I wouldn't say that Russia and the UK were the mightiest. In truth they both just got lucky geographically. Russia had the benefit of facing an opponent that had to fight a two front war, had harsh winters, and had a wide countryside that made the Germans extend their supply lines. The UK had a benefit that no other country had, and that is called the English Channel. Without that the UK would have probably been crushed.
Sorry but that is not the only reason Britain wasn't crushed D-rock. At the time we had the best armed forces in the world man for man. We also had a plane called the Spitfire that was a true legend in it's own right. We'd have easily have lost the battle of Britain without it. The UK and it's allies had some of the best generals in the world who was allowed to do the job they was there for. Unlike the German generals who had to do exactly what Hitler said, although he didn't have a clue really in warfare tatics.
Plus they wasn't only the British on this little island of ours. There was the free French forces, plus Dutch, Polish, Canadians, etc. On top of these there was the American volunteers, as not all Americans entered the war in 1941, some was there sometime before.
Lets not give the Brits too much credit, they would have been in serious trouble had the US not been sending supply ships to them for some time.
Actually our supplies was coming from British companies in the US.
Had the Germans been willing to continue the battle of Britain, the brits would have surely fallen, since they could not produce neither planes nor pilots quick enough to cover their losses.
The reason the Germans gave up on the Battle of Britain was because of their losses. It was costing them too much and they couldn't keep the production up of planes and ships to the rate of their losses. Their plane loss was about 4 to every British and allied plane shot down. After all it wasn't just British pilots or planes up there. As explained to D-rock above there was other forces on this little island.
Hindsight is 20/20 , we should all be thankfull Hitler couldn't run an army, for had he listened to his Generals, it's likely the outcome of the European part of the war would have been vastly different.
Quite true, except they would still had lots of trouble with Russia with the vast country they would have to defeat. Also they had the Italians too
(Sorry BNF)
Either way, Superpowers of the world are often criticized for protecting their interests globally. It has always been this way, and always will be.
What is a superpower, is it a country with a bigger, better armed forces and weapons. Or just a country with more money and interests in other countries ?