[jemmyw]

I think this link has been posted before. The conditions for using coal for steam power were pretty unique. They were using it in larger amounts for heating, it was plentiful and easily accessible, but getting slightly harder. The fuel was right at the location where they needed to move things and pump water, so it didn't matter that the first machines were wildly inefficient. And then iteration upon iteration. It must have been an exciting time for those seeing the changes happen, although it wasn't fast by our standards today.

The Roman Empire didn't have this confluence of circumstances. The question is, was the IR inevitable?

[spacebanana7]

Social scientists would say the IR was inevitable given the political institutions of Britain at the time. Military people might say similar from naval strength; the geopolitically inclined might argue it from geography/politics. Technologists lean on utility and feasibility of coal.

I think all of these arguments have merit. The IR couldn’t have happened in a desert country or one defeated by foreign conquerors or one with ancient Egyptian political institutions.