The spark that ignited a global transformation: How textiles, iron, and steam remade Britain.

In Part 1 of "Smoke, Steam, and Cities: How the Industrial Revolution Remade Life," we journey back to mid-18th century Britain, where a series of groundbreaking inventions began to turn raw materials into unprecedented wealth and reshape daily existence.

Discover the "innovation cascade" in textiles, from John Kay's flying shuttle to Richard Arkwright's water frame, which birthed the first true fa...