>>212439489if we want to discuss European history as a whole you literally cannot pick a “winner”, by that same logic you described. the pope was in Italy and had huge influence, like the banks and the center of trade with the Orient. Germans invented print and protestantism, which also, huge influence. the Dutch revolutionized global trade. the Iberians controlled huge areas of the new world and were responsible for literally shifting the center of the world elsewhere. France and the UK did their part, absolutely, but none were the sole masters of Europe’s destiny because they came up with one particular thing (what is the industrial revolution really? Northern Italy had industrial-like silk production processes before Britain). and this is if you want to discuss European history without biases.
if you don’t want to do that, you can pick any which thing you like the most and claim it’s *literally* the invention of the wheel therefore my team won lol.