Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain around 1760 and had spread to continental Europe and the United States by about 1840. It is sometimes called the First Industrial Revolution in contrast to the later Second Industrial Revolution, whose rapid growth resumed after 1870.
The Industrial Revolution started in Great Britain, which by the mid-18th century was the leading commercial nation with GDP per capita considerably over the world average. High agricultural productivity, abundant coal, iron, and water power, skilled entrepreneurs, good transport, political stability, and access to capital all enabled its industrialisation.
Key inventions included James Hargreaves's spinning jenny of 1764, Richard Arkwright's water frame patented in 1769, Samuel Crompton's spinning mule of 1779, and Edmund Cartwright's power loom patented in 1785. James Watt's improved steam engine, perfected by 1778, and John Wilkinson's cylinder boring machine of 1774 were also central.
Most textile factory workers were unmarried women and children, including orphans, working 12 to 14 hours with only Sundays off. Many moved into overcrowded city slums where cholera and typhoid were endemic, average height declined as nutrition fell, and British wages are estimated to have risen only 15 percent between the 1780s and 1850s.
The textile industry was the first to use modern production methods and became dominant in employment, value of output, and capital invested. British raw cotton consumption rose from 2.5 million pounds in 1750 to 588 million pounds in 1850, and mechanised cotton spinning raised output per worker by a factor of around 500.
The Industrial Revolution built turnpike roads, canals, and railways that moved goods faster and cheaper. The Bridgewater Canal opened in 1761 and halved Manchester's coal price within a year, while the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the first inter-city railway in the world, opened on the 15th of September 1830.