The dawn of the american century
After World War I the United States took over the leading role in world politics from Europe.
The true victor of the world war was the United States of America. After a bloody civil war, in the last third of the 19th century this continent-sized country had shaped itself into an enormous nation state. By 1918 the most powerful player in world politics, it was in this role that the United States directed the peace negotiations. By the end of the war American economic output was many times that of either Britain or France, which were heavily in debt to the USA. Although in Europe it is thought that the First World War ended with the so-called “Versailles peace system”, the true structure of the new world order was only erected more than three years later by the Washington naval treaties. In February 1922, Great Britain was forced to surrender its hegemony over the world’s oceans. The United States of America became the new world power.
Quotes
„The world must be made safe for democracy."
Woodrow Wilson
„The world’s less civilized peoples must be converted to the principles of America."
Woodrow Wilson
„The United States had a mission to make the world a better place."
Woodrow Wilson
„Creating democracy is America’s world mission."
David Lloyd George