This is a question has been bothering me as someone who’s country was colonized by the British Empire. We were taught about it in schools and how it lost power over time but never how the USA came to take its place especially over such a short compared to the British Empire.
Fun fact: Alaska was invaded a little bit by Japan during WW2. On Attu Americans suffered heavy casualties from the weather and basically all of the Japanese force was killed in battle. On Kiska there was a pretty bad skirmish between US and Canadian forces resulting from mistaken identity and a ship hit a stray seamine before they found out the island was abandoned anyway. So a real bad time all around but still not really affecting industrial wellness