Industry organizes the provision of things that people need to live their lives, from essential items such as food and water, to luxury good like toys and chocolate. Without industry, we would have to produce everything we need ourselves. Not all industries produce goods. Service industries offer a service - washing cloths, for example - in return for money. Around the middle of the 18th century, changes took place that greatly affected the way that people lived and worked. The Industrial Revolution, as it is known, began in britan and spread to Europe and then to the United States. New machines and inventions allowed goods to be produced more quickly, and huge factories were built, leading to the rapid growth of industrial towns. People began to move from the countryside to the towns in search of work, but they often ended up living in miserable conditions.