The industrial revolution

The industrial revolution started to develop in the end of the 18th century and goes together with the urbanization of the cities; it's essence is the substitution of the competition for the mediaeval regulations which had previously controlled the production and distribution of wealth. It is a process according to which competition became the ultimate goal. The historical process led to the growth of two system of thoughts: economic science (lather known as liberalism) and socialism. The Economic Science in England was led by four economists: The first is Adam Smith who wrote in 1776 "Wealth of Nations" and investigated about the causes of wealth, second is  Malthus, with his "Essay on Population" 1798 he directed his inquires to the causes of poverty; the third important economist was Ricard and his "Principles of Political Economy and Taxation" written in 1817 in which he resources the laws of the distribution of wealth, the last one is John Stuart Mill who wrote "Principles of Political Economy" in 1848 and tried to determinate how wealth ought to be distributed. Looking about the most important facts of industrial revolution the first interesting thing is the growth of population and the decline of agricultural population. 
The agrarian revolution and the revolution in manufacturing industries have  a relevant role in the industrial change. 
The three changes that made the rural population decrease were: the destruction of the common-field system of cultivating (in which the fields were divided into many narrow strips of land), the enclosures (which compelled the labourers to abandon the land)   and the consolidation of small farms into large (which reduced the number of farmers). Therefore the three facts caused an improvement of the agriculture: there were introduced different breeds of cattle, there were the rotation of the crops, was invented the steam-plough and were instituted agricultural societies. 
Also in the manufacture industry there are relevant facts to single out, four great invention revolutionised  the manufactures: the spinning-jenny (Hargreaves in 1770), the water-frame (Arkwright in 1778), the mule (Crompton 1779) and self-acting mule (Kelly in 1792). Just with others two engine the world of the manufacture will later be revolutionised, those are the steam-engine and the another one for the cotton-mill. The last invention was the power-loom, this engine raised the salary of weavers, in just few years the the cotton trade trebled itself (this was a "golden age" for the production of cotton).
Anotehr field that was involved in the revolution was the iron industry, it was revolutionised by the introduction of the smelting  of pit-coal and by the application of the steam-engine in the furnaces. 
The last field involved was the means of communication: the canal system developed, roads were improved and was invented the railroad (the first one in 1830); the improvement of the communication cause an increase in commerce and on the other side the recurrent of periods of over-production and of depression. 
Another relevant fact is the enormous rise of rents, due to the investments of money in improvements, to the enclosure system, the consolidation of large farms and the high price of corn. This led to a change of the positions of classes; the farmers started to became distant from labourers, they took little or no part personally in their factories and the old relationship between masters and men disappeared. Between workers and farmers there was just a "cash nexus", their tie was made by money, and produced class conflict. The poverty of working people was due to the fall of wages, from the suffering for the labour condition, from the rase of prices and form the fluctuation of the trade which had exposed them to period of bitter misery.
As Adam Smith assume, the wealth of the nations does not mean the welfare of man.