It is well argued by a number of historians that the industrial revolution didn't begin in Europe - it began in Britain. The distinction may be important. Britain's ecology, coal availability, legal framework, parliamentary political system, but also its global position (slave sugar factories in the Caribbean, not least) put it in a unique position. Most of continental Europe was not in this position. Thus Britain, and not "Europe", is the right scope for looking at the origins of the industrial revolution.