Reason: Great achievements by a nation's rulers, artists, or scientists will ensure a good life for the majority of that nation's people.The surest indicator of a great nation must be the achievements of its rulers, artists, or scientists because those ac

It is a widespread belief that the best marker of a great nation ought to be the accomplishments of its governors, scholars and artists because those achievements inevitably lead to prosperity of general population. Although this idea has many proponents and nation's accomplishments are indeed connected with state's greatness, the greatness of a nation is not determined by the achievements solely. Thus I disagree with the issue.

To begin with, achievements of a nation definitely contribute to its greatness, for example, we may take a look at the Great Britain which became an empire because of its technological superiority over its rivals, for instance, the state widely used machinery which were powered by steam engines which skyrocketed workers' productivity, accomplishments of national artists such as Shakespeare spread its culture, ideas and mores all over the world. In other words, nation's achievements may indeed enhance state's greatness. However, may we aver that it is the best indicator of it?

Perhaps, the answer on this question is "no" due to the fact that a great nation ought to ensure well-being of its people but accomplishments of the nation do not unavoidably lead to the prosperity of major population. In other words, a nation which has many accomplishments in arts, politics and science may fail to ensure well-being of the state's demos. For instance, at the beginning of the XX century, in Europe many countries such as Germany had many great scientists, thinkers, inventors and governors who managed to increase Germany's strength enough to rival with the Great Britain over its colonies overseas. At the same time, ordinary people faced severe hardships such as famine and diseases which were caused by infections, and poor life and work conditions. In other words, the accomplishments do not always lead to the nation's prosperity. As a result we may conclude that it is not the best indicator but what is the best marker of the greatness?

As far as I am concerned the answer on this question is the well-being of the majority of the population. In fact, a great nation ought to care about its people. It is literally impossible to imagine that people of a great nation died out because of food shortage or preventable diseases. Moreover, a great nation ought to create decent conditions for people's living as well. Consequently, people's well-being is the best indicator of the nation's greatness.

In conclusion, although many of us see the nation's achievements as the surest indicator of the state's greatness, it cannot guarantee people's well-being and therefore it cannot be claimed as the best marker of the greatness of a nation. Consequently, well-being of majority is the surest indicator of the nation's greatness.