Even though Britain maintained her actual levels of economic output and
potential diplomatic presence she was one among several relatively equal
European states and world empires. At the same time her natural
resources were being depleted and with the growing importance of cotton,
rubber and petroleum, all of which Britain must import, her economic
ascendancy was progressively undermined. During the wars of 1914-18 and
1936-45 Britain entered an era of decreasing relative importance. Her
empire was largely intact, but her economic and political strength was
stretched to the breaking point.

Throughout its history, until the wars of 1914-45, western civilization
had its headquarters in central and west Europe, with branch offices
elsewhere on the planet. At no time after 1870 did any one European
power occupy a position of easy superiority over its rivals. If Great
Britain was top dog, France, the long established continental power was
snapping at her heels. Germany was an expanding power of major
consequence. To the North and East lay Russia, with its vast territories
and its persistent pressures into East Europe and Far Asia. By any
standard of political measurement Europe was in no sense a universal
state. Literally it was a potential battle field. War fortunes and
misfortunes revolutionized the Europe of 1870-1910. They also realigned
the planetary power structure. Heavy war losses down-graded all of the
erstwhile European powers. Central and West Europe ceased to be the
planetary hub. At the same time America and Asia shouldered their way
toward the center of the world stage. From London, Paris, Berlin and
other European vantage points the 1870-1945 era could be described as a
period of world revolution.

For half a century United States money and arms were used to stabilize
capitalism. For many years Washington through its control of all Latin
American states (except Cuba after 1960) had been able to dominate
United Nations policy, exclude socialist nations, notably China, and hem
in socialism. Through this period Washington subsidized and armed
counter revolution. Its anti-socialist-communist doctrine had been
accepted and largely followed by the West.

Washington's drive to cripple and stamp out socialism-communism was
accepted and followed particularly by the states with fascist leanings.
Since many western states had large and influential socialist minorities
and since several of them had been governed by c