How did America become such a powerful country?
The US achieved parity with England after WW1. When WW2 began, it became obvious the US was more than equal as it could bankroll and side with England’s war against Hitler’s Germany. In the post-WW2 period, war-torn Europe became the basket case of the US. By this period, with the fury of the Cold War between USSR and the US, the former tried desperately to equal the latter and became bankrupt in the process by 1990. It was fait accompli that the US had taken the place of England as a superpower. After the dash to Berlin by the USSR to catch up with the victorious Americans, the stage for Cold War and great power rivalry had begun. WW1 sapped Europe’s strength and unity in Asia. That saved China from being partitioned, but it left a dangerous vacuum for a fast rising Japan whose victories against China (Treaty of Shimonoseki, 1895) and the defeat and total destruction of the Russian Pacific Fleet in 1904, showed her a coming great naval power. It was not a surprising event, because Jap
