So I was thinking about this recently. How did the great powers/world powers gain their power? I know that it has something to do with war, but isn't that kind of begging the question, because the definition of a great power is a state that can influence other states, which means that it has to be successful at war.
Hey, I know this answer is frowned upon by some of our readers but this is a "too complicated for one lonely poster" type of question. The rise and fall of the states who at one point could be considered 'great powers' -- Britain, France, Spain, Austria, the Ottoman Empire, Russia, Netherlands, Prussia, Germany, Sweden all contenders -- all had wholly unique rises and falls. I know this probably frustrates you but that's the reality of history. Just talking about one of these powers rises alone would take up 2 or 3 full posts to do it proper justice. There is certainly overlap, the story of Spain, Netherlands, and Britain is a thoroughly intertwined one, but that doesn't reduce the complexity it increases it.
If you would like some works this is what I would recommend for further reading. If you would like details on a specific rise just reply and I'll be happy to oblige! However "How did the Great Powers become so powerful" begets an individual discussion on every single rise and fall. There was not some single overlying force that suddenly made a bunch of regional powers into great powers against their whim.
Some further reading would be,
The Rise of the Great Powers 1648 - 1815 by Derek McKay et. al
The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall 1477-1806 by Jonathan Israel
The Great Powers and the European States System 1814-1914 by Roy Bridge
The Northern Wars: War, State and Society in Northeastern Europe, 1558 - 1721 by Robert Frost
Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947 by Christopher Clarke
The Wars of German Unification by William Carr
The Wars of Louis XIV, 1664-1714 by John Lynn
I unfortunately do not have any sources that deal specifically with Britain, Sweden, or Spain. Israel's work deals with the latter secondarily. The same goes for Robert Frost and Sweden. H.W. Koch's work The Rise of Modern Warfare, 1618-1815 has two wonderful chapters on the military rise of Britain and Russia but, again, it's not a book dedicated to it and it's not worth picking them up for just a single chapter if that's what you're interested in.