By far, many call the 1800’s Britain’s imperial century, they gained control of massive amounts of territory and the inhabitants. The United States only truly gained its current prominence on the world stage around the First World War, due to it being the financier for both sides of the conflict. While Britain was spending on a costly European war America was reaping the benefits of selling arms, food stuffs and other commodities. The British dominated much of the world since the beginning of the age of exploration, as the saying goes “the sun never sets on the British empire”. Come the industrial revolution their populace grew rapidly and began migrating from country life to urban city centres, all requiring lots of resources which they got from their colonies. The US with its abundance of natural resources and relative isolation benefited from a long period of growth with much less involvement over seas than the brits. Who were engaged in frequent wars on the continent and were required to maintain substantial military presence in their colonies. All of which slowly whittled away at their economic power, though militarily they were the most formidable naval force; treaties limiting the buildup and production of ships and other weapons prevented them from drastically increasing their already global presence. That is up to 1889 where the two power standard was adopted, in which the Royal Navy was to be equal strength to the next two largest powers combined. The role Britain played in the 19th century is very similar to that of the US in the latter half of the 20th century up until today. When any global power lacks significant opposition they inevitably assume the mantle of a police force, as a means to maintain the status quo.