The so-called long eighteenth century from 1688 to 1815 was a formative period for Britain. Up to that point, Britain had been a small island monarchy, a minor player on the European scene. The Glorious Revolution in 1688, however, marked a new era. After establishing representative government, the little island slowly shored up its military strength and became increasingly involved in interstate affairs. It defeated its enemies and grew in strength. It expanded its domestic economy and partook of a widening world economic system. It outproduced and outsold its rivals and built its economic infrastructure. By the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, Britain emerged as the world's preeminent power. It became a global hegemon, a foe to be feared or a friend to be flattered. Later, the United States followed a similar path. It began as a comparably small series of settlements on the east coast of North America. After World War II, it became the world's new economic mammoth, taking up the role that Britain had held previously. As the years 1688–1815 for Britain marked the path toward world power, so did the years 1776–1945 for the United States.