The Industrial Revolution occurred from about 1770 to 1850 (depending on which historian you ask). The Industrial Revolution is so named for the changes to industry that occurred during that time, most notably the change from handmade production to machinery-based production. The Industrial Revolution began in England in the later decades of the eighteenth century and rapidly spread to Europe, the United States, and around the world.

As a result of the Industrial Revolution, European societies in particular shifted toward capitalism and away from agricultural/rural economies.

Socialism developed as a reaction to industrialization, so the answer choice "The transition from capitalist to socialist economies" is incorrect.

The answer choice "The transition from engine-powered to wind-powered naval vessels" is incorrect because the transition went in the opposite direction.

Finally, the answer choice "A decline of women in the workforce" is incorrect because the Industrial Revolution actually led to an increase of women in the workforce, who were often employed as factory workers.

George Stephenson built the world’s first inter-city railway line. The steam locomotive line was built between two major cities of industrial power in early Victorian-era England, Manchester and Liverpool. Robert Fulton is the person credited with inventing the steamboat; James Watt is credited with the invention of the steam engine, and Robert Peel and William Pitt were Prime Ministers of England.

The steamboat was invented by Robert Fulton at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Fulton's steamboat was fashioned using the steam engine, which had recently been invented by James Watt. Eli Whitney is the man who invented the cotton gin and in so doing revolutionized the economy of the Antebellum South. His invention encouraged the use of slave labor and had lasting ramifications for the social, economic, and political makeup of the United States. William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli were rival politicians in Britain during the Industrial Revolution who each served as Prime Minister.

Karl Marx, along with Frederick Engels, wrote The Communist Manifesto, which was published in 1848. For many centuries, some communities had experimented with communal living, but it was not until Marx and Engels published their seminal work that communism and socialism had distinct definition. Karl Marx called the middle class the bourgeoisie and the working class the proletariat.