[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.