British political development benefited from several luxuries not available to those who came after. Still, these advantages had an expiration date. By the beginning of the 20th century, Britain’s declining power was starting to show. Allied with France, they could not have defeated Germany without the United States.

enjoyed the privilege of more time to develop a modern state and economy in a more organic and gradual way. In the initial period of industrialization, Britain faced no global competitors with the same range and power.

Britain’s most important rival in Europe in the early 20th century was Germany, but it was not to unify until 1870. It developed rapidly afterwards but in the shadow of and living in a global economic order shaped very much by Britain. Germany was forced to face the four challenges of state building at the same time in a very competitive global environment which seemed, especially to German nationalists, to place real limits on their ability to develop.