many Powers

The number of Great Powers existing at a given time will vary according to the test applied, but by any reckoning there were several Great Powers of equal status on the eve of each of the World Wars, while after 1945 there were two which outclassed all the rest..............

............İn a world of many Powers no one Power is quite sure that a given other Power will be an enemy in all circumstances, no one Power is certainly and absolutely hostile to any other Power - even in July and August 1914 the combinations of the Powers in an imminent war were in doubt. This uncertainty was both a logical product of the multiple division of power and an incentive to genuine diplomatic activity as opposed to political dwelling.

Calvocoressi, P., (1955), Survey of İnternational Affairs, Oxford Univ Press