Quote Originally Posted by devilmaykickass
I don't think our 'population' is big at all, and even if it was that would have nothing to do with it, seeing as India and China have like a combined 3 billion or so people.\
Two billion, about.

It might have been initially about creating the atom bomb first, but as you can see today that doesn't mean jack. I think it's always been about money and not physical force. And it's been Big Business that has gotten us to the place we are today. Europe has tighter restrictions on Big Business than we do. They always have. Our economy was allowed to grow during the Industrial Revolution without much government control. We bankrupted the Kaiser during WW1. We came out victorious and humiliated Germany with the Treaty of Versailles.

The market crash in 1929 was a definite setback, but WW2 soon put us back on track. Again, we bankrupted Hitler and the Allies won the war. After the war, Kennedy and Johnson minimized the role of Big Business, but Reagan once again gave power to business during the 1980's. We built countless WMDs and bankrupted the U.S.S.R. in the process.

The most important aspect in the U.S. dominance in the world has been, I think, outsourcing. Companies have been able to make huge profits while destroying other economies throughout the world. Each victory has secured the U.S. as the most powerful country in the world.

The past 150 years have been about money more so than sheer power.

EDIT: Russia could have swept throughout all of Europe and won the war in Europe. Besides, the war in Western Europe was less important than the war in Eastern Europe.