ABSTRACT
Paul Kennedy’s The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers aims to answer the question of what makes a state a “great power.” The “great powers” Kennedy concerns himself with are, initially, dynasties centered on Spain, France, and Austria. The first “rise and fall” Kennedy discusses is that of the Habsburg Empire, whose story unfolds between 1516 and 1689. Looking at why the Habsburgs failed, Kennedy argues that despite the enormous wealth from their holdings in Europe and the New World, the Habsburgs could not afford to fight wars on many fronts over 140 years. In short, the Habsburgs failed “to recognize the importance of preserving the economic underpinnings of a powerful military machine.” Kennedy discusses Germany’s Hindenburg Programme, a program intended to double the production of munitions. Germany made a “massive infrastructural investment” in new industrial resources such as blast furnaces for gun-making.
