THE GUNPOWDER EMPIRES
The era between 1450 and 1750 saw the appearance of several land-based empires who built their power on the use of gunpowder: the Ottomans and the Safavids in Southwest Asia , the Mughals in India , the Ming and Qing in China , and the new Russian Empire.
The banking system is crucial for the functioning of the US economy because they make loans and create credit. Without loans many people wouldn't be able to buy a house or a car, and the economy would collapse. Government regulates the banks to make sure they are being fair to their clients.
The Second Empire gave way to the Third Republic after France lost the Franco-Prussian War to Prussia.
Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte (nephew of the more famous Napoleon) had become president of France in 1848, and tried to return to the nostalgic glory days of France as an empire by having a referendum in 1852 to name him as emperor. But the Second Empire never was as powerful as its predecessor.
The Third Republic, which commenced in 1870, lasted until France fell to German invasion in World War II (in 1940).
