In a modern context, recognized great powers first arose in Europe during the post-Napoleonic era.[1] The formalization of the division between small powers[2] and great powers came about with the signing of the Treaty of Chaumont in 1814.
The historical terms "Great Nation", a distinguished aggregate of people inhabiting a particular country or territory, and "Great Empire",[3] a considerable group of states or countries under a single supreme authority, are colloquial; their use is seen in ordinary historical conversations.[4][5][6]
^Webster, Charles K, Sir (ed), British Diplomacy 1813–1815: Selected Documents Dealing with the Reconciliation of Europe, G Bell (1931), p307.
^Toje, A. (2010). The European Union as a small power: After the post-Cold War. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
^Harrison, T., & J. Paul Getty Museum. (2009). The great empires of the ancient world. Los Angeles, Calif: J. Paul Getty Museum.
^Yonge, C. M. (1882). A pictorial history of the world's great nations: From the earliest dates to the present time. New York: S. Hess.
^In Powell, T. (1888). Illustrated home book of the world's great nations: Being a geographical, historical and pictorial encyclopedia. Chicago: People's Pub. Co.
^Edward Sylvester Ellis, Charles F. Horne (1906). The story of the greatest nations: from the dawn of history to the twentieth century : a comprehensive history founded upon the leading authorities, including a complete chronology of the world and a pronouncing vocabulary of each nation, Volume 1. F. R. Niglutsch.