The geopolitical situation in the 1800s and even the first half of the 1900s was much more volatile than today. Yet, industrialization caused massive changes. In fact that was a big part of the feedbackloop for the political instability. Neverless it certainly wasn't an impediment to innovation and sometime even spurred it (via war funding). I just don't buy that peace and social stability enables progress, I'd argue the very opposite.