Relative power can fall while national wealth grows

Italy, Japan, and the United States were rising at the same time as Germany, so the international balance could not remain fixed around an Anglo-German contest. Modern Britain illustrates the distinction between absolute wealth and relative rank: the country can be richer than its past self without remaining the world's leading commercial power. Population, physical scale, and different rates of growth allow other states to overtake a country that is still expanding. Fleets compete against moving rivals rather than against an opponent's historical baseline. Tirpitz's theory treated Germany's rise as uniquely decisive when several powers were changing the ranking at once.