When it comes to modern powerful countries, they are nothing more than those in Europe and the United States, Britain, France, Germany, and Japan, which is located in East Asia, is an exception. Capitalist powers have a very long history of development. Spain and Portugal were the first to have maritime hegemony. At that time, except for the West, other regions in the world were dominated by agricultural civilization. Spain and Portugal relied on sea power to control maritime trade routes, and their hegemony came from this. Then came hundreds of years of colonial conquests.
The situation is changing, and when it is Britain and France’s turn to come on the scene, the world structure can no longer be controlled by controlling sea power. Britain and France have caught up with the industrial revolution, and their national power has increased unprecedentedly. People have discovered that the influence of science and technology is so great. As a result, more advanced capitalism emerged. Bloody capitalism is linked to colonial methods. Britain and France can continuously plunder precious resources from the colonies, and then forcefully sell their own products there. The profits they obtain are getting bigger and bigger, and their national power is unprecedentedly strong.
With the evolution of industry, some colonies that were originally colonized by Britain and France also have their own development, and can even get rid of their oppressed situation, such as the United States. After the reunification of the North and the South, the United States perfectly caught up with the second industrial revolution. In the era of electrification, the United States developed rapidly. Until 1890, the United States' economic scale was the largest in the world. In addition, like newly unified Germany, Germany also ushered in the spring of the Industrial Revolution. Relying on industry, this rapid development was very obvious. Before World War I, Germany had become the leader of the European economy. Before that, Britain and France dominated the world. There was no threat to it, but Germany was not very capable at that time. Because it failed to catch up with the colonial boom, its development encountered a bottleneck. At this point, the British Empire has embarked on the path of decline as it rises, and now even the afterglow is almost invisible.
During World War II, Germany, the United States, and the Soviet Union relied on advanced industry to leave Britain and France far behind. For the United States, because the war did not affect the mainland, it even reaped many benefits. In the end, the world structure changed again, and the struggle for hegemony between the United States and the Soviet Union began. Britain and France were forced to follow the footsteps of the United States, and the former hegemons became second-rate countries.
The reason for the change in the hegemony pattern of Britain and France is that the needs of their development model are not met. The development model of Britain and France relies on colonization, colonial materials, British and French commodities, and colonial labor. There needs to be a perfect connection. For example, when it came to China, Britain could transport iron and gold from China and plunder wealth. It could also sell its own goods to China at high prices. It could even build factories in China and continue to produce wealth by relying on the extremely cheap local labor force. Why does this method no longer work? Because Britain and France have lost their hegemony, and Britain and France are not far ahead in industrial competition.
Today's globalization and the emergence of the European Union are undoubtedly another threat to hegemony. In this regard, the United States is quite similar to the United Kingdom before World War I. Although it has hegemony, it is shaky. Therefore, we can see that the United States uses various means to maintain its hegemony all the time in order to avoid losing its hegemonic advantage.