NEW technologies in the industrial revolution era changed the military power equation.

Every industrial revolution brings winners and losers in geopolitics because of new technology adoption differential, particularly in military technologies. For example, the First Industrial Revolution brought the British Empire to the pinnacle of global power even though its population was much smaller than the continental power of France.

https://www.manilatimes.net/2023/04/30/opinion/columns/new-war-tech-changing-winners-and-losers/1889285