Portugal 1494 to 1580 (From the end of the Italian Wars to Spanish-Portuguese Union). Based on Portugal's dominance in navigation.
Spain 1516 to 1659 (From the accession of Charles I of Spain to the Treaty of the Pyrenees). Based on the Spanish dominance of the European battlefields and the global exploration and colonization of the New World.
The Netherlands 1580 to 1688 (From the 1579 Treaty of Utrecht, which marks the foundation of the Dutch Republic, to the Glorious Revolution, William of Orange's arrival in England). Based on Dutch control of credit and money.
France 1643 to 1763 (From the accession of Louis XIV to the end of the Seven Years' War).
Britain 1688 to 1792 (From the Glorious Revolution to the start of the French Revolutionary Wars). Based on British textiles and command of the high seas.
French Revolution and Napoleonic France (1789 to 1815).
Britain 1815 to 1914 (From the Congress of Vienna to the start of the Great War). Based on British industrial supremacy and railroads.
After WW1 the lack of a true hegemon, the weakening of Britain, and the US declining to become the global cop by joining the League of Nations, probably contributed to the eventual outbreak of WW2.
After WW2 the US was the hegemon with the Soviet Union being the hegemonic pretender. US hegemony was based on oil, something it had to import and station bases in the Middle East to safeguard, and the internal combustion engine. Both of these are destructive a/o increasingly out of date.
Joe_McCarthy 0 points 3 weeks ago
After WW1 the lack of a true hegemon, the weakening of Britain, and the US declining to become the global cop by joining the League of Nations, probably contributed to the eventual outbreak of WW2.
After WW2 the US was the hegemon with the Soviet Union being the hegemonic pretender. US hegemony was based on oil, something it had to import and station bases in the Middle East to safeguard, and the internal combustion engine. Both of these are destructive a/o increasingly out of date.
The world now looks like a high tech 1914.