Great Britain is a small, seemingly nondescript and peripheral island nation located in the cold and stormy seas of the North Atlantic. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland combined are only the size of the state of Utah. Britain is smaller than Iraq, Turkey, and even Thailand. Yet during one point in its history, one quarter of the world’s inhabitants paid homage to the queen. Even today, one out of four people speaks English.

How has this been possible?

If you were to simply look at a globe and pick out which country would most probably become a global superpower, Great Britain would not be an obvious choice.

Yet the fact remains that Great Britain was the biggest empire in the history of the world—absolutely dwarfing that of ancient Babylon, Alexander the Great, and even the Roman Empire, of which much of Britain was once a province.

It is critical that you understand why Great Britain became the most expansive empire the world has ever seen. Not only will it change your understanding of the world, but it will revolutionize your understanding of the future.

Those who study the Bible know the primary reason nations grow to greatness. The Bible says God raises up nations to prominence. He puts kings on thrones for His purposes. It is God who places nations in their relative locations and who sets the boundaries of peoples (Deuteronomy 32:8).

God makes nations great! And often He uses physical means to work out His plan.

Throughout the Bible, God prophesied that specific nations would emerge to dominate the globe. One example is that of the Ephraimites, the Israelitish tribe that later migrated to the British Isles (for historical documentation of this, read the book The United States and Britain in Prophecy). Ephraim was the younger son of Joseph, who was the son of Jacob, the father of all Israelites. Prior to Jacob’s death, he passed on the God-ordained birthright blessings to Joseph’s two sons (Ephraim and Manasseh). God said that Ephraim’s descendants were to become a great company or commonwealth of nations, that his descendants would become as numerous as the sands of the seashore and that his children would gain possession of the world’s most strategic sea gates and trade route choke points.

But how exactly did God bring about these physical blessings of national greatness? He used physical factors such as natural resources, landforms, climate and relative proximity to competitors and allies. In short, He used geography.

What is the defining feature of the British? Colonization. The national characteristic of going out and setting up colonies around the world defined British psychology for hundreds of years.

And geography virtually forced Britain into becoming a colonizing people.

Great Britain’s situation as an island nation has had a huge impact on the character and traits of its people. Britain’s long coastlines, its many natural harbors (including the deepest natural harbor in Europe) and inlets and its navigable rivers hugely impacted its development as a nation.

For example, Britain’s natural resources perfectly situated it to become a naval power. And its geographical vulnerability forced it to become one.

The nation’s security depended on it having a strong navy. Going back prior to Roman times, Britain was constantly attacked by marauding pirates and foreign invaders alike. Viking raiders consistently sailed up its rivers and plundered its churches and towns. By the time land-based armies could respond, the invaders would be gone over the horizon. This geographic vulnerability fostered the creation of naval defenses.

Climate too played a role in making Britain a seafaring people. During the 16th to 19th centuries, Britain went through what is referred to as the Little Ice Age. During this time period, food production became more difficult. So it was natural for Britons to turn to the sea to feed themselves. This helped foster the oceangoing trades among the population.

During the reign of Elizabeth i, the cooler climate also pushed Britain toward the oceans, and toward becoming a naval power, for economic reasons. As agricultural production fell, Britain adopted a policy of preying on Spanish shipping as a way to supplement national income.

Later on, Britain’s natural resources would play another role in making sure Britain would have the world’s dominant navy.

During the 1800s, Britain’s coal deposits helped ensure its naval viability. As its navy modernized, it had a reliable, domestic source of fuel. In fact, Britain has some of the largest coal deposits in Europe.

And those coal resources also allowed for Britain to lead the world in iron production. During the Industrial Revolution there was a period in which Great Britain produced more iron than France, Germany and Russia combined. Since iron became the metal of the Industrial Revolution and modern war, this too allowed British power to expand.

Not only did Britain have some of the largest coal deposits, it was also bequeathed one of the world’s largest oil fields. During the 20th century, the North Sea discovery turned Britain into one of the world’s largest oil exporters. While the rest of Europe was dangerously reliant on imported oil, and had to spend vast amounts of money importing it, Britain not only held the keys to European energy security, but had vast and secure sources of fuel for its ships.

Britain’s geography couldn’t have been better situated to make it a naval power. This is important because Britain could not have become that great company of nations—that great colonizing empire—without its navy.

Yet if the navy was the link that made empire possible, it was the geographic smallness of the British Isles that provided the impetus for the mass migration of settlers.

Have you ever noticed how small Great Britain is compared to the United States? Had Great Britain been as geographically large as the U.S., Britain never would have become a nation of colonizers. There would have been no need—it would have had all the empty land it could have wished for. There would have been no need for immigrants to settle South Africa, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Rhodesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, India, the Bahamas, Grenada, British Guyana, the United States and so on.

But in Britain, the population was always land-constrained. What land was available was concentrated in the hands of the nobles and aristocracy. When the coal-fired Industrial Revolution boosted living standards, it ignited a population explosion that spread like wildfire around the globe.

Migration was the natural result, and colonization got underway full-swing.

Geography virtually forced Great Britain to become a colonizing people. Geography turned a small island race into a vast commonwealth of nations the like of which the world had never seen. And geography fulfilled an ancient promise made to the patriarch Abraham and his descendant Ephraim.

Yet today, the geographical blessings that made Britain great are being taken away. The North Sea oil is failing, environmentalists have shut down much of Britain’s coal mining, Britain’s ports are old and run down, and its ship-building industry is all but vanished.

As far as Britain’s vast commonwealth of nations? The link to the Crown is broken. The relationship is little more than symbolism today. And Britain’s vast network of sea gates and sea bases that once included the Suez Canal, Northern Somalia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and countless other island and coastal bases around the world, are all but gone as well—only Gibraltar and the Falklands remain. And probably not for much longer.

Why did the British Empire collapse so quickly following World War ii? And will America follow Britain’s footsteps as a failing world power?

Those questions are also answered in Herbert W. Armstrong’s book The United States and Britain in Prophecy.Order this free book now. It will unlock your understanding of the Bible and world events. You will never regret it.