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Traditionally, the major players in the game of international affairs from the 1870s to the start of the Second World War; also the countries which can be adopted by players of the game “Diplomacy.” Russia, Great Britain, France, and Germany can definitely be defined as Great Powers, but like many historical terms, complete definitions are contentious, vary from historian to historian, and have absolutely no relevence to anything meaningful about everyday life. Other possibilities for Great Power membership include Austria-Hungary, Italy, the Ottoman Empire, and the United States; the term is usually consensual in that it refers only to European or North American countries.