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Originally Posted by blender
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.
Objectively, there has never been a nation as great and powerful (and terrible) as the United States.
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Arguably? Maybe. Objectively? That's ridiculous.
The British Empire reached every continent and covered almost a quarter of the world's population and a fifth of its landmass, and that's just internally. The Mongolian Empire also covered about 25% of the worlds population, as did the Roman Empire, and again, those are just internal numbers. All of them also had a influence in trade and diplomacy around them. The Brits and Mongols were also actively kingmaking outside their borders.
At the height of the cold war, Americans were legitimately worried of growing Japanese influence in their own country to such an extent that Americans were afraid that they might get culturally colonized (famously portrayed in Blade Runner for example). How do you square that with "vassal state"?
