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I think the only other powers back then able to compete were the US (though at an early stage, and mostly an economical power at that point), France through its
by BillyTheKing 6y ago
I think the only other powers back then able to compete were the US (though at an early stage, and mostly an economical power at that point), France through its colonial empire (but neither economically nor militarily very strong having lost to Germany in 1871) and Russia. I don't think this is very much unlike today's set-up with the EU, Russia, and India as additional players on the global stage.
- hef19898 6y agoBack then, you have to count Austria-Hungary, the British Empire, the French and Russia as major powers, Germany being among them as well. The US became a major power only after WW1 and they used their economic power.
- choeger 6y agoThe US, GB, France, Russia, Japan, were all about the same weight class as Germany. Slightly behind that came middle powers like Italy and Austria Hungary and even further behind countries like China and Turkey, that did have the potential but were not in a good position at that point in time. All in all, the playing field was much more diverse back than. Edit: To emphasize my point: Around 1900, Germany was in constant search for allies to break out of the entanglement between GB, Russia, and France. Germany could manage to win a war against one or with some luck even two of their opponents. Three were always considered too much. China and the US nowadays only ever need to win one war against one opponent to win unopposed world dominance.