There is inconsiderable number of elements that contribute to a great nation, such as great talents in politics, science and arts, high population quality, people's welfare and the like. They all count in developing a nation's economy, politics and culture. However, recently a debate rises that whether it is the great talents of the country like politicians, scientists and artists that serve as the indicator of a great nation or its people's general welfare.
From my perspective, I stand firmly on the point that it is the general welfare of its people that indicates a nation's greatness for the reason that the general welfare of people directly reflects a nation's economic situation, which works as the building block of its development. If a country with great giants who care nothing about its people's welfare, it is likely that they will lead the nation to crumble. For instance, Stalin,the prime minister of former Soviet, who was widely acknowledged for his success in leading Soviet into one of the two biggest countries in the world during the mid leaf of 20 century, laid excessive stress on the nation's military development and forced his people to work for producing weapons, sharply lowering their living standard and social welfare. Although it was true that at first his focus on military power helped Soviet gain worldwide acknowledgement, gradually his wrongdoings destroyed the economy of the nation and indirectly caused the collapse of Soviet. Contrast to Soviet's collapse, the other super nation, USA, develops steadily for its everlasting notice on its people's living quality and general welfare, which also contributes to its economic development.
The second reason is that good social welfare for its people can help keep society steadiness, protecting the nation from violence and chaos, which will inevitably harm a nation's greatness. Nations from North Europe are just the cases. People from such nations are provided with free education and medical care during their whole life, they are taken good care of by the governments, kept from hard lives. Such nations always enjoy a peaceful and harmonious environment where few violence can be seen. On the contrary, countries like China and India, where people are not provided with good general welfare, are disturbed by violence caused by homeless and helpless people. For example, two years ago in China, an unemployed physics ran into a kindergarten and killed more than 10 children, the explanation for his crime was he couldn't get any help from his relatives and the society after he lost his job. These violence and disturbance resulted from the lack of general welfare indicates that it matters much in its steady development.
It is true that brilliant politicians, scientists, and artists are indispensable indicators of a nation's greatness. They sometimes can make a great contribution for their nations: Roosevelt's New Deal helped USA out of the Great Depression, Watt's improvement in steam machine brought UN into a new age, artists like Monnai and Picasso made Paris the"Art Deco Capital" .However, such improvement in politics, science and arts are based on the steady development of economy, which can directly seen by the nation's general welfare of its people.