Hacker News Reader

Right right, you are absolutely correct, but I meant that the U.S. was inconsequential to Europe militarily.

Would have taken quite a while to be noticed, given the speed of communication and lack of American military presence overseas. Compared to the British Empire.

Really? I thought that happened way after WWI. The UK economy back then had a gazillion of colonies to sustain it.

No OP's correct, the US surpassed the UK both in population and in GDP sometime around the middle of the 19th century.

I think the point is that looking at the UK in a vacuum, outside the context of colonies like India, Kenya, Singapore, etc., is probably misleading.

The US overtook the UK in 1860, but overtaking the entire British Empire was closer to 1900.