[DoughnutHole]

English became the lingua franca of science because of the decline of German science following the world wars. English became the language of commerce due to the commercial dominance of first the British Empire and then the United States.

So still not really due to some intrinsic merits of the language.

[amadeuspagel]

The anglos won the world wars due to the intrinsic merits of english, not only because war itself requires communication, but also because they were able to mobilize more resources, including the resources of a country full of recent immigrants, who had all already learned english.

[somethingsaid]

But English was dominant because the people who were dominant in those areas spoke English. It’s because of that previous dominance that the allies (you forgot the Soviet Union, China, the Netherlands, and France among others btw) were able to build on that dominance and succeed. Their success built into the post-war growth of English and the US, as they were undamaged and recovered quickly. So I would say that English is dominant because of the back to back successes of English speaking countries, not that their success is because of English.

[amadeuspagel]

Oh, I'm sorry for forgetting the Netherlands, among others.

[mkoubaa]

I'm not saying it deserved to be. I'm saying it has been for a while, and has accumulated advantages over time given that privilege