Someone once wrote a book on this sort of thing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rise_and_Fall_of_the_Great_Powers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rise_and_Fa

Someone once wrote a book on this sort of thing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rise_and_Fall_of_the_Great_Powers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rise_and_Fall_of_the_Great_...