| ca. 1765 | Hargreaves invents spinning jenny; Arkwright creates water frame |
| 1769 | Watt patents modern steam engine |
| 1775–1783 | American Revolution |
| ca. 1780–1850 | Industrial Revolution; population boom in Britain |
| 1799 | Combination Acts passed |
| 1802–1833 | Series of Factory Acts passed by British government to limit the workday of child laborers and set minimum hygiene and safety requirements |
| 1810 | Strike of Manchester cotton spinners |
| ca. 1815 | Western European countries seek to adopt British industrial methods |
| 1824 | Combination Acts repealed |
| 1829 | Stephenson introduces the Rocket, an early locomotive |
| 1830s | Industrial banks in Belgium |
| 1834 | Zollverein erected among most German states |
| 1842 | Mines Act passed in Britain |
| 1844 | Engels publishes The Condition of the Working Class in England |
| 1850s | Japan begins to adopt Western technologies; industrial gap widens between the West and the rest of the world |
| 1851 | Great Exhibition held at Crystal Palace in London |
| 1860s | Germany and the United States begin to rapidly industrialize |