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Could Great Britain have built the British Empire if it was not the pioneer of the Industrial Revolution?
Put another way: Was the Industrial Revolution the single key over-riding factor to its superpower status in the 19th century? If so, who should get more credit - engineers or soldiers or businessmen or politicians or even bankers?
Besides Britain there were other colonial powers with great empires, Spain and France. They had similar number of colonial possessions. Spain had nearly entire South and Central America, while France had most of Africa.
It was much later (after WWII) when France lost most of its possessions in Africa, although in North America they lost their possessions to Britain much earlier (the result of the Franco-British war was determined mostly by other factors, and not directly connected to the industrial revolution).
Spain lost the possessions because of independence movements in the 19th century.
You may also consider Russia who also conquered large areas of Central and North Asia and America starting in 17th century while not being an industrial pioneer.
To credit the success the British Empire to a specific group of professionals isn't going to work. This was Britain's Golden Age.
To begin with, the independent countries of England and Scotland had successfully unified to create a more economically stable country. Also, being an island gave Britain a crucial vantage point over the rest of the European countries in a time which was vastly becoming reliant on naval forces as a means of power.
The above, combined with great inventors such as John Harrison and Richard Trevithick added to their advantage.
My conclusion is that it was a combination of good politics, revolutionary thinkers and hard workers. The position of Britain itself, of course, is a big factor. Very comparable to Rome's position within the Mediterranean and its internal politics which allowed it to expand rapidly.
