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A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power influence, which may cause middle or small powers to consider the great powers' opinions before taking actions of their own.
The European balance of power is a tenet in international relations that no single power should be allowed to achieve hegemony over a substantial part of Europe. During much of the Modern Age, the balance was achieved by having a small number of ever-changing alliances contending for power, [1] which culminated in the World Wars of the early 20th century.
The context of the three Great Powers' intervention was Russia's long-running expansion at the expense of the decaying Ottoman Empire. However Russia's ambitions in the region were seen as a major geostrategic threat by the other European powers. Austria feared the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire would destabilize its southern borders.
Portrait of Prince Metternich by Thomas Lawrence. Prince Metternich, Austrian chancellor and foreign minister, as well as an influential leader in the Concert of Europe. The Concert of Europe describes the geopolitical order in Europe from 1814 to 1914, during which the great powers tended to act in concert to avoid wars and revolutions and generally maintain the territorial and political ...
The Allies or the Entente was an international military coalition of countries led by France, the United Kingdom, Russia, the United States, Italy, and Japan against the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria in World War I (1914–1918).
1815 1878 1900 1919 1939 1945 c. 2000 Austria [nb 1] Austria-Hungary [nb 2] Austria-Hungary [nb 3] British Empire [nb 4] British Empire [nb 5] British Empire [nb 6] British Empire [nb 7]
To complicate matters, in the years preceding World War I, there existed a tangle of Great Power alliances, both formal and informal, public and secret. Following the Napoleonic Wars there had existed a "balance of power" to, in theory, prevent major wars. This theory held that opposing combinations of powers in Europe would be evenly matched ...
The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires, [1] [notes 1] were one of the two main coalitions that fought in World War I (1914–1918). It consisted of the German Empire , Austria-Hungary , the Ottoman Empire , and Bulgaria ; this was also known as the Quadruple Alliance.