Quote:
Originally Posted by afc wimbledon
If you define local as the whole of Europe N Africa, the Middle East or the whole of Asia, most of Russia and the Middle East for several hundred years as opposed to the always contested never certain control of anything beyond its own border for about 50 years, The US (as well as Russia and now China) have the power to destroy things due to technology but as empires go their military might have never translated into the ability to hold anything, the US has never even managed to dominate a land mass as effectively as the USSR let alone the other utterly dominant globally spanning empires of the past, the US has consistently lost war after war from the end of world war two onwards
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Respectfully disagree with your premise here.
While it could be argued that US military dominance peaked shortly after WWII, their cultural reach grew massively through the last half of the 20th century until it dominated every corner of the globe. American brands are universal and the promise of the American Dream burns brightly.
As for historical empires, yes I use the term local as opposed to global which is exactly what America is. Your examples citing large geographical areas are fine but bear in mind that the population and population density of the areas in question were very small compared to today.
At the end of the Cold war America had (and still has) military bases on every continent and naval power with nuclear capability that can reach every corner of the globe basically uncontested. China and Russia are powerful actors in their own right, but they have virtually no reach beyond their local spheres. Japan is a US vassal state. Israel is a nuclear-armed extension of US power into the middle east, the geographical centre of the globe.
The successful takeover of Iraq and the installation of American-backed multinational oil companies into some of the world's largest conventional oil reserves is another power play. If they manage to crush Iran (certainly the plan) they will have basically locked up the middle east.
Arguably there has never been a nation as great and powerful s the United States.