KnowraGreat powerGreat powerA state with enough military, economic, and diplomatic influence to shape international affairs beyond its own region.BriefConnectNational power: A state's capacity to influence events and actors through its resources and capabilities. Great-power status rests on national capabilities that extend beyond regional influence.Balance of power: A distribution of capabilities among states that prevents any one state from dominating the others. Other states often coordinate to limit a great power's preponderance.Peace of Westphalia: The 1648 settlements that ended the Thirty Years' War and reshaped political authority in Europe. The settlements are often linked to the emergence of sovereign-state diplomacy.British Empire: A global empire built by Britain through overseas territories, settlements, and commercial networks. Britain's maritime reach and imperial resources underpinned its great-power position.Military capability: A state's ability to deploy and sustain armed force to achieve political objectives. Military reach helps distinguish global influence from regional strength.Deterrence: The prevention of an action by threatening costs that would outweigh its expected benefits. Credible military threats can restrain rivals without requiring war.Congress of Vienna: The 1814–1815 conference that reorganized Europe after Napoleon's defeat. Its settlement institutionalized consultation among Europe's leading powers.Russian Empire: A multiethnic empire ruled by the Russian monarchs from 1721 until 1917. Its continental scale and military weight made it a major European power.Economic power: The ability to influence others through production, trade, finance, and control of economic resources. Economic scale can support military reach and diplomatic leverage.Alliance: A formal agreement between states to cooperate, often for security or defense. Alliances extend a great power's reach and aggregate its partners' capabilities.Show all 21Linked from 9 pagesMultipolarityBroader topic: Great powers are the principal actors counted as poles in many accounts of multipolarity.First Silesian WarRelated: The conquest helped establish Prussia as a European great power.Realism (international relations)Narrower topic: Realism particularly emphasizes the strategic interaction of states with the greatest capabilities.Regional powerCompared with: Great powers have broader reach, while regional powers are principally influential in a particular region.Offensive realismRelated: The theory's central claims concern the choices and competition of the system's strongest states.Treaty of San StefanoNarrower topic: Great-power rivalry forced the San Stefano settlement to be renegotiated.International orderRelated: Great powers often set, uphold, or contest the order’s terms.Post–Cold War eraNarrower topic: Shifts among major powers shape competing accounts of the era's endpoint.Show all 9