Today is the first research round for my inquiry project, my question is “What is the explanation for why the superpowers are this strong today?”. And for this round of research, the topic is” Research ‘Today’ superpowers in the world, and how they get here, did they do something extraordinary? Or did they do something that is wrong morally but made them more vital for the resources and support they got from it?”
First, let me introduce to you what is a “superpower”, a superpower is a country or nation which have significant influence upon other “weaker” nations. (1) For example, the USA, the USA has a great influence upon every country in the world, both militarily and economically, and they are commonly seen as the strongest country amongst the global superpowers.
Starting with the USA. The country was born after the Seven Years’ war after the colonies decided that they had enough of the British taxes and dictatorships, they formed their own country. Through a series of events, the US was built, with a cultural belief called “Manifest Destiny”, the country expanded through wars and treaties, larger than ever. (2) After taking 39.8% of the whole of the North American continent, America begins dealing with its problems inside, with most of its land still owned by natives, slowly reducing the native people to a minority, and stopping them from self-ruling, America finally owned most of its land by 1895, taking over 1.5 billion acres of land away from the native people. (4) (3) With America steadily rising toward the top, it remained neutral for most major conflicts like World War 1, which greatly injured Europe’s economy and military. During most of World War 2, America stayed neutral until Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, leading to America joining the war and ending it soon after. (4) After the end of World War 2, Europe was further devastated, with the economy declining, military strength declining, and the most powerful country at the time, Germany, not allowed to have a military for the next few decades. Other superpowers at the time, were the Soviet Union, which had lost 20 to 27 million people, China, which had lost 15 to 20 million people, and Japan, with 2.5 to 3.1 million people lost. (5) America also lost a lot of brave soldiers on the front lines of the battle, but the 400 thousand people they had lost compared to millions of people who died in the other superpowers in the world is impressive and had earned them a lot of benefits. With more and more people coming to America towards the “American Dream”, after all the world had seen what America can do in World War 2, everyone wanted to live in the United States of America, it is safe, and there is a lot of opportunities waiting for you. Doesn’t that sound perfect for a place to live? Everyone thought so too, so they all rushed to the United States of America, seeking an opportunity to make a fortune, or just simply escape from all the crises in their home country, soon America was filled with talented people, boosting the success of the nation further.https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thetrumpet.com%2F221-the-rise-and-fall-of-a-superpower&psig=AOvVaw1kJdryITzaoCPMEJM1ntOM&ust=1668143833137000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CBAQjRxqFwoTCPjg2J_uovsCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE
Moving on to Russia/Soviet Union. Russian success started with the spread of communism and hope. The Russians were able to get a lot of things done quickly and efficiently without objections or anything in their way. The height of the Soviet Union was led by Stalin, and how did Stalin get in control of Russia, through all his enemies “Accidently being jailed”, “died of natural causes”, and eventually just murdered on the streets as his power raised. As that he was able to do anything that he wanted to do without any opposing voice, the Soviet Union was able to gather a lot of German scientists after World War two and their militaries produced a ton of military personnel, having many active soldiers, let alone their thousands of nukes. And that leads to a massive fall for the Soviets as well, they cannot keep all of the nukes in condition, and later their poor management of money cost them the disbandment of the Soviet Union. Although Russia is nowhere near the power that the Soviet Union had, they are still one of the most powerful nations in the world. https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rbth.com%2Flifestyle%2F330129-is-russia-superpower&psig=AOvVaw1QCM4qrmI9oOBSz3IQ-zmS&ust=1668143875026000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CBAQjRxqFwoTCLDryrPuovsCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAJ
Moving on to China (The People’s Republic of China). China is considered to be one of the “new” superpowers, despite the fact that China had been one of the world powers before. China’s recent success also started with communism, communism has a great ideal, and it is very easy to unite people together to make the developing nation stronger. The losses During World War 2 were devastating to China, I grew up in China, and I grew up seeing all of the people’s hate towards Japanese people, who committed many war crimes in China, but remain unpunished by the world. China’s industries had undergone growth that is unmatched by many countries in the world, with its GDP increasing steadily almost every single year. (7)https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Fthe-argument-for-and-against-china-overtaking-the-us-as-superpower-2018-6&psig=AOvVaw11IFvLl6i1WFN9Je-VAXhM&ust=1668144240355000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CBAQjRxqFwoTCMia9uHvovsCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAS
And lastly, my plan for the next blog post is to research and summarize how did the past superpowers of the world fall or fail, or what did they do right to remain a superpower. I plan to do that by doing researches on ancient Egypt, ancient China, Mesopotamia, etc…
(1) https://www.britannica.com/topic/superpower
(2) https://www.britannica.com/event/Manifest-Destiny
(3) https://aeon.co/essays/how-were-1-5-billion-acres-of-land-so-rapidly-stolen
(4) https://www.vox.com/2015/5/20/8615345/america-global-power-maps
(5) https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/world-war-two-casualties-by-country
(6) https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/25/putin-signs-decree-to-increase-size-of-russian-armed-forces