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This article deals with the world most powerful nations and empires before the Congress of Vienna. A Great Power/Nation/Empire is a nation or state that, through its great economic, political and military strength, is able to exert power over its region of the world.

Contents 1 Ancient Powers 1.1 Ancient Near East 1.1.1 Sumer and Akkad 1.1.2 Ancient Egypt 1.1.3 Elam 1.1.4 The Hurrian kingdoms 1.1.5 Assyria 1.1.6 Hittite Empire 1.2 Iron Age and Classical Antiquity 1.2.1 Persian Empire 1.2.2 Ancient Empires of Greece 1.2.2.1 Athens 1.2.2.2 Sparta 1.2.2.3 Macedon 1.2.3 Carthage 1.3 Hellenistic Kingdom of Egypt 1.4 Hellenistic Kingdom of Syria 1.5 Roman Empire 1.6 China 1.7 South Asian powers 1.7.1 Maurya Empire 2 Medieval Powers 2.1 Bulgaria (880's - 930's) 2.2 Muslim Caliphates (760's - 800's) 2.3 Byzantine Empire (640's - 1020's) 2.4 Ghaznavid Empire (960's - 998) 2.5 Kingdom of Hungary (1300's - 1380's) 2.6 Frankish Empire (790's - 840's) 2.7 Holy Roman Empire (840's - 1510's) 2.8 Kingdoms of Aragon (1340's - 1516) 2.9 Kingdom of Castile (1230 - 13??) 2.10 Papacy 2.11 Mali Empire (1310's - 1360) 2.12 China (680's - 1640's) 2.12.1 Tang Dynasty 680's - 760's 2.12.2 Yuan Dynasty 1270's - 1320's 2.12.3 Ming Dynasty 1370's - 1600's 2.13 Mongol Empire (1210's - 1270's) 3 Powers from 1400-1815 3.1 France (1450's - 1790's) 3.2 Venice (1480's - 1710s) 3.3 China (1660's - 1730's) 3.4 Persian Empire (1580's - 1690's) 3.5 Denmark-Norway (1530's - 1810's) 3.6 England (1630's - present, 1815?) 3.7 The Low Countries/The Netherlands 3.8 Mughal Empire (1550's - 1700's) 3.9 The Ottoman Empire (1450's - 1680's) 3.10 Poland-Lithuania (1569's - 1795's) 3.11 Portugal 3.12 Prussia 3.13 Russia 3.14 Spain 3.15 Sweden 4 References 5 See also

Main article: Ancient Near East

The terms ancient Near East or ancient Orient encompass the early civilizations predating classical antiquity in the region roughly corresponding to that described by the modern term Middle East, during the time roughly spanning the Bronze Age from the rise of Sumer and Gerzeh in the 4th millennium BCE to the expansion of the Persian Empire in the 6th century BCE.

The ancient Near East is generally understood as encompassing Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and Syria), Persia (Iran), Armenia, Egypt, the Levant (Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Palestinian Authority), and Anatolia (Turkey).

Main articles: Sumer and Akkadian Empire

Sumer (or Šumer) was one of the early civilizations of the Ancient Near East, located in the southern part of Mesopotamia (southeastern Iraq) from the time of the earliest records in the mid 4th millennium BC until the rise of Babylonia in the late 3rd millennium BC. The term "Sumerian" applies to all speakers of the Sumerian language. Sumer together with Ancient Egypt and the Indus Valley Civilization is considered the first settled society in the world to have manifested all the features needed to qualify fully as a "civilization".

Main article: Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was one of the world's first civilisations, with its beginnings in the fertile Nile valley around 3000BC although its power was not great until after the Hittite invasions under great pharaohs such as Ramses in the early Egyptian times. Ancient Egypt was an example of a nation that used mainly soft power to become a major power. It was one of the first nations to have a system of writing and large scale construction projects. However, as neighboring civilizations developed militaries capable of crossing Egypt's natural barriers the Egyptian armies were not always able to repel them and so by 1000 BC Egyptian influence as an independent civilization waned.^[1]

Main article: Elam

Elam is one of the oldest recorded civilizations. Its culture played a crucial role in the Persian Empire, especially during the Achaemenid dynasty that succeeded it, when the Elamite language remained in official use. As such, the Elamite period is considered a starting point for the history of Iran.

Elamite strength was based on an ability to hold various areas together under a coordinated government that permitted the maximum interchange of the natural resources unique to each region. Traditionally, this was done through a federated governmental structure.

Main article: Hurrians

The Hurrians refer to a people who inhabited northern Mesopotamia beginning approximately 2500 BC. The Hurrian peoples were not incredibly united, existing as quasi-feudal kingdoms, the most prominent being the Mitanni kingdom, which was at it's height towards the close of the 14th century BC. By the 13th century BC, the Hurrian kingdoms had been conquered by foreign powers, chiefly the Assyrians.

Main article: Assyria

In the earliest historical times, the term Assyria referred to a region on the Upper Tigris river, named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur. Later, as a nation and empire that came to control all of the Fertile Crescent, Egypt and much of Anatolia, the term "Assyria proper" referred to roughly the northern half of Mesopotamia (the southern half being Babylonia), with Nineveh as its capital.

The Assyrian homeland was located near a mountainous region, extending along the Tigris as far as the high Gordiaean or Carduchian mountain range of Armenia, sometimes known as the "Mountains of Ashur".

The Assyrian kings controlled a large kingdom at three different times in history. These are called the Old, Middle, and Neo-Assyrian kingdoms, or periods. The most powerful and best-known nation of these periods is the Neo-Assyrian kingdom, 911-612 BC.

Main article: Hittite Empire

The Hittites were an ancient people who spoke an Indo-European language, and established a kingdom centered at Hattusa (Hittite ^URUḪattuša) in north-central Anatolia from the 18th century BC. In the 14th century BC, the Hittite empire was at its height, encompassing central Anatolia, north-western Syria as far as Ugarit, and upper Mesopotamia. After 1180 BC, the empire disintegrated into several independent "Neo-Hittite" city-states, some surviving until as late as the 8th century BC.

The Hittites were also famous for their skill in building and using chariots. The Hittites were pioneers of the Iron Age, manufacturing iron artifacts from as early as the 14th century BC, making them possibly even the first to do so. The Hittites passed much knowledge and lore from the Ancient Near East to the newly arrived Greeks in Europe.

Main articles: Achaemenid Empire, Seleucid Empire, Parthia, and Sassanid Empire

Main articles: Athens, Sparta, and Macedon

The History of Ancient Athens is one of the longest of any city in Europe and in the world. Athens has been continuously inhabited for at least 3,000 years. It became the leading city of Ancient Greece in the first millennium BC. Its cultural achievements during the 5th century BC laid the foundations of western civilization. During the Middle Ages, Athens experienced decline and then a recovery under the Byzantine Empire. Athens was relatively prosperous during the Crusades, benefiting from Italian trade.

The 5th century BC marked the zenith of Athens as a center of literature, philosophy (see Greek philosophy) and the arts (see Greek theatre). Some of the most important figures of Western cultural and intellectual history lived in Athens during this period: the dramatists Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Euripides and Sophocles, the philosophers Aristotle, Plato and Socrates,

During Classical times Sparta had reached the status of a superpower,^[2] and by overpowering both the Athenian and Persian Empires, Flolowing the victories in the Messenian Wars (631 BC), Sparta established itself as a local power in Peloponnese and the rest of Greece. During the following centuries, Sparta's reputation as a land-fighting force was unequaled.^[3] In 480 BC a small Spartan unit under King Leonidas made a legendary last stand against a massive, invading Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae. One year later, Sparta assembled at full strength and lead a Greek alliance against the Persians at Plataea. There, a decisive Greek victory put an end to the Greco-Persian War along with Persian ambition of expanding into Europe. Even though this war was won by a pan-Greek army, credit was given to Sparta, who besides being the protagonist at Thermopylae and Plataea, had been the nominal leader of the entire Greek expedition.^[4]

In later Classical times, Sparta along with Athens, Thebes and Persia had been the main superpowers fighting for supremacy against each other. As a result of the Peloponnesian War, Sparta, a traditionally continental culture, became a naval power. At the peak of her power she subdued many of the key Greek states and even managed to overpower the powerful Athenian navy. By the end of the 5th century she stood out as a state which had defeated at war both the Persian and Athenian Empires, a period which marks the Spartan Hegemony. Sparta was, above all, a militarist state, and emphasis on military fitness began virtually at birth.

Macedon or Macedonia (from Greek Μακεδονία Makedonía; see also List of traditional Greek place names) was the name of an ancient kingdom in the northern-most part of ancient Greece, bordering the kingdom of Epirus on the west and the region of Thrace to the east^[5]. For a brief period it became the most powerful state in the ancient Near East after Alexander the Great conquered most of the known world, inaugurating the Hellenistic period of Greek history.

Main article: Carthage

Carthage was a major power over the Western Mediterranean between 575 BC and 272 BC and was considered the leading European power in 350 BC. ^[6] Carthage as a major power was originally a Phoenician settlement, and when Tyre fell to the Assyrians Carthage assumed power over the former settlements of the region. The foundation of Carthaginian power was seafaring trade throughout the Western Mediterranean (following the tracks of the Phoenicians). Although Rome was originally a land based military power, eventually it saw Carthage an enemy and built a navy to challenge them, which led to the three Punic Wars between these powers. The last of these eliminated Carthage as an independent civilization, and left Rome as the most impressive power in the Western Mediterranean.

Main articles: Ptolemaic dynasty and Ptolemaic Egypt

Main articles: Seleucid dynasty and Seleucid Empire

Main article: Roman Empire

The Roman Empire is widely known as Europe's largest and most powerful nation. After the Punic Wars Rome was already the biggest empire on the planet but its expansion continued with the invasions of Greece and Asia Minor. By 27 BC Rome had control over half of Europe as well as Northern Africa and large amounts of the Middle East. The Roman Empire, together with the Han Empire of China were the two superpowers of the known world at this time. Rome also had a developed culture, building on the earlier Greek culture.

From the time of Augustus to the Fall of the Western Empire, Rome dominated Western Eurasia, comprising the majority of its population. Roman expansion began long before the state was changed into an Empire and reached its zenith under emperor Trajan with the conquest of Dacia in AD 106. At this territorial peak, the Roman Empire controlled approximately 5 900 000 km² (2,300,000 sq.mi.) of land surface. Rome's influence upon the culture, law, technology, arts, language, religion, government, military, and architecture of Western civilization continues to this day.

Main article: Han dynasty

The Han Dynasty (206 BC – AD 220), lasting 400 years, is commonly considered within China to be one of the greatest periods in the entire history of China. At its height, the Han empire extended over a vast territory of 6 million km² and housed a population of approximately 55 million. During this time period, China became a military, economic, and cultural powerhouse. The empire extended its political and cultural influence over Korea, Mongolia, Vietnam, and Central Asia before it finally collapsed under a combination of domestic and external pressures. The Han Dynasty was the strongest and largest empire in the world during the reign of Emperor Wu, surpassing in size the contemporary Roman Empire.

For most of its history, South Asia was separated from Central and Eastern Asia by the Himalayas. For this reason, South Asia is considered separate from East Asian powers, as South Asian powers were only able to exert their influence into South Asia, part of the Middle East, South East Asia and Indochina.

Main article: Maurya Empire

The Mauryan Empire was one of the first political entities to unite most of India and expand into the Middle East. However, its soft power was spread into much of Persia and Greece due to its military victories over these regions. Its soft power also extended into Egypt and Syria. The Empire was founded in 322 BC by Chandragupta Maurya. Chandragupta waged a war against the nearby Greek powers and won, forcing the Greeks to surrender large amounts of land. Under the reign of Ashoka, the empire became pacifist and turned to spreading its soft power in the form of Buddhism. ^[7]

Main article: Bulgarian Empire

In 681 the Bulgarians established a powerful state which played a major military and cultural role in Medieval Europe [1]. Bulgaria decisively defeated the Arabs in the battle before Constantinople (718) and stopped the Arab invasion in the eastern parts of the continent,[2] effectively stopping the migrations of the barbarian tribes (Pechenegs, Magyars, Khazars) further to the west. It destroyed the Avars Khanate in 806. With the adoption of Christianity and the invention of the Cyrillic Alphabet, the Bulgarian Empire became the cultural and spiritual centre of the whole Slavic World. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church became the first National Church in Europe to gain its independence in 927 with its own Patriarch. The Bulgarian Empire reached it's biggest size in the early 900s stretching from the Black Sea to Bosnia. [3]

Main article: Caliphate

In 622 a new world religion emerged, the islam, founded by Muhammad. It quickly spread in the Middle East, Northern Africa and parts of Spain, forming the largest state of the time, the Caliphate. The Arabs tried to conquer Christian Europe, but were stopped by the Bulgarians and the Byzantines in 718 and the Franks in 732. Nonetheless, the Caliphate remained a huge military power with mighty navy. It was a rich country due to the trade between East Asia, Europe and Africa. Its culture was thriving, strongly influenced by the Persians, boasting great achievements in architecture, literature and mathematics. Many cities grew with large population, beautiful palaces and gardens such as Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo and Cordoba. The Caliphate desintigrated after a series of invasions by nomadic muslim tribes from the east.

Main article: Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was formed in 395, as the Eastern Roman Empire and survived for more than 1000 years. Parts of the ancient Roman cultural heritage survived there. It was the stronghold of the Eastern Orthodox Christianity and thus influenced many states. The Byzantines were the only Europeans to produce fine silk which was an important sourse of their wealth along with trade. Byzantium used to be a major military power with huge army and strong fleet. It fought against the Arabs to the south, the Bulgarians to the north and the Crusaders, who managed to seize Constantinople in 1204. The Byzantines restored their state in 1261, but its strength never recoverred and it was eventually destroyed by the Turks in 1453.

Main article: Ghaznavid Empire

Main articles: History of Hungary and Kingdom of Hungary in the Middle Ages

Main article: Frankish Empire

The Franks were united for the first time by Clovis I in the late 5th century. In 732 they managed to defeat the Arabs at Poitiers, thereby halting their invasion of Western Europe. During the reign of Charlemagne, it reached its greatest extent, encompassing most of the territory of the Western Roman Empire, and eventually he was proclaimed Emperor by the Pope in 800. He Christianised the pagan peoples he defeated. This was a period of cultural revival known as the Carolingian Renaissance with important educational and writing reforms. The empire disintegrated into three parts after the death of his son Louis the Pious, from which later emerged France and Germany.

Main article: Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a mainly Germanic conglomeration of lands in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. It was also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation from the late 15th century onwards. For centuries historians have treated the Holy Roman Empire as completely distinct from the Roman Empire of classical times.

At its post-Carolingian peak, the Holy Roman Empire encompassed the territories of present-day Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Belgium, and the Netherlands as well as large parts of modern Poland, France and Italy.

Main article: Crown of Aragon

The Crown of Aragon was a Maritime Empire in the later Middle Ages that controlled a large portion of the present-day Northeastern Spain, Southeastern France, as well as possessions stretching across the Mediterranean Sea as far as Greece. It originated in 1137, when the Kingdom of Aragon and the possessions of the County of Barcelona merged by dynastic union into what later would be known as the Crown of Aragon. In 1479 a new dynastic union merged the Crown of Aragon with the Crown of Castile, thus making the dawn of the Spanish Empire. The Crown of Aragon lasted through 1716, when it was abolished by the Nueva Planta decrees as a result of the Aragonese defeat in the War of the Spanish Succession.

Main articles: Kingdom of Castile and Crown of Castile

The Kingdom of Castile was one of the medieval kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula. It was created as a politically autonomous entity in the 9th century: it was called County of Castile and was held in vassalage from the Kingdom of León. Its name is supposed to be related to the host of castles constructed in the region. It was one of the ancestor kingdoms of the Kingdom of Spain.

Main articles: History of the Roman Catholic Church and Papacy

Main article: Mali Empire

The Mali Empire was a medieval state of West Africa. The empire was founded by Sundiata Keita and became renowned for the generosity and wealth of its rulers, especially Mansa Kankan Musa I. The Mali Empire had profound cultural influences on West Africa allowing the spread of its language, laws and customs along the Niger River. Musa was a devoted Muslim and Islamic scholarship flourished under his rule, The Sankore University in Timbuktu reached its height, bringing together Islamic scholars from all over the Muslim World.

The start of the Sui Dynasty in China after the end of the turbulent and chaotic Northern and Southern Dynasty marks China as the most powerful country in the world economically and militarily, with its prowess unsurpassed by any nation(s) for a thousand years till somewhere in the middle of the Ming dynasty. Below are some of the dynasties that occured during this era:

Main article: Tang dynasty

The Tang Dynasty, with its capital at Chang'an (present-day Xi'an), the most populous city in the world at the time, is regarded by historians as a high point in Chinese civilization — equal to or surpassing that of the Han Dynasty - as well as a golden age of cosmopolitan culture. Its territory, acquired through the military campaigns of its early rulers, was greater than that of the Han period, and rivaled that of the later Yuan Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. During its height, the Tang Dynasty was one of the greatest powers of the time.

Main article: Yuan dynasty

The Yuan Dynasty (Chinese: 元朝; pinyin: Yuáncháo; Mongolian: Dai Ön Yeke Mongghul Ulus), lasting officially from 1271 to 1368, followed the Song Dynasty and preceded the Ming Dynasty in the historiography of China. The dynasty was established by ethnic Mongols, and it had nominal control over the entire Mongol Empire (stretching from Eastern Europe to the fertile crescent to Russia); however, the Mongol rulers in Asia were only interested in China. Later successors did not even attempt to stake claim over the Khakhan title and saw themselves as Emperor of China, as the Yuan Dynasty grew from being an imperial Mongol administration under Kublai Khan to becoming a basically Chinese institution under his successors.

Main article: Ming dynasty

The Ming dynasty was the last ethnic Han-led dynasty in China, supplanting the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty before falling to the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty. At its pinnacle, the Ming Empire was one of greatest powers of its time. Ming rule saw the construction of a vast navy, including four-masted ships of 1,500 tons displacement, and a standing army of 1,000,000 troops. Over 100,000 tons of iron per year were produced in North China (roughly 1 kg per inhabitant), and many books were printed using movable type. Internally, the Great Wall was furbished to its current state, and the Grand Canal was renovated, thus boasting domestic trade.

Main articles: Mongol Empire, Golden Horde, Chagatai Khan, and Ilkhanate

The Mongol Empire was the largest contiguous land empire in world history, covering over 33 million km² [4] at its peak, with an estimated population of over 100 million people. The Mongol Empire was founded by Genghis Khan in 1206, and at its height, it encompassed the majority of the territories from southeast Asia to central Europe. The Mongol Empire helped bring political stability and re-establish the Silk Road.

Main article: France in the Middle Ages

Main article: Republic of Venice

Main article: Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty, occasionally known as the Manchu Dynasty, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1644 to 1912. According to the Chinese, the Qing Dynasty was the last Imperial dynasty of China. During its reign, the Qing Dynasty consolidated its grip on China, integrated with Chinese culture, and saw the height of Imperial Chinese influence. The collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1912 brought an end to over 2,000 years of imperial China rule.

Main article: Safavid dynasty

The Safavids (1501-1722) are considered as the greatest Iranian Empire since the Islamic conquest of Persia. The Safavid empire originated from Ardabil in Iranian Azerbaijan in northern Iran. It was Turkic-speaking dynasty whose classical and cultural language was Persian ^{[9] [10]}. The Safavid dynasty had its origins in a long established Sufi order, called the Safaviyeh. The Safavids established an independent unified Iranian state for the first time after the Islamic conquest of Persia and reasserted Iranian political identity, and established Shia Islam as the official religion in Iran.

Main article: Denmark-Norway

Main article: British Empire

The British Empire was the most extensive and most glorious empire in world history and for a substantial time was the foremost global power. It was a product of the European age of discovery, which began with the maritime explorations of the 15th century, that sparked the era of the European colonial empires. By 1921, the British Empire held sway over a population of about 458 million people, approximately one-quarter of the world's population.^[11] It covered about 36.6 million km² (14.2 million square miles)^[12], about a quarter of Earth's total land area. Because of its size, it was often reguarded as The empire on which the sun never sets.

Main article: Dutch Empire

The Dutch Empire^[5] is the name given to the various territories controlled by the Netherlands from the 17th to the 20th century. Their skills in shipping and trading aided the building of an over seas colonal Empire in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Dutch initially built up colonial possessions on the basis of indirect state capitalist corporate colonialism, with the dominant Dutch East India Company. A cultural flowering roughly spanning the 17th century is known as the Dutch Golden Age, in which Dutch trade, science, and art were among the most acclaimed in the world.

Main article: Mughal Empire

The Mughal empire at its greatest territorial extent ruled most of the Indian subcontinent, and parts of what is now Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The Mughal Empire was established in 1526 by the Timurid prince Babur, when he defeated Ibrahim Lodi. Under Akbar the Greatthe Empire grew considerably. The empire commanded wealth and resources unparalleled in Indian history.The Mughal period would see a blending of Indian, Iranian and Central Asian artistic, intellectual and literary traditions more than any other in Indian history.

Main article: Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire (1299 to 1922) was a Turkish state, which at the height of its power (16th - 17th centuries) spanned three continents (see: extent of Ottoman territories) controlling much of Southeastern Europe, the Middle East and most of North Africa. The empire has been called by historians a "Universal Empire" due to both Roman and Islamic traditions. ^[13]

The empire was at the center of interactions between the Eastern and Western worlds for six centuries. The Ottoman Empire was the only Islamic power to seriously challenge the rising power of Western Europe between the 15th and 19th centuries. With Istanbul (or Constantinople) as its capital, the Empire was in some respects an Islamic successor of earlier Mediterranean empires - the Roman and Byzantine empires.

Main article: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Main article: Portuguese Empire

The Portuguese Empire was the first global empire in history, and also the earliest and longest lived of the Western European colonial empires, existing from 1415 to 1999.

Portugal's small size and population restricted the empire to a collection of small but well defended outposts along the shoreline. The height of the empire power was reached in the 16th century but the indifference of the Habsburg kings and the competition with new colonial empires like the British, French and Dutch started its long and gradual decline. After the 18th century Portugal concentrated in the colonization of Brazil and African possessions. Brazilian gold gave a new pace to the empire but the catastrophic earthquake of 1755 that seriously affected [[Lisbon

Main article: Prussia

The Kingdom of Prussia dominated northern Germany politically, economically, and in terms of population, and was the core of the unified North German Confederation formed in 1867, which became part of the German Empire or Deutsches Reich in 1871.

Prussia attained its greatest importance in the 18th and 19th centuries. During the 18th century, it became a great power European under the reign of Frederick II of Prussia (1740–86). During the 19th century, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck pursued a policy of uniting the German principalities into a "Lesser Germany" which would exclude the Austrian Empire.

Main article: Russian Empire

The Russian Empire as a state, existed from 1721 until it was declared a republic in August 1917. The Russian Empire formed from what was Tsardom of Russia under Peter the Great. Peter I, (1672–1725), played a major role in bringing his country into the European state system, and laid the foundations of a modern state in Russia. From its modest beginnings in the 14th century, Russia had become the largest state in the world by Peter's time. Three times the size of continental Europe, it spanned the Eurasian landmass from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean.

Main article: Spanish Empire

Main article: Swedish Empire

.

Sweden was, between 1611 and 1718, one of the great powers of Europe. In modern historiography this period is known as the Swedish Empire, or Stormaktstiden.

1. ^ Math in Ancient Egypt
2. ^ The Character of Lysander William K. Prentice American Journal of Archaeology
3. ^ "A Historical Commentary on Thucydides" - David Cartwright, p. 176
4. ^ Britannica ed. 2006, "Sparta"
5. ^ "Macedonia" - Britannica 2006
6. ^ Carthaginian History
7. ^ Ancient India - Chandragupta Maurya
8. ^ Map of late 9th century eastern central Europe
9. ^ Encyclopaedia Iranica. R. N. Frye. Peoples of Iran.
10. ^ [http://www.tau.ac.il/dayancenter/mel/lewis.html Iran in History ] by Bernard Lewis
11. ^ Angus Maddison. The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective (p. 98, 242). OECD, Paris, 2001.
12. ^ Bruce R. Gordon. To Rule the Earth... (See Bibliography for sources used.)
13. ^ H. Inaicik "The rise of the Ottoman Empire" in P.M. Holt, A.K. S. Lambstone, and B. Lewis (eds), "The Cambridge History of Islam" (Cambridge University). pages 295-200

• History of warfare
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Power in international relations v • d • e
Power statuses	Middle power | Regional power | Great power | Superpower | Hyperpower
Further geopolitics	African Century | American Century | Asian Century | British Moment | Chinese Century | European Century | Indian Century | Pacific Century
Types of power	Soft power | Hard power | Political power | Power (sociology) | Machtpolitik | Realpolitik | Power projection | Polarity in international relations
Other	G8+5 | BRIC | BRIMC | Historical powers | Next Eleven | Energy superpower | Power transition theory | Second superpower | SCO | Superpower collapse | Superpower disengagement