What if we travel through the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries with the help of the great powers of the international community?
The order of powers in the international system has changed countless times.
The United States and China are some of those that now seem to dominate it, but how did they get here?
18th century: Europe in the lead
In this century all States or powers, theoretically, had the same rank, but what happened in practice?
The difference in power and capacity between them in terms of territoriality, wealth and militarism was enormous.
There was a hierarchy de facto, accepted by large and small powers, which would be established during Congress of Vienna of 1815, when Europe was territorially readjusted.
The form of government of these powers was generally monarchy.
While the republic was relegated to the exceptional nature of small and medium-sized ones, such as the United Provinces of the Netherlands, the Swiss Confederation or the old Republics of Genoa and Venice.
The balance between the great powers, understood as authentic full subjects of international life with the ability to defend its integrity and survival against the ambition of other nation-states, it maintained the system.
One of the most curious premises for this was the fragmentation of power in Germanic and Italian spaces.
At the end of the century, five states were considered the great powers of the international community: the United Kingdom, France, the Austrian Empire, Prussia and Russia.
But what did each of them stand out for?
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Main maritime and commercial power for ourselves thanks to the Royal Navy (Royal Navy) and its naval routes; supported, in turn, in the control of strategic enclaves and colonies spread throughout the world (North America, Newfoundland, Jamaica, Gibraltar, Malta, Ghana, as well as bases in India, Australia and New Zealand).
With this maritime hegemony, its insularity and its wealth they managed to stay out of European affairs.
Which does not mean that they did not intervene in any of them.
They did it, although arbitrarily and punctually.
French
It was the continental power more powerful due to its extension, its large population, its economic strength and its military capacity.
However, it suffered a serious setback as a colonial power before the British in North America and India with the Seven Years' War (1756-1763).
Even so, it had the second most powerful navy and played a leading role on the European stage, although overshadowed by financial and organizational problems of the reign of Louis XIV.
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The Austrian Empire
Considered as the main power of Central Europe It dominated extensive territories and very diverse populations ruled by the Habsburgs from the court in Vienna.
Hungary was incorporated in the 17th century, reinforcing the empire's projection on the Danube-Balkan axis, where friction with the Ottoman Empire occurred.
However, the real objectives of the Habsburg foreign policy were to influence the Italian peninsula and the Germanic space, and to expand at the expense of Poland.
Russia
Eurasian Power, autocratic and closely linked to the Orthodox Church with excessive desire for expansion, which even led to the colonization of Siberia.
It managed to be a great European power by emerging victorious from its confrontations with Sweden, Poland and Turkey in the era of Peter the Great (1628 - 1721) and Calatina II the Great (1762 - 1796).
They occupied Belarus and Ukraine, and projected their power onto the Germanic one.
Although it was, without a doubt, the most backward power, it had a large army that assured it a place among the decisive European powers.
Prussia
The smallest, with a territory and population smaller than that of the other great powers, its power resided in its capacity military, achieved by the modernization of the organization, the leadership of the feudal and landowning aristocracy (the junkers), and the effectiveness of its state bureaucracy led by King Frederick II the Great (1740-1786).
Given its central European position, it could expand into the Germanic space, as well as towards the East and Southeast, where it encountered friction with Polish, Russian and Austrian interests.
And the Holy German Empire? Why is it not considered a power at the time?
The Peace of Westphalia It became a loose confederation composed of 350 sovereign states, ranging from kingdoms to tiny principalities, electorates and city-states theoretically amalgamated by an emperor without real power over the affairs of the Empire, and by an imperial Diet without great powers. attributions.
The decline of the Holy Empire occurred for several reasons: the power of the Habsburgs (who held an imperial title based on their patrimonial possessions in Austria and the territories annexed by it), the influence of the minor Germanic states and the Catholics in the orbit. of Austria, Bavaria to the East, France to the West, and the Protestants in the United Provinces.
intermediate states
At a lower level than the great powers were some intermediate-sized states that, despite having occupied a hegemonic position in the past, now had a lower status; although they retained their international presence.
Spain was a clear example of this.
For the Treaty of Utretch-Rasttat of 1713-1715 It lost its possessions in Europe, ceding continental hegemony to France.
Despite this cession, the country governed by the Spanish branch of the Bourbons continued to be a maritime and colonial power due to its large Navy and extensive possessions in America.
Another power that had fallen into disrepair was the Turkish Ottoman Empire, an extensive state with an incomparable strategic location straddling Europe, Asia and Africa.
Its extensive Balkan possessions and its friction with Russia over control of the Caucasus, as well as its military capacity, made the Turkish Empire another actor in the balance of power in Europe.
However, in the s. In the 18th century, the Empire's inability to undertake reforms and modernize its administration led it to complete decline.
Tsar Nicholas I later called him "the sick man" of Europe.
Overall, as Guido Formigoni pointed out, the interaction of powers generated different levels of balance: “one could speak of a European balance, but also of multiple and diverse regional balances (Baltic, Mediterranean, Atlantic, Imperial or German)”.
In the same way that there was a certain balance between Catholic and Protestant powers. Other authors distinguish several hegemonic systems; British (maritime), French (in the western half of Europe), and Russian (in the eastern half).
In any case, the system was characterized by an unstable and dynamic equilibrium, always subject to change, within operating rules.
19th century: Imperialism
What will this century have in store for us?
The 19th century is known as the era of imperialism.
In the second half of the century, three great nations stood out in European political life: France, Germany and Great Britain; and three great empires: Russia, Türkiye and Austria. Let us remember that in the previous century the United Kingdom, France, the Austrian Empire, Prussia and Russia stood out as powers.
Victorian England as a world powerl
She was the great winner of the struggles caused by the French Revolution between 1789 and 1815.
The rulers saw the international order that they had wanted since the 18th century definitively imposed: European continental balance y English dominance in the ocean.
It is during this time that the construction of the Second British Colonial Empire will begin, and when England would dominate the international board from an economic perspective with the leadership of the Second Industrial Revolution.
British finance managed to penetrate the entire Western world; and an incisive international policy was developed.
Since the middle of the 19th century, England, which lives its Victorian age, becomes the leading economic and naval power in the world.
How did you get it?
A series of factors came into play: financial, industrial and commercial predominance, both political and institutional stability, both internal and external peace, maritime superiority and availability of a large amount of resources and raw materials, were some of them.
France of the Third Republic
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, in 1852, one year after having been proclaimed president of the Second Republic and after a coup d'état, reestablished the empire through a plebiscite, taking the name Napoleon III.
Napoleon developed a international policy at the height of the circumstances, of which the attempt to constitute a mexican empire around Maximilian of Austria, with the intention of rebuilding the French colonial empire.
Furthermore, he intervened in the process of Italian unification and promoted an active colonial policy.
The republican regime (1871-1914) is definitively installed in an industrialized country in full imperialist heyday.
However, the Third Republic turned out to be a quite unstable regime.
The counterrevolutionary, nationalist and monarchical pressure was too strong and the republican parties were extremely divided.
They even had to face the insurrection of the Commune, right in 1871.
Bismarck's Germany
The Second Reich, proclaimed with William I as emperor, will culminate with the leadership of Prussia and the exclusion of Austria in German affairs.
Bismarck was the arbiter of German and European politics until 1890, from a federal State composed of 22 States, theoretically democratic and constitutional, which, however, in practice maintained authoritarian and centralist politics.
Bismarck had clear objectives: to isolate France and exalt the greatness of Europe in Germany, with the strength of the army, a large bureaucracy and a powerful industry as tools to achieve this.
Germany became one of the largest industrial powers in the world with a great system of international relations.
Complex diplomatic formulas whose ultimate goal was to isolate France to place Berlin at the decision-making center of diplomatic life, as a symbol of conservative, monarchical politics and defender of the traditional order.
3 main systems were formed: the first (1873-1878) was known as the Entente of the Three Emperors -William I (Germany), Alexander II (Russia) and Franz Joseph (Austria)-, the second (1879-1885) formed the Double Alliance (Germany and Austria), the Three Emperors Agreement (1881), and the Triple Alliance (1882): Double Alliance plus Italy.
The third system (1887-1890) renewed the Triple Alliance for five years (1887), the Mediterranean Treaties were signed (of which Spain is a part), and the German-Russian Reinsurance Treaty was signed (1887).
That is, Bismarck achieved a Triple Alliance made up of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy that lasted until 1914, and, in addition, he signed a bilateral pact with Russia (Reinsurance Treaty in 1877).
These treaties were always secret, contributing to an increase in mutual mistrust between nations.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire
Located in Eastern Europe, it was structured into four territorial spaces: Austria, Hungary, the North Slavs (formerly Czechoslovakia), and the South Slavs (a town of great cultural heterogeneity, highlighting Serbs and Croats).
The bourgeois and liberal revolutions of 1848 They caused this empire to begin a conflictive process coinciding with the beginning of the reign of Emperor Francisco José I, of an authoritarian nature.
He faced the liberal and nationalist revolutions of the empire and set his sights on those minorities who rebelled against him.
The Compromise of 1867 was given, by which the Austrian Empire was formed into a dual monarchy, that is, two states in the Empire, which meant that the problem of nationalist autonomies that were subject to this compromise was not resolved. to the Hungarian yoke.
This empire was always in “danger of explosion” due to the various internal conflicts caused by the ethnic, religious and social variety of its inhabitants.
Regarding the Balkans, the Empire applied an expansive policy that sought in these markets an outlet for agricultural products and a way to invest in the railway that was being built in the South.
In 1908, there was annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, causing a clash with Russian interests in this area, and in turn, with those of Serbia.
The Russian Empire
At that time, the Russian Empire had a feudal economic structure that caused continuous discomfort in the rural world; which led to the fact that during the años 1826 y 1861 would occur great agrarian revolts.
Furthermore, a great national shock occurred when Russia was defeated by the Turks in the Crimean War (1853-1856).
What Russia was looking for was an exit to the sea.
Despite the defeat, its interest in the Balkan territories did not cease, which is why it clashed with Austria.
In addition, it tried to expand towards the Indian Ocean through Persia and Afghanistan, but Great Britain blocked its path.
He had no choice but to make his way to the Indian Ocean through Siberia, but this cost him a naval defeat against Japan (1804-1805).
It is true that the Russian tsars benefited from this entire process, but they did not manage to ensure that their immense State became a great power.
Alexander II, began the period of great reforms (1861-1863); However, he encountered two major obstacles.
The first of them, the Polish nationalists, who were not satisfied with recovering part of their autonomy; and the second, the spread of nihilism, a movement that went against any established norm and the equal discontent of intelligence.
In 1866, there was repression causing opponents of the regime to adopt terrorist tactics, assassinating the Tsar in 1881.
End of the democratic revolution
With Alexander II and Nicholas I the Empire entered an autocratic period that ended with the Democratic Revolution of 1905.
The democratizing reforms did not bring stability to the Empire, and that was why by World War I it was already practically decomposed.
At the end of the 19th century, a rapid industrialization process began, provoked by the investment of foreign capital, which brought with it a notable increase in the active working population, but which also increased discontent, misery and labor conflict.
The Ottoman Empire
The Turks built a great Eurasian empire in the XV century, which survived until 1919.
In 1829, the sultan recognized the independence of Greece and, since 1866, secessions followed one another.
In this same year, those of Romania (1829), those of Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro (1878) and those of Crete (1908) were consummated.
These new States were constituted as parliamentary monarchies, but they never had stability, since they were at odds with each other over border issues.
The point of clash was Macedonia, which was under the rule of the Turks and was claimed by the Bulgarians, Greeks and Serbs.
This led to the Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913, thus becoming one of the causes of the outbreak of World War I.
20th century: America to the rescue
In this century two extra-European powers entered the geopolitical board: Japan and the United States.
United States
En 1914, the territorial block of North America was formed by the United States.
Its extraordinary growth resulted in a strongly cohesive territorial, social, economic and political configuration.
The Thirteen colonies They declared themselves independent in 1766, although they were recognized some time later, in 1783 by the English Parliament after a long war. These occupied only the Atlantic edge of what is now the United States of America.
From them, a great effort was developed to develop a territorial expansion towards the West.
As we have already mentioned, in 1783 there were Thirteen Colonies, but in 1815 five more were added.
Some time later, in 1861, when the Civil War, they were already thirty.
At that time, colonization had already gained the Pacific coast, but it still had to gain the center and the West, which was inhabited by nomadic Indian tribes.
The territorial expansion of the United States broke its internal balance.
The North Atlantic States had a predominantly agricultural economy, One relatively open structures, a developing industry and a thriving trade, where the middle classes dominated.
On the other hand, in the Southern States, an economy predominated whose bases were based on the plantations, an aristocratic and slave society.
Both parties were within a federation that had full autonomy in the legislative, executive and judicial powers; so that the federal government was reduced to directing foreign policy and supporting the organizations and forces essential to maintain unity, including a supreme executive branch (president of the United States), a legislative branch (supreme, bicameral - Senate and Congress -) and a supreme judicial power.
View: The West and American Ideals
North and South-Discrepancies
For a time these two models, North and South maintained similar forces within the federation.
But, with the conquest of the West and the incorporation of new States, this balance was fractured in favor of the northern model, contrary to slavery.
The southerners leaned towards replacing federalism with a confederation, thus opting for separation.
In 1860, Lincoln became president of the United States., giving rise to a new political situation where control of all national affairs would be held by those from the North.
Eleven States separate from the Union, forming the so-called secessionist States, and therefore the Southern Confederation.
On April 15, Lincoln asked the loyal states to defend the Union, starting the Civil War or American Civil War, between the years 1864 and 1865, between the North and the South, due to various problems, among which slavery stood out. .
End to two problems in the country
This war puts an end to two major problems in the country, the first, the relationship between the federal government and the States, and second, slavery.
The Northern side won the victory, and after that the reconstruction began, which caused great resentment in the South, thus appearing violent situations and racist persecutions against the blacks and the whites who protected them with the organization known as the Ku Klux Klan.
The United States has just established itself as a great economic power with great power of attraction. The influx of European immigrants willing to settle it was common, giving rise to the theory of melting pot, according to which the fusion of heterogeneous white groups would shape a better race.
But the avalanche of Latin and Slavic immigrants since the eighties of the 19th century, on a largely Anglo-Saxon and German population, destroyed the dreams of the melting pot , provoking another form of nationalism that sought to maintain the primacy of WASP culture (White Anglo Saxon Protestant ).
This would have enormous importance throughout the 20th century.
In the 19th century, most Europeans were not aware of the magnitude of the power that was being forged in North America.
They began to be so when the American fleet swept away the Spanish fleet in the war of 1898 and, above all, from the First World War onwards.
What happened to Japan?
Made up of a group of islands and located in the Far East, In 1850, this country was almost unknown to the West due to its isolation for centuries..
In 1850, the shogunate was abolished by Emperor Mitsu-Hito, thus producing a Western-style political and economic transformation.
At that time feudalism was abolished, thus reinforcing the laws, with citizens being considered equal before the law.
There was a reorganization of the army and the Westernization of Japan was launched, so that it went from being a group of backward islands invisible to the West to being a modern empire.
Then begins the Meiji era or enlightened era, in which Japan begins to make its way among the great Western powers.
Although the lords began to lose their rights and privileges, and the Constitution of 1869 was promulgated, the peasantry continued to live in terrible conditions.
There is high population growth, the economy develops, producing, in turn, changes in customs, way of life and education.
These will be the bases on which Japanese expansionism will be carried out later.
Could we say then that the 18th and 19th centuries have belonged to Europe, the 20th to the United States, and the 21st to Asia? We'll see!
Graduated in International Relations at Loyola University, debater, and multilingual! I speak English, French, and here I go with the fourth language! I am passionate about the field of Security and Defense, and here I am to talk about international issues that concern us all. Do you read me?
