Private enterprises like the Rothschilds and Rockefellers have had more money than any nation on Earth for more than a century.
Generally to understand the history of any advanced civilization you have to follow the money. And since 1815 Rothschild have had enough capital and reputation amongst private investors to decide who rules in most countries, which country has the credit to start a war, which country/alliance has the money to win a war, etc
Dude, that's such an utter cop-out.
http://www.iamthewitness.com/DarylBradfordSmith_Rothschild.h... (timeline with narrative)
http://www.iamthewitness.com/DarylBradfordSmith_Bankers.htm (banking and usury timeline in general)
http://www.iamthewitness.com/doc/RothschildsTimeline.ppt (powerpoint slide deck on Rothschilds from the sources above)
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi/noframes/re... (how Nathan Rothschild cornered the London Stock Exchange and became a billionaire in early 1800s).
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5352106773770802849 (Money as Debt - quintessential primer on fractional reserve banking and debt)
Money Masters - http://www.sprword.com/videos/moneymasters/
The Secret of Oz Trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cq9yEVcGIU
A few more http://linkedtheory.blogspot.com/2011/02/world-economic-coll...
There were many other technologies that had the potential to change the global political system, like the Internet.