British Couple Reacts to How The US Became A Superpower 

It seems like the general theme of this video is that the US is the definition of "fuck around and find out"

We tried to mind our own business but Japan wouldn't let us and they paid dearly for it

You can't deny our patriotism. My Dad signed up on his 18th birthday and shipped off to WW II in Japan shortly after. There he met my Mom and she gave us the story from the other side. She told us about kicking fire bombs out of the house and how they were all starving because the ports were blockaded. She said the starvation is what drove them to bomb Pearl Harbor because it was the US blockading. She told about the young Kamikaze pilot that came to stay with them before taking his flight, his final journey. She told us about watching the atomic bombs go off. They had no idea what they were as nothing like that had ever happened before. She said it was as bright as daylight. She told us how her family was stripped of all possessions except their house. But the amazing thing about Japan is that they have never complained or played the sympathy card. As with all things, even defeat is taken with style, integrity, and grace. My Mom was proud to be an American.

Just wanted to point out, the Marshall plan wasn't just for Western Europe, it was offered to Eastern Europe as well; but the Soviets did not allow the Eastern European countries to accept the assistance for political reasons.

In World War 2, the U.S. Military was about 11 percent of the total population. At that scale today the Military would be about 35 million personnel.

China has three huge problems that will impact its rise. 1) Rapid demographic collapse; 2) Inability to produce enough food to feed its population; 3) Lack of internal fossil fuels to supply it's energy needs. These will combine to limit its ability to obtain and maintain true superpower status.

What James is describing about little actions altering the course of future events is called "The Butterfly Effect".

I think a big reason is because we didn't get our infrastructure bombed out of existence in WWII, infact we ramped up production to help supply the war effort and then we continued even afterwards to help rebuild after. Manufacturing probably boosted our economy for the next ten to fifteen years after the wars end.

As an American I know we may fight within in oun country about politics and 1st world issues. However, if another country attacks us, the entire population will fight as one.

The thing about China… Mountains (33 percent), plateaus (26 percent) and hills (10 percent) account for nearly 70 percent of the country's land surface… this is NOT the case with the US. So, with that being said, 60% live on the coast of China. They can’t access their country like we can, which makes it much more expensive to grow food, sell food, and transport food, among many other things. Also…. China very nearly came to a water catastrophe last year. They cannot compete with us.

Basically you can thank us for anime because Japans been drawing cartoons ever since the explosion.

It used to be any country would be considered a ‘Super Power’ if that country was able to fight at least 2 Wars anywhere simultaneously.

Just as an example here in Maine, a Shipyard named Bath Iron Works which still makes Navy Ships today built 82 destroyers-one-fourth of the total ordered by the Navy-launching one on an average of every 17 days from Pearl Harbor to the end of the war. Only eight of the ships were sunk during the war which has led to the moniker "Bath Built is Best Built". As a member of a Navy family I can tell you sailors love being assigned to Bath built ships.

The vast majority of the US debt is not foreign debt. It is internal debt to other government agencies, civilians, and other investors. People go on and on about the debt, but it is not a huge problem. Of the 32 trillion in total debt, only 7.3 trillion, less than 3%, is owed to other countries. The reason is that other countries invest in the US because it is by far the safest place to invest. It isn't like the US is borrowing money to fund industry. The US is also one of the very few countries that can roll this debt over when it comes due. When bonds become due, they are simply replaced with new bonds, which countries readily accept. Japan is the largest investor in the US, China is second.

We have your back, UK!

I’m reading ‘The Arsenal of Democracy’ by AJ Baime. It’s a fascinating look at how the Ford Motor Company and the Detroit Automotive Industry mobilized to play catch up and beat Germany in their production of bomber planes. It’s a fascinating read.

Not just our resources but during WW2 the US had massive community led metal scrap gathering organizations used for the war machine. Even kids gathered scrap for the war effort

Ijust went to google earth and looks like jersy town is more farm lands than anything

I would say the only people that can actually have a definitive opinion on “ what a superpower is” are those who are actually a superpower. Most agree that it is the ability to project and sustain military strength and superiority anywhere in the world.

Don’t Poke the sleeping bear!!! Semper Fidelis

It's really interesting to see how the US became a superpower

China has a small and insignificant Navy. They are essentially land locked. They cannot transport extreme large numbers of soldiers anywhere to be any threat outside of Asia. They can defend China and attack locally but that's about all. And Xi has many enemies inside China that are after his job. His ships seem to have a lot of "accidents".

As an American I think we need to take a couple steps back from being a world influencer and just focus on our own country for a bit cause we struggling over here.

And all this today with an all volunteer force.

The week before Pearl Harbor Japan had gifted us a friendship medal stating our nations were friends while having this attack planned months beforehand. Besides the fact it was a Sunday morning and everyone was watching sports or at church our guard was also down because of this. America wanted to prove to Japan that they were not as invincible as they think because of their distance from us so American soldiers volunteered to fly planes to Japan and bomb Tokyo knowing they most likely would die or become pow to china. There is actually a photo of them with the bombs they dropped on Tokyo, they had strapped that friendship medal to the bombs they dropped. I believe the photo is titled something like “returning the favor” or “sending the medal back home”. Even more bitter is after Japan surrendered we made them what to sign surrender (and lose their military) so that we could sail one of the few ships to survive Pearl Harbor to Japan and made them sign surrender to us on that ship. Also because of Pearl Harbor America switched factories over practically overnight, rationed all supplies to go to the war cause, and was the most the largest production of military equipment in such a short time. This is why today there remains a system in the government that when called upon factories can switch over to supply anything they need to quickly.

Being a superpower really comes down to 2 things… #1 it’s not as important that you have a large military or nuclear weapons, but rather it’s about "force projection". The US can project its military might anywhere in the world, in a short amount of time. Whether it’s in the air, under the sea, on land, even into space to some degree. #2. It’s not about GDP, it’s more about "Industrial might". In this area the US has fallen off its once high perch. Put both together and your a superpower. While China has a large Industrial base and a large military. They really can’t project their military anywhere in the world (yet). But China is getting close.

Im an american and we do consider the UK our brothers & sisters and i'm very confident it will always stay that way. We have too much history between us.

The US entry into WWII was inevitable. With Japan allied with Germany and Japan determined to take US and UK territories in the Asia Pacific region. The US knew Japan would attack especially after they put sanctions on Japan. They just thought Japan would attack the Philippines or another base in that region. The US is also so involved in the international economy that it’s impossible to stay isolationist.

I believe the last year the US was not the world's number one economy was 1880.

The U.S. attitude is still a bit of the same today, I believe. We enjoy our country and just want to get on with living it with our family and friends and not bother with the rest of the world. Most of the fighting is internal and that's all we really care more about than worldly affairs. We just want to mind our own business until, of course, the rest of the world reminds us otherwise. I think many of us would rather not be so dominant and so involved in worldly affairs but at the same time we can't just sit by and not do what we can to assist where we can, if we can because even we realize the mess outside will eventually reach us and by then it may be too late to do much about it. But I also believe it's the American spirit, at least mostly, to aid our neighbors when we can. I mean, who likes a bully? That is something as an American I think we detest more than anything. The idea that someone or some organization feels they have the right to impose their will over another or other's. That's part of what we mean by Freedom here. I'm sure there are many out there who look at America as the world bully but we never really asked for this. I'm betting none of us ever wanted to be this involved but then the world decided to come crashing into our neighbors and friends house and we reluctantly had to drop the Xbox and Hotdogs and help em out if we could... and we're like "sigh", Not Again! 😆

If you want to know the industrial capabilities of the U.S in WW2, there are You Tube videos entitled "War factories" of WW2

Gen X was the last generation to remember the world divided in two between the US and USSR. It was a completely different world back then. In so many ways.

Superpower with Super Debts

We love the England we are brothers for life

My god you can swim to France! 😀

Love you guys. Great show! Keep'in comin"

For _defining_ a superpower, I'd say it's how much a country can effect global politics. One other note: President Woodrow Wilson wanted to be more involved with global affairs. The rest of the country _didn't._

Don't forget, one of the issues in the Declaration of Independence was a standing army, We haven't had a draft since the Vietnam war ended in 1973, and one reason also that we dont need a large number of people in our military is our National Guard and Reserves. These are part time or inactive military personell (in the case of the reserves), who are under the control of their state Governors. They report to 2 weeks of training once a year and are activated 1 weekend a month. In a National emergency they can be federalized. Also, after 9/11 for instance, many Americans signed up and went to Iraq and Afghanistan, so this idea we have a small military is just not true

The comment about national debt and trade deficit of the US is misleading. There is an economic paradox called triffin’s dilemma. It says that if a country is the holder of a world currency reserve (USD), then the country will run massive trade deficits, which is necessary to provide dollars to the world. Additionally, these dollars held outside of the US are invested into the US financial system, especially with treasury bonds. Hence you have federal deficit spending to inject dollars back into the US economy. So as long as the US dollar remains a reserve currency, the US national debt is just an accounting tool

My one question is how much foreign debt is from foreign aid... What is that ratio?

We ain't playing around. 🇺🇲❤️🪖

As an American in my mid 60s, I remember the Cold War with the Soviets very well. It was scary. We had the Cuban Missile Crisis and duck and cover drills at school. We had PSAs on TV describing what to do if you see the dreaded bright flash of a nuclear bomb. These were aired during children's cartoon shows! In New York City, we had the air raid sirens tested at noon every day. Add to this the ongoing Vietnam War, with its compulsory draft, and I seriously thought that I would never make it to adulthood. All empires in human history fall, and being a "superpower" is similar to being an empire. We may not have direct political control over our allies, like the British Empire had over its coloneys, but we have a great deal of influence. Unless the countries of the world figure out a fundamentally different way of interacting with one another, the continuous rise and fall of empires or super powers will continue.

S P. In their Dreans😢 Blessings to Taiwán & Ukraine. Luv u 2 Hong Kong❤

Thumbnails are looking a lot more intriguing. I’m liking the channel growth

To me, "superpower" means two things. First, you are the most powerful nation in your own immediate vicinity. Second, you can exert *more* influence on a typical country outside your immediate vicinity, than the powers that are closer to them can exert. This definition has some wiggle room, but it's a good starting point. The way I see it, the previous superpower (before WWII) was England; which was the most powerful nation in Europe and exerted more power and influence on, say, India, than nearby powers like China and Japan were able to do. The _first_ superpower in recorded history, was Egypt, but that was a long time ago. (Apart from external dominating powers like the Greeks and Romans and British, no government of Egypt has exerted significant power outside their own immediate vicinity for over two and a half millennia.) There usually aren't three superpowers in the world at once. Sometimes there aren't really any (e.g., during the diadochi). For most of the Cold War era there were two, and then after the curtain came down, just one for a while.

And thats why the sun rose on japan 2x xd

Japan awoke a sleeping giant. BTW my family and I love you guys.

Youre are a superpower if you are able to project that power around the world (example bases around the world)

On China... they have a couple major issues. First the "One Child Mandate" has caused their demographic population tree to be an upside down triangle which means they dont have enough young people to grow their country and support the massive older generations who have retired. (Over-simplified but you get the point) China cant feed its own population without importing the raw materials and they cant fuel their industry without Oil and Natural Gas from Russia or the Middle East where the US could supply all of our needs for oil and Gas for over a century if we had to and coukd feed our people without help from other countries if needed as we have some of the most fertile farm land in the world.

The. USA says fuck with us ur fucking with the best bring it on y’all

I love watching yall and glad to see yall still together yall are great im from ohatchee AL and hope yall check all out on your next trip to the us

As an American born post 9/11 I find the amount of history that occurred in the past 100 years insane

Thank god im to old for selective services now. Im sure if it got bad enought tho.

Guys need to get a better camera, almost 200k viewers good job lads

same as well born in '86 never knew the cold war was to young when it ended

❤️🇬🇧🇺🇸❤️

no to mention many of us in America are Gun owners not all but many are. American civilians own 46% (approximately 393.3 million) of the world's 857 million civilian-use firearms. Montana has the highest amount of gun owners (66.3%). Wyoming has the most guns per capita, with 245.8 firearms for every 1,000 residents.

You should watch the butterfly effect good movie.

Great video is always a hope all 3 are doing well Stay safe and may God bless all 3 ❤

I was born when the Soviet Union was still around. 😂

I’ve been to Pearl Harbor.

More sports reactions

Poking the bear is never a good idea. This is also FAFO!

It's interesting, because, as an old(er) person, it's weird to think there are younger people who never saw the USSR.

I am sure people have said this but what if the archduke did not get assassinated in 1914 and there was no WWI how would the world look today?

Subscribe to these two! Of course he is more into it than her, but they still are a great joy! 👍

I don't know how the cold War was there, but growing up in the US we had bomb drills in school. Much like fire drills. We were told to get under our desks and cover our heads.

Beeleys, Do you all Think, America Will Ever stop, Pushing the World toward Freedom? NO.😂 😂😂😂😂😂😂

Geography, resources, people.

Just to clarify something. Many of the countries that 'appeared' after Soviet Union's collapse were independent before. Like my home country Estonia These countries were occupied and annexed by Soviet Union and suffered greatly. Genocide of local nations, deportations, Russification (including mass immigration/colonization of Russians), to name a few. The consequences are still here even in the fact that most of the world sees Estonia as eastern or ex-soviet when in reality we consider ourselves Northern since we are closest nation to Finland linguistically, culturally and genetically.

did u actually say trying to become a corrupt superpower??? around the 8:30 time of the video?

The US needs to go back to being isolationists. The world and our own people would be better off.

I hit the subscribe button twice!

paper dragon

Debt is what makes the world go round, the US lives off debt

If I may I'd like to suggest watching the series called band of Brothers.. it is very good.

No other country in the history of the world has amassed so much power and used it for good. We Americans are among the most peaceful people in the world but that doesn't mean we won't come together and annihilate anyone foolish enough to threaten us.

The reason the United Nations Alliance won WWII was that they were the masters of logistics. And the one member nation that was overall best at logistics was the United States of America. After the war the United States expanded that logistics mastery to allow us to project power anywhere in the world in a short period of time.

Surprisingly enough, the atomic bombs actually killed less people than the firebombing did, or at least that's what I've been told by what I would consider reputable sources. I was around when the Soviets collapsed, but I was still young enough I don't really remember it. I was born in 88.

All great nation-states eventually decline. By the end of this century, I suspect that the US and the UK will be like two old men having a pint down at the pub and talking about the “good old days”, viewed through rose-colored glasses, of course.

China is facing more than economic problems. They are facing a population problem due to the one child policy. Their population is unbalanced between the old and young. I've seen estimates that within 50 years they will collapse from economic contraction and population decline. Side Note: I was born in 1968 and know the cold war well and personally you young'uns are younger than my children but are close enough in age to think of you as I would my children. 😁

WWI was so cataclysmic to Europe that it helped accelerate the rise of the US as a hegemonic power.

Sadly, it doesn't feel like the US is very unified anymore. I'm not sure if people have ever been SO intensely divided over so many issues, before. I absolutely love my country, and I want to see things turn around. As horrific as it was (and I'm not saying I want something like this happen again AT ALL), the time period immediately following 9/11 might have been the most unified I've ever seen my country.

It's funny how America is always being underestimated in the world stage. But we should never do the same with the rest of the world as well

If Pearl Harbor had never happened; you would be speaking German. Instead of, Blimey!, it would be, Blod!

The atomic bomb ending the war was a myth that served both the US and Japan. In truth, the previous firebomb attacks killed cities just as dead as an A bomb. The real reason for the Japanese surrender to the US is that Japan was collapsing and the Soviets were staging an invasion. They would have killed every single Japanese noble as well as, obviously, the emperor. Probably most Japanese officers as well, and conducted progroms against anyone who did not fall in line with the communist agenda. They had done exactly that against their own people in the communist revolution and would have conducted the same terror campaign inside Japan. The US, by contrast, didn't purge the nobles or officers and even allowed them to keep their emperor through without meaningful political power.

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How often do you get off the island? Just depends, huh?

At this point, I wish we weren't SO into all the world's affairs... I'm not saying we should be complete isolationists, and I do believe multiple countries can be stronger when they work together and that the US should be a world leader. But at this point, politicians care more about flashing US tax dollars around the whole world and making friend abroad while Americans ourselves are financially struggling. I wish we would withdraw, just some, and refocus efforts on improving the issues WE have. Sorry, just felt like leaving 2 comments, lol.

To be honest, every world power in 1850 knew without a doubt that the US was GOING TO BE a global power... as soon as it got over it's isolationism and that pesky "slavery problem". By the end of the US Civil War we had already become one of the top 3 economies in the world by every single measure that anyone anywhere used. It was only a matter of us caring enough to overcome our self-centered, isolationist attitudes. And in the modern era... the only way the US stops being a superpower by their definition is if we stop caring again. The other criteria are baked into our nation, they're not ever going away. So if we stop, and someone else becomes "the superpower"... as long as they don't kick us in the teeth, they can have it. But they would not be able to stop us from surging back onto center stage just like in 1898 if we were provoked. Our geography, natural resources and insanely strong internal economy ensure we can always come back if we choose to.

Hello James and Millie from Tulsa😊 it's cool and rainy here. But my cowboys won tonight and I'm ready for a good video from you guys. Here we go.... Wait, I wanted to say I hope things with little Archie are going well and that is nice and healthy. You guys are such a great couple I hope for nothing but the best for you guys.

War doesn’t determine a winner or loser but who’s left…

Ah, no, that is not accurate to say we created a Government in Japan for the purpose of being favorable to the U.S. All we did was replicate our own Constitutional model and provide defense because we outlawed them from building their military back up and attacking us again, obviously. The fact is the Japanese emperor himself thanked us for helping them rebuild the economy and create a system based on civil rights. They have flourished as a society ever since. We did not abuse or oppress them after the surrender. We simply gave them our own model rebuilt their infrastructure and withdrew. We did the same thing in Germany and look at the western half. It was prosperous and free while the communist side lived under total surveillance and privation.

Oh for FS, you guys are talking with English educated people, they know fa about their history

Lol i watched the golf war on tv in 1990/1991 on tve as a 5/6 yr old

US economy has been in trouble since January 2021 and it's getting worse. Inflation skyrocketed. We became, once again, dependent on foreign oil. We had been oil independent from approximately January 2016 until January 21st 2021.

Yes China might become a superpower there's only one problem not every single one of are civilians carry a gun so it's not just the American army it's also all the people that live here in America

how about this. if the archduke franz ferdinand was not assassinated in 1914 and there wasn't a first world War would murica be the superpower, ya I said it, it is today?

You try to bring the war to us, you just brought "the" wrath of hell down on yourself. 🇺🇲 "Somebody" 🤷🏽‍♂️

The US fire bombed scores of Japan's cities. The 2 atomic bombs get the headlines, but the fire bombings killed far more people.