The term "
great power
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 inf ...
" has only been used in historiography and political science since the
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...
in 1815.
Lord Castlereagh
Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, (18 June 1769 – 12 August 1822), usually known as Lord Castlereagh, derived from the courtesy title Viscount Castlereagh ( ) by which he was styled from 1796 to 1821, was an Anglo-Irish politician ...
, the
British Foreign Secretary
The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...
, first used the term in its diplomatic context in 1814 in reference to the
Treaty of Chaumont
The Treaty of Chaumont was a series of separately-signed but identically-worded agreements in 1814 between the Austrian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, the Russian Empire and the United Kingdom. They were dated 1 March 1814, although the actual s ...
. Use of the term in the historiography of the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
is therefore idiosyncratic to each author. In historiography of the pre-modern period, it is more typical to talk of
empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
s.
Gerry Simpson
Gerry Johannes Simpson is a professor of law at the London School of Economics and the University of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. He was born in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire.
Simpson studied law at the University of Aberdeen, the University ...
distinguishes "Great Powers", an elite group of states that manages the international legal order, from "great powers", empires or states whose military and political might define an era.
[Gerry Simpson, ''Great Powers and Outlaw States: Unequal Sovereigns in the International Legal Order'' (Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 68, uses the Vikings as an example of a great power that was not a Great Power.]
The following is a list of empires that have been called great powers during the Middle Ages:
*
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
(throughout)
[William Eckhardt, ''Civilizations, Empires, and Wars: A Quantitative History of War'' (McFarland, 1992), p. 113: "Medieval Great Powers included China throughout, Persia (500-600, 900-50, 1400-50), Byzantium (500-1050), Tu Chueh (550-600), Tibet (650- 1250), Muslim (650-850), Turkey (650, 1050-1100, 1450-1500), Prati (850), Khazar (850-900), Kiev (900-1050), Bujid (950), Fatimid (950-1050), Liao (950-1150), Ghaznavid (1050), Al-mohad (1150-1250), Egypt (1250-1450), Mongolia (1250-1450), Khmer (1250), Mali (1300, 1450), Chagatai (1350), Lithuania (1450), Inca (1500) and Russia (1500)."][Szabolcs József Polgár, "The Character of the Trade between the Nomads and their Settled Neighbours in Eurasia in the Middle Ages", ''Studia Uralo-altaica'' 53 (2019): 253, contrasts "the nomads of the Eurasian steppe with their settled neighbours", calling the former "steppe empires (that is, the greatest nomadic confederations)" and the latter "medieval great powers". He gives China, Sassanian Persia, the Caliphate and the Eastern Roman Empire as medieval great powers.]
*
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
(
Sasanians
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
, 500–600;
Samanids People
A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownershi ...
, 900–950;
Timurids
The Timurid Empire ( chg, , fa, ), self-designated as Gurkani ( Chagatai: کورگن, ''Küregen''; fa, , ''Gūrkāniyān''), was a PersianateB.F. Manz, ''"Tīmūr Lang"'', in Encyclopaedia of Islam, Online Edition, 2006 Turco-Mongol empire ...
, 1400–1450)
[
*]Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
(500–1050)[
*]Göktürk Khaganate
The First Turkic Khaganate, also referred to as the First Turkic Empire, the Turkic Khaganate or the Göktürk Khaganate, was a Turkic khaganate established by the Ashina clan of the Göktürks in medieval Inner Asia under the leadership of Bumi ...
(550–600)[
*]Tibetan Empire
The Tibetan Empire (, ; ) was an empire centered on the Tibetan Plateau, formed as a result of imperial expansion under the Yarlung dynasty heralded by its 33rd king, Songtsen Gampo, in the 7th century. The empire further expanded under the 38 ...
(650–1250)[
*The ]Caliphate
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
(650–850)[
*]Carolingian Empire
The Carolingian Empire (800–888) was a large Frankish-dominated empire in western and central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as kings of the Franks since 751 and as kings of the Lom ...
(751–843)
*Turks (Onoq
The Western Turkic Khaganate () or Onoq Khaganate ( otk, 𐰆𐰣:𐰸:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣, On oq budun, Ten arrow people) was a Turkic khaganate in Eurasia, formed as a result of the wars in the beginning of the 7th century (593–603 CE) after t ...
, 650; Seljuks
The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes
by the Turk ...
, 1050–1100; Ottomans
The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922).
Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
, 1450–1500)[
*]Vikings
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
[ (800–1050)
*]Bulgarian Empire
In the medieval history of Europe, Bulgaria's status as the Bulgarian Empire ( bg, Българско царство, ''Balgarsko tsarstvo'' ) occurred in two distinct periods: between the seventh and the eleventh centuries and again between the ...
(803–963)
*Pratihara Empire
The Gurjara-Pratihara was a dynasty that ruled much of Northern India from the mid-8th to the 11th century. They ruled first at Ujjain and later at Kannauj.
The Gurjara-Pratiharas were instrumental in containing Arab armies moving east of the ...
(850)[
*]Pala Empire
The Pāla Empire (r. 750-1161 CE) was an imperial power during the post-classical period in the Indian subcontinent, which originated in the region of Bengal. It is named after its ruling dynasty, whose rulers bore names ending with the suffi ...
(750-1160)
*Rashtrakuta Empire
Rashtrakuta (IAST: ') (r. 753-982 CE) was a royal Indian dynasty ruling large parts of the Indian subcontinent between the sixth and 10th centuries. The earliest known Rashtrakuta inscription is a 7th-century copper plate grant detailing their ...
(900)
*Khazar Khaganate
The Khazars ; he, כּוּזָרִים, Kūzārīm; la, Gazari, or ; zh, 突厥曷薩 ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a semi-nomadic Turkic people that in the late 6th-century CE established a major commercial empire coverin ...
(850–900)[
*]Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...
(900–1050)[
*]Buyid Dynasty
The Buyid dynasty ( fa, آل بویه, Āl-e Būya), also spelled Buwayhid ( ar, البويهية, Al-Buwayhiyyah), was a Shia Iranian dynasty of Daylamite origin, which mainly ruled over Iraq and central and southern Iran from 934 to 1062. Coupl ...
(950)[
*]Fatimid Caliphate
The Fatimid Caliphate was an Isma'ilism, Ismaili Shia Islam, Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the ea ...
(950–1050)[
*]Liao Dynasty
The Liao dynasty (; Khitan: ''Mos Jælud''; ), also known as the Khitan Empire (Khitan: ''Mos diau-d kitai huldʒi gur''), officially the Great Liao (), was an imperial dynasty of China that existed between 916 and 1125, ruled by the Yelü ...
(950–1150)[
*]Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
(950–1200)
*Almoravid Dynasty
The Almoravid dynasty ( ar, المرابطون, translit=Al-Murābiṭūn, lit=those from the ribats) was an imperial Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco. It established an empire in the 11th century that s ...
(1040-1147)
*Ghaznavid Dynasty
The Ghaznavid dynasty ( fa, غزنویان ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic ''mamluk'' origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, Khorasan, much of Transoxiana and the northwest ...
(1050)[
*]Almohad Caliphate
The Almohad Caliphate (; ar, خِلَافَةُ ٱلْمُوَحِّدِينَ or or from ar, ٱلْمُوَحِّدُونَ, translit=al-Muwaḥḥidūn, lit=those who profess the Tawhid, unity of God) was a North African Berbers, Berber M ...
(1150–1250)[
*]Angevin Empire
The Angevin Empire (; french: Empire Plantagenêt) describes the possessions of the House of Plantagenet during the 12th and 13th centuries, when they ruled over an area covering roughly half of France, all of England, and parts of Ireland and W ...
(1154-1259)
*Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt
The Mamluk Sultanate ( ar, سلطنة المماليك, translit=Salṭanat al-Mamālīk), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz (western Arabia) from the mid-13th to early 16th ...
(1250–1450)[
*]Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, ...
(1250–1450)[
* Khmer Empire (1250)][
*]Mali Empire
The Mali Empire ( Manding: ''Mandé''Ki-Zerbo, Joseph: ''UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. IV, Abridged Edition: Africa from the Twelfth to the Sixteenth Century'', p. 57. University of California Press, 1997. or Manden; ar, مالي, Māl ...
(1300, 1450)[
*]Kingdom of France
The Kingdom of France ( fro, Reaume de France; frm, Royaulme de France; french: link=yes, Royaume de France) is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period. ...
(since 1300)
*Chagatai Khanate
The Chagatai Khanate, or Chagatai Ulus ( xng, , translit=Čaɣatay-yin Ulus; mn, Цагаадайн улс, translit=Tsagaadain Uls; chg, , translit=Čağatāy Ulusi; fa, , translit=Xânât-e Joghatây) was a Mongol and later Turkicized kha ...
(1350)[
*]Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Li ...
(1450)[
*]Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
(since 1479)[Jack S. Levy: ''War in the Modern Great Power System 1495 – 1975.'' The University Press of Kentucky, Lexington 1983, , p. 20]
*Inca Empire
The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The admin ...
(1500)[
*]Grand Duchy of Moscow
The Grand Duchy of Moscow, Muscovite Russia, Muscovite Rus' or Grand Principality of Moscow (russian: Великое княжество Московское, Velikoye knyazhestvo Moskovskoye; also known in English simply as Muscovy from the Lati ...
(1500)[
Former countries
]
See also
* List of ancient great powers
Recognized great powers came about first in Europe during the post-Napoleonic era.Webster, Charles K, Sir (ed), British Diplomacy 1813–1815: Selected Documents Dealing with the Reconciliation of Europe, G Bell (1931), p307. The formalization ...
* List of modern great powers
A great power is a nation or state that, through its great economic, political and military strength, is able to exert power and influence not only over its own region of the world, but beyond to others.
In a modern context, recognized great ...
References
Further reading
* Cooper, F. (2008). ''Empires and Political Imagination in World History''. Princeton .a. Princeton University Press.
* Doyle, M. W. (1986). ''Empires''. Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press.
* English, Edward D. ed. ''Encyclopedia Of The Medieval World'' (2 vol. 2004).
* Farrington, K. (2003). ''Historical Atlas of Empires''. London: Mercury.
* Harrison, T., & J. Paul Getty Museum. (2009). ''The Great Empires of the Ancient World''. Los Angeles, Calif: J. Paul Getty Museum.
* Khan, A. (2004). ''A Historical Atlas of India''. New York: Rosen Pub.
* Jordan, William Chester. (1996) ''The Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia for Students'' (4 Volumes)
* Labberton, R. H. (1884).
An historical atlas: A chronological series of one hundred and twelve maps at successive periods
'. New York.
* Litwin, H. (2016)
''Central European Superpower''
''BUM Magazine'', October 2016.
* Loyn, H. R. (1989) ''The Middle Ages: A Concise Encyclopedia.'' (1989)
* Morris, I., & Scheidel, W. (2009). ''The Dynamics of Ancient Empires: State power from Assyria to Byzantium''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
* Pella, John & Erik Ringmar
History of International Relations Open Textbook Project
Cambridge: Open Book, forthcoming.
* Petitjean, P., Jami, C., Moulin, A. M., & Equipe REHSEIS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France)). (1992). ''Science and Empires: Historical Studies about Scientific Development and European Expansion''. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
* Shepherd, W. R., & C.S. Hammond & Company. (1911).
Historical Atlas
'. New York: Henry Holt and Co.
* Stearns, Peter N. ed. ''The Encyclopedia of World History'' (2001).
{{Empires
*
History of international relations
Lists of former countries
Great Powers
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 in ...