The rise and fall of the great powers

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The rise and fall of the great powers is a non-fiction book that the British historian Paul Kennedy published in 1987 under the English original title " The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers ".

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"The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers " is the most successful of Kennedy's 14 books, which topped the bestseller lists in the US, UK and Japan for months. It has been translated into more than 20 foreign languages ​​and sparked lively discussions among experts in the year of publication.

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The German subtitle " Economic Change and Military Conflicts from 1500 to 2000 " outlines the focus of Kennedy's study.

It begins with the House of Habsburg , which sought hegemony in Europe in the 16th century and was replaced in it by the French kings in the 17th century. The rise of Great Britain to the leading colonial power began in the 18th century and in the 20th century the German Empire was at the head of the hegemonic powers for a short time before the bipolar system between the USA and the Soviet Union emerged after the Second World War.

With all these powers, Kennedy sees the rhythm always remaining the same:

  1. Ascent
  2. Overextension
  3. exhaustion
  4. descent

The book provides a lot of evidence for the controversial thesis that the power and influence of states are essentially determined by their economy (and the success of the same).

literature