> Having access to large tracts of land is not a necessary precondition to industrialization
But having access to large tracts of land with resources ( like oil ) is. I guess you missed the "chock full of oil" part.
> (see South Korea).
Perfect example. How did Korea industrialize? By being annexed by the japanese ( who went about acquiring tons of land with resources ) and then being annexed by the US with our global network of resource links.
> Also, as an aside, yes, most of the American West was largely lucked into.
It wasn't "lucked into". We won wars against the british and spanish and mexico. And we intimidated the french. And we fought wars against the natives.
> but it was a weak power.
Yes. Because major world powers cede a continent sized piece of territory with an infinite amount of resources to a "weak power".
If the US was a "weak power", then the french, british and russian empires in the 1800s must have been a joke.
But having access to large tracts of land with resources ( like oil ) is. I guess you missed the "chock full of oil" part.
> (see South Korea).
Perfect example. How did Korea industrialize? By being annexed by the japanese ( who went about acquiring tons of land with resources ) and then being annexed by the US with our global network of resource links.
> Also, as an aside, yes, most of the American West was largely lucked into.
It wasn't "lucked into". We won wars against the british and spanish and mexico. And we intimidated the french. And we fought wars against the natives.
> but it was a weak power.
Yes. Because major world powers cede a continent sized piece of territory with an infinite amount of resources to a "weak power".
If the US was a "weak power", then the french, british and russian empires in the 1800s must have been a joke.