The Sunset of the Pax Americana

"It started after World War II, as Britain, broken and bleeding red ink from two world wars, in full imperial overstretch, gave up its colonies one by one and likewise gave up the job both of keeping the world's sea lanes open, and of slapping around minor powers who bucked the system. The formal birth of the Pax Americana and the final grave of the old regime, was the Suez canal, when the US told Britain and France in no uncertain terms to withdraw from the Suez and threatened to cause a financial crisis for England by selling off the US's pound reserves. Britain and France were forced to withdraw and it was clear that the days of British supremacy (and French free action in the Med) were over."