Why was America building a global empire?

Answer 1

Answer (By American)

America is still a global empire. We have over 300 military bases and we're slowly getting involved in the Middle East.

Answer (By non-American)

In the eyes of older countries that lived through hundreds of more years than America, the USA never had an Empire.

An Empire has been historically defined as "a kingdom which reins sovereignty over another kingdom, government or tribe".

The United States is not a kingdom because they do not have a monarchy. Also the United States does not rein sovereignty over any other country (unless you count Hawaii).

The lands in which the United States have international troops stationed are only temporary leases. Which means they pay "rent" to the government who owns the land to store troops there. Empires don't rent land, they conquer them.

The only reason most countries have troops stationed overseas is for global defence reasons. Basically a precaution against another Adolf Hitler.

The Middle-East is just a coalition, not a conquest. Therefore it is not any part of an "empire". Also, the actions in the Middle-East are run by NATO, not the USA.

Examples of real empires:

• Chinese Empire
• Roman Empire
• Egyptian Empire
• Holy Roman Empire
• Prussian Empire
• Mongolian Empire
• Spanish Empire
• Indian Empire
• British Empire

The British Empire still exists today. The British monarchy have sovereignty over several lands and islands such as Gibraltar, Falklands, a handful of warrior tribes in Nepal (known as Gurkha) and so on. They also have sub-sovereignty over the British Commonwealth, which consists of countries including Canada, Australia, New Zealand and so on.

The only time America was an empire, was when it was part of the British Empire, before the Declaration of Independence. After the independence was granted, the USA stopped being an empire because they lack a monarchy.

Answer 2

Sheer economic gain.