Super Powers of Past

Super Powers of Past

It was a term first applied in 1944 to the United States, the Soviet Union, and the British Empire. Following World War II, as the British Empire transformed itself into the Commonwealth and its territories became independent, the Soviet Union and the United States generally came to be regarded as the only two superpowers, and confronted each other in the Cold War.

After the Cold War, the most common belief held was that only the United States fulfilled the criteria to be considered a superpower,^[2] although it is a matter of debate whether it is a hegemon or if it is a besieged global power.^[3] Brazil, China,^[4] the European Union, India, and Russia^[5][6][7][8] are also thought to have the potential of achieving superpower status within the 21st century.^[9]

Others doubt the existence of superpowers in the post Cold War era altogether, stating that today's complex global marketplace and the rising interdependency between the world's nations has made the concept of a superpower an idea of the past and that the world is now multipolar.^{[10][11][12][13]}

The term superpower was used to describe nations with greater than great power status as early as 1944, but only gained its specific meaning with regard to the United States, the British Empire and the Soviet Union after WWII. This was because the United States and the Soviet Union had proved themselves to be capable of casting great influence in global politics.

There have been attempts to apply the term superpower retrospectively, and sometimes very loosely, to a variety of past entities such as Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, China,^[14] India,^[14] the Persian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Roman Empire,^[15][16] the Mongol Empire, Portuguese Empire, the Spanish Empire,^[17][18] France,^[19][20] the Dutch Republic and the British Empire.

Recognition by historians of these older states as superpowers may focus on various superlative traits exhibited by them. For example, at its peak the British Empire was the largest in history with 1 in every 4 people in the world living under its flag.