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"I've been accused of speaking in a condescending manner. There's where I talk to you like you're stupid." - Al GoreQuote:
Originally Posted by TheAbominatrix
On a less sarcastoc note, I agree it had to do with the turnout of World War II. After we shrugged off being isolationists, we just tried to fix everything. And now it's escalated into Bush's War on Terror.
I'm moving to England or Canada. Probably the latter.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zaphier
I wanted to make it perfectly clear that I wasnt saying America was completly isolated. There's different levels of what the word 'isolationist' could mean, including not keeping up relations with other countries or allowing people of other countries into your own.
Luck
While I'll keep my opinions about the 'war' going on right now ( Look, we already started it so to just pull out right now would be wrong in my eyes . . . ) I will say that I would prefer it much more if America was more concerned about America's business and less concerned with everyone else's.
http://forums.eyesonff.com/showthread.php?t=50994
This would have something to do with it. Without that success, we might never have expanded.
Lewis: "Sir, we've got some bad news."
Jefferson: "Yes, what it is?"
Clark: "The West sucks. Really really. It's not worth it."
Jefferson: "So much for my nation of farmers..."
I think you 'Mericans became a superpower to get back at us Brits tricking you into joining the first world war.
Cos face it, we tricked you good. :)
I'd say the capitalism ethic was the main driving force behind America becoming a superpower.
That led to money that led to power.
Chaos
Luck and determination, mostly luck.
I wasn't asking for a solitary reason.Quote:
but if I HAD to pick one reason
So pretty much everyone is in agreement that the accumulation of wealth through the various means helped America become the Superpower it is today. How do poeple think the money from the lend-lease program helped America recover from the Great Depression? Everything was all fine and dandy until that pesky wall street crash in 1929. It took more than just money to get out of it, someone had to know how to invest it.
Do people think that the rise in consumerism and the Americanisation of post WWII British Culture made America "fashionable"? Hollywood and the invention of the television, followed by the invention of the teenager for example were massive adverts for consumerism, did these play significant roles in America accumulating it's wealth?
It's also far away from most nations that have been known for international aggression over the past years. Attacking America from outside the Americas was never easy in the past and a lot of wealthy people moved there because of this, and also because of the 'freedom'.
The question, for me, is how long will America be the superpower it is now? What would, or at least could stop it? These are questions far more interesting to me. Not that I wish the downfall of America but more so that the future is more important to my eyes. I often wonder how long it will take before America once again wants to expand. How will it do so? Will American people ever stand for a president that wishes to take land from other countries? Does the desire to Americanise have anything to do with the wars that it gets involved in?
To be honest, I don't really have any thoughts on the matter, but if anyone's willing to offer theirs, I'd be interested in them.
I also wonder how long it will take for Europe to become a single country of sorts. We could be talking centuries or more, but the possibility is there. The future is just one big possibility.
The US became a superpower, like many said, largely because of WW2. But the US wasn't the only nation, U.S.S.R. was also a superpower after the war.
Mobilization had a lot to do with it, that's primarily the reason, the US became the bad ass that it is now. Prior to WW2, the US, like many countries, was pretty much in a state of national depression. But when WW2 started and it became evident that the US should be involved, mobilization jump started the economy(that's the main reason the US got out of the depression)...and the rest they say is history.
It was WW2 that MADE us a superpower. However it was largly (not wholly) due to leadership that KEPT us a superpower during the coldwar.
Aww I didn't get to read it!Quote:
Originally Posted by Mei