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Ernest Gellner suggested that a multi-factor—indeed, a 15-factor—model was necessary to explain the Industrial Revolution. Most economic historians prefer a much simpler economistic theory while adding ritual genuflections to the role of ‘culture’ and ‘institutions’. I here offer a solution between these extremes amounting to a quadrilateral theory—of ideological, economic, military and political power sources—plus the timeliness of Nature. I try to identify the logic of development of each power source and the interactions or ‘conjunctures’ between them whereby developmental trends were either reinforced or undermined by the other power sources or by Nature. The industrial revolution occurred where logics of development were piled on top of each other, as they were initially in the Netherlands and more consistently in Britain. It did not occur where they worked against each other, as in the rest of Europe.
