Since the idea of different groups of human beings existed, one has always had more glory, respect, influence, and amount of resources. The sources of the most powerful country or empire has always been volatile and this article will attempt to analyse the past, present and future in respect to the dominant country.
In the past decade I have heard a lot of discussion about whether America’s glory is going to die in the next couple of decades due to its lack of unity and its national debt, and whether China will become what America is now, or what the British Empire was several centuries ago. While opinions are varied and debates are frequent, I’ve noticed many talk about how China cannot be powerful because it lacks a large English speaking population, or it lacks the freedom of thought and democracy that America has during its reign. However, I think that it hasn’t been taken into account how each time a dominant country was overthrown, the new ruler never followed rules of the past to gain dominance.
Take as early as 336 BC, when Alexander the Great was in reign around the regions of Iran, Egypt, Mesopotamia and North India. His greatest strength was his army, which could move across land at a very efficient rate, therefore bringing victory to Alexander. With his physically strong army, he developed power and the largest empire the ancient world had ever seen. His conquer of many territories was due to strengths in physicality (on land) and power.
Conquering with an army through land was the way to go for the next couple of centuries until the 14th century, when sea travel became important. Having a navy-based military, navigating through sea routes, and having trade ships became a defining feature of strength. Great Britain, who had a robust navy due to being an island and choosing to use it to focus more on sea trade routes, were established at the top here.
We then move on to the 18th century, where industrial prowess and technological advancements are recognised and start to become more significant. The steam engine is developed, coal is used as a fossil fuel in factories and raw materials to more efficiently produce staples like clothing, food, agricultural products, and machinery. European nations, having an abundant supply of coal, use these inventions, obtaining these resources and handling the supply chain and production. The British Empire is developed, and manages supply chains from the root of rich resources to benefit the economy back home. At this point, we start to see rulers conquering countries and treating them as part of their land to rule for years, known as colonies, rather than plundering and leaving or placing puppet kings in lieu of themselves. An example of this would be how Britain held India as part of their empire for over two centuries.
AS wars often diminish resources and labour around the world, more so for the army that lost the war, it also possibly diminishes the power of physically strong armies. In the 19th century and 20th century, the world saw for the first time a higher importance in intellectual superiority. As life changing technological products like the lightbulb are invented, the world looks to America for its dominance in human innovation. America develops a democracy, a nation with morals and ideals, an importance in education and freedom of thought and speech as well as having enough resources to increase the standard of living for its population. While America did use aspects of colonisation, as they conquered races of black people and Native American land, they gained influence, more so than in other countries, without formal colonisation. People admire America and look to it as a country where dreams come true (hence the phrase, “the American dream”) and where anybody can be anything. This prospers the economy and increases innovation in America.
If you look back on the past few paragraphs, you’ll notice that not one country followed what had been done by the past in order to become a leading and powerful nation. Leaders like Alexander the Great focused on making history and gaining power through physical forces on land, relying on the endurance of his soldiers. Over time the world, through technological innovations, developed a different path to get around the world. Fighting wars on land would not have gotten England to where it would have been with the help of its nautical trade routes. Eventually we realised that there is scarcity of resources in Europe, and leaders took to plundering and leaving, but again, this wasn’t well planned. A new idea, in terms of controlling the source of these resources developed an economy and an empire for Britain. Finally, and this applies largely to today as well, innovation, freedom and embracing humanity’s talents, emerged best. If a war between America and China were to take place today, I think biotechnology, cyber weapons and interfering with trade and the economy would bring each other down. Fighting with soldiers could be seen more as a defence, rather than an attack.
Having said all that, China could dominate because of its ability to be at the source of the supply chain. India could dominate because of its growing youth population, or Singapore could dominate simply because one family has been in power for a long enough period to implement enough of their strategies. The US could also continue to dominate, being the hub of consumption and innovation. The future is unpredictable, as the past has shown us, and we simply don’t know what might happen next.
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