During world war I and II, the European nations ended up in debt and lost their preeminent colonial power both in terms of economy an military power.
On the other side of the world, the U.S. now challenged a declining and divided Europe for leadership of the world. In the course of the war, financial dominance had moved across the Atlantic from London to New York, as the U.S. became the world's largest creditor. It was also much more powerful in other ways. The war had boosted American industry and speeded up the conversion of U.S. economic strength into diplomatic and military power. By the end of the war, the U.S. was the world's largest manufacturer and had the largest stock of gold to back its dollar. Its navy rivalled the British, up until then the world's biggest.
sourceIn our times we are now seeing China and the USA competing for the world economic dominance. USA seems to be the incumbent while China is showing growths averaging 6% a year and its GDP seems to be nearing that of the USA. While possibly not as strong in military terms, the nuclear deterrent guarantees that a return to a
"shameful century" won't be back anytime soon.
Just have a look at the economic side of the argument:
While there is not an open war, there is a fight for dominance that is being fought with trade agreements, currency devaluations, sanctions and diplomacy (soft and hard). COVID has been a useful tool for all governments to print money at will, with the backing of the economic elites that own real stocks in much larger proportion than cash.
I see that bitcoin will benefit immediately (already doing so) from a tailwind of irresponsible money printing, but more than that, I see it benefiting from the silent economic wars in which even the theoretical winners may end in a sea of debt that, once again, will be paid printing monopoly money.
Ray Dalio phrases the opportunity: “And you have a situation when there is a rising power challenging an existing power, there is competition, and there is a risk of war. And so how they deal with each other, whether there is a greater good or whether they are fighting with each other, is the defining moment.”