eli5: why wasn’t there an Industrial Revolution at an earlier point in time?

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Was it a lack of manpower? Was it geographic circumstances? Why couldn’t civilizations like, say, Babylon or Rome have an Industrial Revolution?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

No one here is mentioning the increased use of coal. Fossil fuels and steam power is what made the industrial revolution possible. Coal allowed steel to be refined at scale. It powered the looms that made fabric cheap. That is the key difference.

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