> You can argue that it's because US won the cold war, and then indoctrinated the world
Seems odd, surely you could argue it was because of British imperialism (which also brought English to the US)? The British empire once covered 1/3 of the globe, it seems far more likely a cause.
It is a bit paradoxical of course, since, as you pointed out, the British empire is the reason that the US speaks english. However, I would still argue that the US is really the reason English became widely spoken in Europe.
The British Empire dominated large parts of the world, but it never dominated continental Europe. English was not widely spoken or taught in Europe until the end of WW2, when American culture became highly influential (although the UK did have its part through pop music).
The final push for English came with the internet and thus again from the US, I think. In many European countries there is a big divide in terms of English proficiency between people who grew up in pre or post internet era.
> Seems odd, surely you could argue it was because of British imperialism (which also brought English to the US)? The British empire once covered 1/3 of the globe, it seems far more likely a cause.
If this were the reason, then English should already have been the lingua franca in 1900. But it wasn't.
But the previous spreading of the English language by the English Empire certainly helped when the US emerged as one of the main beneficiary of WW2.
British empire was (almost) 1/4 - it was never close to 1/3 of the world.
Even at its peak, English language wasn't as widespread as now. The French language was, especially in 18th and 19th century, having substituted Latin.
After WW2, US absolutely dominated the world coming off as the only victor in WW2 (that's my personal opinion) and used their position to place English language as #1 language of the world (over time), undisputed. The end of the cold war cemented this even further.
We can argue that British imperialism helped somewhat, that I agree with.
Not exactly - "Lingua Franca" was originally a trading argot/pidgen used by mediterranean traders with more of an Italian basis. Later it came to mean a generic term for "common language". Only centuries later did French became a lingua franca for European diplomacy.
Why do they call it cold war, what do you think? They had wars either through proxy or through propaganda (aka. "culture"). Movies, music and books were big part of that war. Billions and billions went into the production and placement of them.
If that doesn't show intent, then I don't know what would :)
Don't get me wrong, I am actually impressed by it and gotta hand it to Reagan - winning a war without even firing a single shot.
Edit: I don't want to downplay the factor of oil and, but I feel like it's off topic here so that's why I don't mention it.
Hitchcock, almost the entirety of pre-hiphop popular music, a very big chunk of the "cultural pressure" behind the success of the English language did not come from America but from a small island nation that lost WW2 in all but name. American cultural influence is wildly overrated.
Seems odd, surely you could argue it was because of British imperialism (which also brought English to the US)? The British empire once covered 1/3 of the globe, it seems far more likely a cause.