From: jtem01@gmail.com   
      
    SolomonW wrote:   
      
   > They had major shortages in wood so little coke. No gunpower makes coal   
   > mines much more expensive. Limited chimmeys so little domestic demand for   
   > coal.   
      
   I've said it before and I'll say it again:  The industrial   
   revolution began with WATER POWER, not steam, not coal.   
      
   Gunpowder was never that important. Look at China. They had   
   the gunpowder long before Europe but still no industrial   
   revolution. No, what was missing in China was not technology   
   it was the social environment. Where gunpowder may have come   
   into play in Europe was the gun.   
      
   Think of it:  Instead of a handful of artillery pieces they   
   needed thousands of guns to arm the troops. And immediately   
   they would have experienced issues with reliability /   
   interchangeability because, without industrialization, they   
   depended entirely on the skills of the individual craftsman   
   with standardization a pipe dream.  And the technology kept   
   changing, kept improving so they had to replace all those   
   guns way too often, starting the whole painful ordeal all   
   over again...   
      
   So, gunpowder may have assisted greatly in the industrial   
   revolution but indirectly, assuming it did at all.   
      
      
      
      
      
      
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   http://jtem.tumblr.com/post/180404329073   
      
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