The United States is the most powerful nation in the world. As the sole global superpower, America has an unprecedented role in world affairs. It also has a long history of intervening abroad and using military force to promote its ideals. But what if America took this further? What if the US decided to conquer the world and force American style capitalist democracy on everyone?
America could not conquer the world. The US military is not strong enough to defeat all other nations combined. There is also no pollical or public support in the US for a global takeover, nor would the benefits for America be worth the enormous conflict it would cause.
Now we know the United States simply couldn’t take over the world, let’s look at the data and see why America lacks the strength for global conquest…
Does America Have The Military Strength To Conquer The World?
The United States does not have the military strength to conquer the world. The American armed forces are too small compared to the combined militaries of all other countries in the world.
With that said, in order to fully understand if America has the military power to take over the entire world, we need to assess the strength of the US military against that of other parts of the world. If the US tried to forcibly conquer every country on earth, they would need to militarily defeat the armies of almost every country.
| Country | Number of Active-Duty Soldiers | Number of Reservists | Number of Battle Tanks | Number of Combat Aircraft | Number of Warships |
| United States | 1,388,100 | 844,050 | 6,209 | 2,628 | 490 |
| Europe | 1,855,810 | 2,687,530 | 7,711 | 2,554 | 244 |
| Latin America | 1,414,540 | 2,110,070 | 1,108 | 676 | 71 |
| Asia | 11,158,380 | 15,738,700 | 40,874 | 8,544 | 909 |
| Africa | 2,395,610 | 1,007,050 | 9,171 | 1,337 | 67 |
All data from Wikipedia
By comparing the strength of the US armed forces against the combined armies of every other continent, we can see that America does not have the military strength to defeat them all.
In an attempt to attack and occupy Europe, America could face a bigger ground force with more tanks. The US Air Force would also be almost matched in strength. Although the US Navy would have superiority at sea, America would need to take over the landmass of Europe in order to conquer the world and it is hard to see how this advantage significantly helps them.
If America tried to conquer Latin America – including all South and Central American states, it would also be faced with a larger ground force. However, the US Army would wield significantly more armour and the US Air Force would likely have air superiority. The size of population, difficult terrain and difficulty resupplying their forces would make a US attempt to take over Latin America difficult. However, if enough America resources were dedicated, it might be possible.
Asia would be impossible for America to conquer. The Asian continent – made up of the Middle East, Central Asia and all of South and East Asia, is truly enormous. The combined armies of these countries have almost ten times the soldiers of the US, five times as many tanks, four times as many combat aircraft and almost double the number of warships. Even with their superior technology and more advanced weaponry, there is no way America could takeover every country in Asia.
Finally, Africa is the poorest continent in the world and probably the weakest militarily. However, Africa is enormous, more than three times the size of the US. If America tried to conquer Africa they would be faced with a larger army, however their air and naval superiority would give them a major advantage. Occupying Africa would be difficult though with its tough terrain and lack of developed infrastructure to support the movement of troops and supplies.
Why Doesn’t America Conquer The World
The US is seen as the most powerful military force in the world. It also has a history of trying to spread democracy. The idea of America as the ‘world’s policeman’ is not necessarily true, but it is a moniker that has stuck. Some think that America should be more interventionist, so why isn’t it? Why doesn’t America try to remake the world in its image? There are several reason, which include:
- Could not succeed
- Lack of political will
- Already a global superpower
- Inability to control the world after conquest
- Financial cost
Let’s quickly break each of these down…
Could Not Succeed
The first reason why America doesn’t take over the world is because it simply couldn’t. Although the US arguably has the most powerful and advanced military in the world, as we have seen, it definitely could not conquer the world.
Lack of Political Will
The second reason why the US doesn’t try and conquer the entire world is that there simply isn’t the political will in the United States to do it. Generally, American’s don’t want to takeover other countries and regions and foreign wars are becoming very unpopular. The American public and political establishment does not see the advantage of waging a major conflict to subjugate every other country on earth.
Already a Global Superpower
Another reason why America won’t attempt to take over the world is because it really doesn’t need to. The US is already the world’s only superpower. It has enormous global influence. All over the world, politics, economics and culture are massively impacted by America. Some people would say America has already taken over the world, it doesn’t need to conquer it militarily.
Inability to Control The World After Conquest
Even if America did have the military strength to defeat every army in the world – which it doesn’t, controlling and governing the whole world would be an impossible task. The enormity of the area needing to be controlled and the level of resistance an occupation would face would make any attempt to take over the world certain to fail.
Financial Cost
A final reason why the US is not going to take over the world is because it simply wouldn’t be worth it. The enormous amounts a money and resources needed to invade other countries, in addition to the huge number of lives lost on all sides, makes any benefit the US may receive from taking over the world null and void. Essentially, there isn’t a good reason why America would want to conquer the entire world.
What Would Happen If America Tried To Take Over Every Country
So, we know that America doesn’t have the ability to conquer the world. We also know that the US doesn’t have the incentive to do so either. However, let’s think hypothetically for a second and explore what a US attempt to take over the world might look like…
If America tried to conquer the world by force the immediate effect would an huge war. Almost every nation in the world would resit America’s attempt to takeover and this would essentially result in World War Three.
A few countries may not necessarily resist an overt attempt by America to conquer the world, especially if global events meant that there were some moral justifications for it. However, only the staunchest of US allies would not resist. Every country in the world values its sovereignty and many would unite with neighbors and even rivals to fight against a US takeover.
The amount of resources the United States would need to put into an attempt to takeover the world would seriously damage the American economy. The US would need to move to a ‘total war’ economy, similar to the way manufacturing and businesses were redirected towards the war effort during World War Two.
America would likely need to re-introduce conscription in order to raise enough troops if a serious attempt was to be made to take over much of the world. It is unlikely the American public would support this, especially if the war was seen as an act of aggression and not self-defense.