Which European Empire was the most powerful

[hangfan91]

Of these European empires, which one was the most powerful and influential?

[Blue3]

1 Britain
2 Spain
3 France

[Modernity has failed us]

Definitely the British Empire.

[TDAS04]

Definitely the British Empire.

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

The British Empire, easily.

[ElectionsGuy]

The British Empire, easily.

[Consciously Unconscious]

The one that the sun didn't set on. 

[SNJ1985]

The British Empire was definitely the most powerful of these three...I don't really see how one could try to argue otherwise.

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

The one that is responsible for the existence of the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and many other nations.

[Dr. Cynic]

Without a doubt, the British Empire was the most successful empire of the last 500 years. Spain was successful as well, but it didn't last as long and was simply not as dominant as the British one.

The French Empire could be considered a failed empire. Napoleon lost everything for them and it took a great deal to rebuild everything. They failed in Mexico and they failed against Germany in 1870. The French Empire was always tenuous at best.

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

Not to mention the linguistical, cultural and legal legacy the British Empire was able to leave behind in the Anglosphere. Spain was able to do the same in South America , and even tiny Portugal colonized Brazil which has 200 million + Portugese speakers. France was terrible at settling its empire in North America and only has Quebec as a french speaking colony.

[Cory]

1 Britain
2 Spain
3 France

[Bigby]

The British for two reasons:

1. They held the most territory and resources at their height.
2. They held such large amounts of territory for a long time, even long after the Spanish and French crumbled.

[BaconBacon96]

The fact that English the lingua franca of the world is indicative of the British legacy.

[The Mikado]

What kind of question is this?

What are you asking to compare?  Military power?  Scope of successful taxation (which directly results in the latter)?  State infrastructure?  Stability?  Ability to have government actually affect the lives of its citizens in a real sense? What time period are we looking at?  Spain's going to fare significantly better in 1600 than 1800, and England significantly worse in 1600 than 1800.

[ingemann]

The Spanish Empire was stronger comparitive to the rest of Europe than Britain were at the height of both empire, in fact unless we only look at UK as colonial power, in which it won, both Spain and France was giants which all of Europe feared.
UK was always just a player among many in Europe and even at it height, it was never a existential threat on it own to its European competetors.
Of course none of these empires was a comparitive strong as the Roman Empire was at it height or even the Frankish Empire.

So I would put it like this with the three choices:

Spain
France
UK

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

The Spanish Empire, unlike British and French counterparts, reached it's pinnacle in the 1600s, after which, a long decline begun.