There were several reasons why the Industrial Revolution started in Great Britain rather than in France, the other great powers of the day. In the first place, Britain had the money necessary to finance the larger enterprises. England’s supremacy on the seas had encouraged commerce and Englishmen had been amassing wealth through there commerce and industry. The newly rich class in that country was not the aristocratic group, but merchants and businessmen who were willing to devote themselves to industry and scientific agriculture. The wealth of France, on the other hand, was largely in the hands of the nobility, and they were not willing to do the necessary work to develop industry. In the second place, Great Britain had undertaken very early the manufacturing of inexpensive and more practical products for which there would be ever-growing demand from the people, especially the new middle class. On the other hand, France produced articles in the luxury class. These could never be turned out in quantities because they demanded individuality. England was the producer of goods that were produced in quantities, and if she could find a cheaper means of producing them, her markets would grow. So she was ready for methods that would make it possible to manufacture in large quantities. In the third place, for a long time England had large-numbers of semiskilled workers. When the feudal system broke down in England and the manors were turned to sheep raising, numbers of Englishmen went to the towns. There they engaged in weaving, making shows, wood carving and many other occupations that developed skills. When the industrial revolution began, these men were available for the work on the new machines. Moreover they were free men who could move from place to place as the need for workers arose. This had not been the case in France, which was still chiefly an agricultural country with peasants bound to their masters in many ways so they could not easily move to the cities. In the fourth place, coal was abundant in Great Britain, and a large amount of this cheap fuel was necessary for running the factories. There was coal in northern France, too, but France was late in tapping such resources because really everyone depended directly or indirectly on farming for his living.