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Superpower is a term used to describe a country or a state that has a dominant position internationally. It is also characterized to have unparallel ability to influence and exert power on a worldwide scale. “The term superpower was first used to the United States, the British Empire, and the Soviet Union” 2. However, the superpower of the British Empire was cut short because of the Suez Crises and World War II.
During the World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union became allies. “The two states assisted each other in bringing about the downfall of Hitler’s Third Reich” 1. So when the war ended back in 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union became world super powers. They were the most powerful countries in the world. “Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the United States was considered to have the largest economy in the world” 4. The huge economy of the United States was not just credited to its expansion territorially, but also because millions of Americans also moved to the west and claimed land which was sold to them by the US government after the land was bought from France.
After World War II, the United States remained out of war yet it still continued to arm itself. “So the factories in the US started to retool for war which caused the military to increase and grow” 3. The U.S. also became the most powerful military forces in the world. In 1945 alone, it was said that the United States was able to produce 60% of the world’s gross domestic product. Though GDP could not be used as a measure of military power, it was still a powerful indicator of the situation of the military during that time. Indeed, the United States became a superpower state after the World War II and even before that.
Bibliography:
Gaddies, John Lewis. 2005. “Strategies of Containment”. Oxford University Press.
Leffler, Melvyn. 1992. “A Preponderance of Power”. Stanford University Press, USA,
Blum, William.2003. “Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II. Zed Books.
LaFeber, W. 2008. “America, Russia, and the Cold War”. McGrawHill Humanties.
