Eli5: Why is the English language most common in this world?

Question

Eli5: Why is the English language most common in this world?

In: 41

Answer 1

For a hundred years the British empire was the largest in the world, spanning the globe, and in all those areas English became the language of officials and law, so everyone higher up had to learn English for official reasons.

Then, post World War 2 American dominance meant that anyone who wanted to work with the worlds new super power, also had to learn English.