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by kh14n07 on May 25th, 2005

kh14n07

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If America once was part of the British Empire, how did they become more powerful than the British Empire?

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  • by Drinking Dano on December 4th, 2005

    Drinking Dano

    This is pretty subjective, so to avoid ignorant bad ratings, I’ll stick to answering this with what is irrefutable!

    The BIGGEST reasons for this happening has NOTHING to moxy or gusto no matter how much Americans want to believe it, it has EVERYTHING to do with being isolated from the happenings in Europe.

    While the Empire was starting to feel the pinch of maintaining the Empire before WWI, WWI was the REAL beginning of the end. While England and most of the Empire were bearing the brunt of the war, the Americans were only involved in WWI for a VERY short time in any kind of a REAL capacity.

    The Empire carried on, pretty much business as usual, except that more and more Dominions and Colonies were starting to talk about independence, or at the very least, most autonomous rule.

    As WWII approached, the cost of the Empire was starting to get more and more expensive, but still worth it for not only the monetary value, but also the prestige! (Don’t forget, the British Empire of the 19th Century was the largest the world had EVER seen!)

    By the end of WWII, the British were in SEVERE trouble economically, and the cost of the Empire simply became too prohibitive given the costs they incurred during the war, the cost of rebuilding and Lord knows, the personal cost of the average citizen of the Empire.

    The United States on the other hand, (again waiting to get in to the war until their hand was forced!) incurred a large debt in human costs, but a COMPARITIVE small cost in the Economy. The U.S. didn’t have to worry about their capital (Or any other city for that matter) being bombed night in and night out. (Though, to be fair, they did introduce black out conditions in many places) The WORST they had to contend with (In local terms) were U-Boats off the coast. (In fact, over 20 ships were sunk in the St. Lawrence River, but most of them were Canadian!)

    As such, when the war was over, the U.S. found its infrastructure largely intact and was not forced to place anywhere NEAR as much funds in to rebuilding its cities and other infrastructure concerns. This allowed to Americans a HUGE advantage in the following decades to rise and become the dominant force on the planet.

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  • by B. Krayzee - Dirrty Professor @ Large on April 9th, 2008

    B. Krayzee - Dirrty Professor @ Large

    Basically, at the end of WWII the American Economy (for various reasons and arguments) was the only one left standing strong.

    Believe me when I say this is all about money, because it is. Over the last few decades the US has led the way in global financial growth, with the US$ (US Dollar) replacing the gold standard as the way many countries base their economies and protect their wealth.

    In all this time, the US has continued steady growth through Industry and Trade. In due time the US became the most powerful country in the world (to the constant dismay of many nations).

    This is not to say that the UK is not powerful or financially strong, but the US and it's string of trading partners and Free trade agreements with other strong countries such as the UK, Canada, Mexico and others has taken full advantage of its position to gain wealth through global expansion.

    Keep in mind, what goes around comes around... soon the rapidly fading US$ will be replaced in world value by the powerful Euro.

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  • by ... on May 31st, 2005

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  • by Doubly Ugly on April 9th, 2008

    Doubly Ugly

    Britain couldn't hold on to its American colonies because it was overextended in far off places like Afghanistan. It had a lot of military might but couldn't be everywhere at once and nearly bankrupted itself following the blinkered edicts of its autocratic leader and his apalling followers.

    Sound familiar?

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  • by Seraphim Shinobi on April 9th, 2008

    Seraphim Shinobi

    theres one piece of advice that us british didn't follow: "always be able to kill you're student"

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