When the Bible book of Revelation was written, almost 1,900 years ago, it said that five “kings,” or world powers, had already come and gone. These were Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. The sixth, Rome, still ‘was,’ but the seventh had not yet arrived. (Revelation 17:10)

Then, in the 18th century, the British and the French fought in such widely separated places as North America and India, leading to the Treaty of Paris in 1763. Concerning it, William B. Willcox wrote in his book Star of Empire​—A Study of Britain as a World Power that although the treaty appeared to be a compromise, “actually it recognized Britain’s new position as the predominant European power in the world beyond Europe.”

Other historians agree, saying: “From two centuries of warfare with Spaniards, Dutch, and French, Great Britain emerged in 1763 as the foremost commercial and colonial power in the world.” (Modern Europe to 1870) “In 1763 the British Empire bestrode the world like some revived and enlarged Rome.” “She emerged from the midcentury wars the greatest empire and the strongest​—and the most thoroughly hated—​power in the world.” (Navy and Empire, by James L. Stokesbury) Yes, this ‘small horn’ had grown to become the seventh world power of Bible history.