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evthis
America is amongst the world's youngest countries yet it dominates the rest of the globe. . .how did this come to be?
Would you deny the fact that America is the most powerful military machine on this world we live on?
Mk said:Or germany? Or Russia? European countries have been around for freaking FOREVER, and how did the Americans get ahead in only 300 years? Maybe Americans work harder? My friend told me about his friend who worked in London, almost every week was a three day weekend. Or maybe Europe's land has been all used up too much, after all those years? And of course we all know that the U.S. has pleanty arable land.
Bladibla said:Well, americans are strictly Europeans if you count it by history..
That's not exactly true, depending on how you define "country." Most people outside the US tend to define it through ethnicity (nationalism). The US is defined by its government (patriotism) and that is key to understanding why we are dominant: The US has one of the oldest governments in the world. The British (for example) might say they are the same country they were 500 years ago, but they were an almost pure monarchy when the US was born. They may be the same people, but they are not the same country. Germany and Japan are only 60 years old. Russia is only 15. Etc, etc, etc.evthis said:America is amongst the world's youngest countries...
In light of the above, this should not be surprising. Germany has had 60 years to become what it is today. We've had over 200....yet it dominates the rest of the globe. . .how did this come to be?
Not true. The War of 1812 was essentially a second war for Independence and we beat England, cementing our status as a first-rate power (granted, we weren't really as powerful as England, but we were in the same category). By 1900, we were pretty much the top power - Roosevelt sent The Great White Fleet of 16 battleships on a world tour, essentially to stake our claim to superppower status in 1907. Since then, the only challenges to US dominance have been relatively brief (Hitler from ~1930-45, the USSR from ~1930-1990). Today, there are two challenges to our economic supremacy (the EU, [if that counts], and China) and none even close to us militarily.cronxeh said:The United States became powerful only after the great depression to be exact...
russ_waters said:The War of 1812 was essentially a second war for Independence and we beat England
Entropy said:how many people starve to death in America or are malnurished?
brewnog said:Exactly. Take a bunch of carefully selected, wise Europeans, and put them in a new land where they have a vast array of natural resources, it's not really surprising.
[shurg] The war resulted in them leaving us alone for good. As we learned in Vietnam, winning battles does not guarantee winning a war.selfAdjoint said:Would you like to reconsider that? They burned Washington D.C., and our victories consisted of a couple if frigate actions, some sailboats on Lake Erie, and New Orleans, which took place after the treaty had been signed. I'd say it was a stand-off, and that only because the Brits were still fighting Napoleon.
Good point - the US was the land of opportunity right from the start. We had a group of wise founding fathers (imported) and the unique opportunity to build a government from scratch using the knowledge gained from European expeirences and philosophy. Add to that millions of square miles of land to expand (insert Indian caveat here). No country has ever, to my knowledge had such a great opportunity - and as someone else put it recently, we didn't have the baggage of history to get in the way of building a new government.mattyaouw said:Yup, that's what I was thinking. Yes, it was a new nation, but it started off with all the skills and knowledge of the Europeans, and continued to trade new technologies with them, (and does to this day) while having vast, un tapped natural resources and room to spread out.
The importance of this is very true. The USSR began buying wheat back in the 70's before their government fell. This could also have contributed to the fall of the Mayan empire and was a factor in the fall of Roman Empire (the Romans lost interest in farming and imported much of their food. Sadly there is a trend toward this in the USA.)Entropy said:American is successful because of food. Food is the fundamental thing people need to live. American produces enormous amounts of food. The great plains of America are amongst the most fertile lands in the world. People need not worry about growing food, so they focus on other things. Science, religion, art and other industries. Think about it, how many people starve to death in America or are malnurished?
Roman urban wealth depended entirely too much on slavery. As long as Roman armies were winning, fresh supplies of slaves kept agricultural surpluses going, but with the series of defeats that began in the third century, agricultural production declined, leading by the fourth century to severe shortages of labor, exceeded only by even more severe shortages of food, widespread famine, chronic urban poverty and disease.
evthis said:America is amongst the world's youngest countries yet it dominates the rest of the globe. . .how did this come to be?
poolwin2001 said:America is atleast 500 yrs old!
Say India is ony about 50yrs old.
klusener said:the British invaded for 2 centuries and then left, leaving behind in its wake a mass corruptive bureaucracy...
brewnog said:Along with train lines, shipping ports, credit networks, telecommunications, a postal service, canals...
I'm not saying it's right to march into a country and make them operate how you want them to (whilst thieving natural resources), but it can have its up-sides.
evthis said:America is amongst the world's youngest countries yet it dominates the rest of the globe. . .how did this come to be?
This simply cannot be correct. Britain's monarchy dates back to nearly the Romans and its Parliament to the Magna Carta of 1215, several hundred years before the discovery of the Americas.franznietzsche said:Actually we are the world's oldest country.
We are the longest standing government, no other country currently has a government as old as our own.