List of modern great powers
A great power is a nation, state or empire that, through its economic, political and military strength, is able to exert power and influence not only over its own region of the world, but beyond to others. A great power typically possesses military, economic, and diplomatic strength that it can wield to influence the actions of middle or small powers.
In a modern context, recognized great powers first arose in Europe during the post-Napoleonic era. The formalization of the division between small powers and great powers came about with the signing of the Treaty of Chaumont in 1814.
The historical terms "Great Nation", a distinguished aggregate of people inhabiting a particular country or territory, and "Great Empire", a considerable group of states or countries under a single supreme authority, are colloquial; their use is seen in ordinary historical conversations.
The internationally recognized great powers today are China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, with India being the most likely country to become a great power in the near future.
Early modern great powers
France (1214–)
France has been one of the leading powers in Europe and the world, since the breakup of the Carolingian Empire and the emergence of West Francia, its predecessor state, although its power was only truly consolidated from 1214 onwards with its victory in the Anglo-French War. Over the 14th century, French kings would focus on bringing more of the kingdom's lands under their direct control, as France emerged as the most populous region in Europe by 1340. After the discovery of the New World, France became a dominant empire possessing many colonies in various locations around the world. Still participating in his deadly Italian conflicts, Francis I of France managed to finance expeditions to find trade routes to China or Cathay through landmass already discovered by the Spanish under Giovanni da Verrazzano. Giovanni would lead the first French discovery of the "New World" just north of the Spanish invasions of Mesoamerica later as New Spain and a decade later Jacques Cartier would firmly colonize the landmass in the name of Francis I. This New World colony would become New France, the first colony of the Kingdom of France. In the 1500s, France was still the most populous country in Europe, and would remain so until the mid-19th to late 19th century. During the reign of Louis XIV, the Sun King, from 1643 to 1715, France was the leading European power as Europe's richest and most powerful country. The dominance of France over world affairs extended to most foreign European courts speaking French, including other great powers of the time such as England, Sweden, and Russia.From the 16th to the 17th centuries, the first French colonial empire stretched over a total area, at its peak in 1680, of up to, the second-largest empire in the world at the time behind only the Spanish Empire. It had many possessions around the world, mainly in the Americas, Asia and Africa. France kept some of these possessions to this day, integrating them into its territory, like La Réunion. At its peak in 1750, French India had an area of and a totaled population of 30 million people, making it the most populous colony under French rule.
At the onset of the French Revolutionary Wars, early French victories exported many ideological features of the French Revolution throughout Europe. Napoleon gained support by appealing to some common concerns of the people. In France, these included fear by some of a restoration of the ancien régime, a dislike of the Bourbons and the emigrant nobility who had escaped the country, a suspicion of foreign kings who had tried to reverse the Revolution – and a wish by Jacobins to extend France's revolutionary ideals.
Napoleon became Emperor of the French on 18 May 1804 and crowned Emperor on 2 December 1804, ending the period of the French Consulate, and won early military victories in the Napoleonic Wars against most European allied nations, notably at the Battle of Austerlitz and the Battle of Friedland. Subsequent years of military victories extended French influence over much of Western Europe and into Poland. At its height in 1812, the French Empire had 134 départements, ruled over 90 million subjects, maintained extensive military presence in Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Duchy of Warsaw, and could count Prussia, Russia and Austria as nominal allies. The First French Empire, otherwise known as the Napoleonic Empire, was also the dominant power of much of continental Europe, and ruled over 90 million people at its height. It was the preeminent power in Europe, if not the world, as Britain was its only rival during the early 19th century, the two countries battling for supremacy over the world, with France dominating on land and Britain on the sea.
The feudal system was abolished, aristocratic privileges were eliminated in all places except Poland, and the introduction of the Napoleonic Code throughout the continent increased legal equality, established jury systems, and legalized divorce. Napoleon placed his relatives on European thrones and granted many titles, most of which expired with the fall of the Empire. Napoleon and South India Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan wished to make an alliance, having provided Mysore with French volunteers during the Anglo-Mysore Wars, with the continuous aim of having an eventual open way to attack the British in India.
Historians have estimated the death toll from the Napoleonic Wars to be around 5 million people, or 15% of the French Empire's subjects. After Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia, the continental powers joined Russia, Britain, Portugal and the rebels in Spain. The War of the Sixth Coalition, a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Spain and a number of German states finally defeated France and drove Napoleon into exile on Elba. When he returned, the coalition invaded France again, forcing Napoleon to abdicate and thus leading to the restoration of Bourbon rule.
England and United Kingdom (1588–)
At the end of the 16th century, having secured its position as a strong naval power, England began to challenge the Portuguese Empire's monopoly of trade with Asia, forming private joint-stock companies to finance the voyages: most notably the English, later British, East India Company, chartered in 1600. The primary aim of these companies was to tap into the lucrative spice trade, an effort focused mainly on two regions: the East Indies archipelago, and India. There, England competed for trade supremacy with Portugal and the Netherlands. Although England eventually eclipsed both countries as a colonial power, in the short term the three Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century left the Netherlands with a stronger position in Asia. Hostilities ceased when, in 1688, the Dutch William of Orange invaded and ascended to the English throne in what is known as the Glorious Revolution – bringing peace between the Dutch Republic and England. A deal between the two nations left the spice trade of the East Indies archipelago to the Netherlands and trade with the textiles industry of India to England, but textiles soon overtook spices in terms of profitability.During the 16th to 18th centuries, British colonies were created along the east coast of North America. The southern colonies had a plantation economy, made possible by slavery, which produced tobacco and cotton. This cotton was especially important in the development of British textile towns and the rise of the world's first Industrial Revolution in Britain by the end of the 18th century. The northern colonies provided timber, ships, furs, and whale oil for lamps; allowing work to be done at times of the day without natural light. All of these colonies served as important captive markets for British finished goods and trade goods including British textiles, Indian tea, West Indian coffee, and other items.
The British Empire participated officially in the Seven Years' War from 1756, a war described by some historians as the world's first World War. The British had hoped winning the war against its colonial rival France would improve the defensibility of its important American colonies, where tensions from settlers eager to move west of the Appalachian Mountains had been a substantive issue. The new British-Prussian alliance was successful in forcing France to cede Canada to Britain, and Louisiana to Spain, thus ostensibly securing British North America from external threats as intended. The war also allowed Britain to capture the proto-industrialised Bengal from the French-allied Mughal Empire, then Britain's largest competitor in the textile trade, it was also able to flip Hyderabad from the Mughals to its cause, and capture the bulk of French territorial possessions in India, effectively shutting them out of the sub-continent. Importantly, the war also saw Britain becoming the dominant global naval power.
Regardless of its successes in the Seven Years' War, the British government was left close to bankruptcy, and in response it raised taxes considerably in order to pay its debts. Britain was also faced with the delicate task of pacifying its new French-Canadian subjects, as well as the many American Indian tribes who had supported France, without provoking a new war with France. In 1763, Pontiac's War broke out as a group of Indian tribes in the Great Lakes region and the Northwest were unhappy with the loss of congenial and friendly relations with the French and complained about being cheated by the new British monopoly on trade. Moreover, the Native Americans feared that British rule would lead to white settlers displacing them from their land, whereas it was known that the French had only come as fur traders, and indeed this had been the original source of animosity on the part of British settlers with France and part of the reason the war had started in the first place. Pontiac's War was going very badly for the British, and it was only with their victory at the Battle of Bushy Run that a complete collapse of British power in the Great Lakes region was avoided.
In response, King George III issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which forbade white settlement beyond the crest of the Appalachians, with the hope of appeasing the Indians and preventing further insurrection, but this led to considerable outrage in the Thirteen Colonies, whose inhabitants were eager to acquire native lands. The Quebec Act of 1774, similarly intended to win over the loyalty of French Canadians, also spurred resentment among American colonists. As such, dissatisfaction with the Royal Proclamation and "Taxation Without Representation" are said to have led to the Thirteen Colonies declaring their independence and starting the American War of Independence.
This war was comprehensively supported by Britain's competitors, France and Spain, and Britain lost the war. Britain and the new United States of America were able to retain the pre-existing trade arrangements from before independence, minimizing long-term harm to British trading interests. After the war, the American trade deficit with Britain was approximately 5:1, causing a shortage of gold for a number of years. However, the British Empire would shift its focus from North America to India, expanding from its new base in Bengal and signalling the beginning of the second phase of the British Empire.