This is a question has been bothering me as someone who’s country was colonized by the British Empire. We were taught about it in schools and how it lost power over time but never how the USA came to take its place especially over such a short compared to the British Empire.
Everyone else seems to have covered the basics… But what’s missing is The Suez Crisis.
France and Britain, the two preeminent colonial powers in Europe thought that they could use Israel to pressure Egypt into returning the Suez Canal to them (which Egypt had nationalised following Britain, France, and the USA reneging on their obligation to help build the Anwar Dam).
France and Britain coordinated with Israel for an Israeli invasion of Egypt, and then France and Britain would step in “as peacekeepers” and control the Seuz as a demilitarised zone. However, the US was having none of it, and went behind France and Britain’s back to undermine them and coordinated with Israel and showed to the world it was a British and French plot, humiliating the two nations, cementing the US as Israel’s main backer, and destroying what good will remained for France and Britain in the Middle East.
For the formerly top dogs of Europe, it was a rude awakening which showed them that the pre-Second World War order was truly gone and they could no longer make big geopolitical decisions without the US.