1899's a long time ago though, isn't it? I'm from 2006 and long before I was born muggles developed a weapon that can be dropped from the sky and destroy an entire city and everyone in it. It hasn't been used since then, but I'd imagine they've developed something that could wipe out a whole country by now. In the future, we're not necessarily more powerful than they are. We haven't developed spells of mass destruction that match their weapons of mass destruction, so in this day and age, I wouldn't consider a war with the muggles very feasible. A wand isn't going to do much against a bomb dropped from the sky by a person in a machine that avada kedavra wouldn't even penetrate.
All the same, I don't personally consider these the shining achievements of the muggle world, but if you're talking just in terms of power, it'll only take about 46 years after your time until that's no longer an objective truth.