<P> The victorious great powers also gained an acknowledgement of their status through permanent seats at the League of Nations Council, where they acted as a type of executive body directing the Assembly of the League . However, the Council began with only four permanent members--the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Japan--because the United States, meant to be the fifth permanent member, did not ratify the Treaty of Versailles, thus preventing American participation in the League . Germany later joined, and left along with Japan, and the Soviet Union joined . </P> <P> When World War II started in 1939, it divided the world into two alliances: the Allies (the United Kingdom and France at first in Europe, China in Asia since 1937, followed in 1941 by the Soviet Union and the United States) and the Axis powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan). During World War II, the United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union controlled Allied policy and emerged as the "Big Three". The Republic of China and the Big Three were referred as a "trusteeship of the powerful" and were recognized as the Allied "Big Four" in Declaration by United Nations in 1942 . These four countries were referred as the "Four Policemen" of the Allies and considered as the primary victors of World War II . The importance of France was acknowledged by their inclusion, along with the other four, in the group of countries allotted permanent seats in the United Nations Security Council . </P> <P> Since the end of the World Wars, the term "great power" has been joined by a number of other power classifications . Foremost among these is the concept of the superpower, used to describe those nations with overwhelming power and influence in the rest of the world . It was first coined in 1944 by William T.R. Fox and according to him, there were three superpowers: the British Empire, the United States, and the Soviet Union . But after World War II the British Empire lost its superpower status, leaving the United States and the Soviet Union as the world's superpowers . The term middle power has emerged for those nations which exercise a degree of global influence, but are insufficient to be decisive on international affairs . Regional powers are those whose influence is generally confined to their region of the world . </P> <P> During the Cold War, the Asian power of Japan and the European powers of the United Kingdom, France, and West Germany rebuilt their economies . France and the United Kingdom maintained technologically advanced armed forces with power projection capabilities and maintain large defence budgets to this day . Yet, as the Cold War continued, authorities began to question if France and the United Kingdom could retain their long - held statuses as great powers . China, with the world's largest population, has slowly risen to great power status, with large growth in economic and military power in the post-war period . After 1949, the Republic of China began to lose its recognition as the sole legitimate government of China by the other great powers, in favour of the People's Republic of China . Subsequently, in 1971, it lost its permanent seat at the UN Security Council to the People's Republic of China . </P>

Which countries were considered superpowers after world war ii