economy with a continental scale economy, huge technological innovations, the wonderful discovery of mass public education, so many things going for the United States, so much natural resource base, filled with coal, oil, gas, everything one needs for great greatness of military power, of technology, of industry, and so forth. And America does become the dominant economy already in the early 20th century, but not the dominant geopolitical force. But the idea that, oh, we're great. We're really something, is of course bolstered by all of this. Then, I'm speeding history very quickly, but two world wars, great depression, and low and behold by 1945, Britain is no longer an empire. It's exhausted. It's collapsed. India is about to declare its independence. Within a couple of decades, Britain loses almost all of its imperial possessions that have been conquered over the preceding couple of centuries. And America finds itself essentially as the unrivaled power of the world, but for the (20/45)
You are viewing a single comment's thread from: