?
True, but you do need some of the metallurgy before you can have the steam...
 
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