The Suez Canal is located in the Middle East and has led to many disagreements in the area. For example, the Suez Canal Crisis involved the dispute over its usage between Egypt, Israel, Great Britain, and France. It took international involvement to help temporarily resolve these disagreements.

The Twenty-One Demands were issued by the Japanese government to the Chinese government in 1915. They were intended to ensure Japanese control over China and regional hegemony in the Far East. The Chinese, in no position to dispute the demands after their recent revolution and in the midst of their so-called “century of humiliation,” gave in to Japanese demands and allowed Japan to take control of Manchuria and much of the Chinese economy.

The Panama Canal was constructed by American authorities in Panama in the first decades of the twentieth century. Prior to the construction of the Panama Canal, ships had to sail all the way around South America to trade between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The construction of the Panama Canal dramatically reduced the amount of time required and accelerated America’s growth as an imperial and economic world power.

The Truman Doctrine was an American foreign policy implemented by President Truman in 1947. Its stated goal was to stop the spread of communism and prevent Soviet hegemony. The doctrine was solidified in 1948 with America giving significant financial aid to Greece and Turkey to discourage the spread of communism in these countries. The Marshall Plan, similarly, was designed to prevent the spread of communism in Europe by providing aid to help rebuild European economies.

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade first came into effect in 1948. It was an agreement between more than twenty different countries to try and reduce obstacles to free trade and limit tariffs. It subsequently grew over the course of the twentieth century until 1994 when it had a membership of 123 countries. In 1994 the member countries signed an agreement to grow the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade into the World Trade Organization.

Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea are collectively called the “Asian Tigers” because they have experienced high rates of economic growth throughout the second-half of the twentieth century. These countries were able to achieve rapid economic growth through a series of measures. They all encouraged competition between different businesses and countries; Hong Kong and Singapore became global centers of international finance; Taiwan and South Korea became global centers of information technology. In the twenty-first century all four nations have strong economies, a well-educated population, and are much wealthier than many of their bigger neighbors.

The Marshall Plan was enacted in 1948 and was designed to rebuild the economies of post-war Western Europe to prevent the spread of communism. It also involved the removal of trade barriers and the restructuring of European industry.

Theodore Roosevelt was the first US President to utilize anti-trust law to help breakup large companies in the United States. He brought more than 40 antitrust suits to some of America's largest companies, including US Steel and Standard Oil. 

The Asian Tigers were made up of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan, and saw economic growth rates of up to 7% from the 1960s to the 1990s. They rapidly transformed into the sophisticated industrialized powers that we are familiar with today. 

France started trying to build the Canal in 1881, but stopped due to engineering problems and a high worker mortality rate (due, among other things, to tropical diseases). When the US took control, Panama was under control of Colombia. Colombia did not give it permission for the US to build, so Teddy Roosevelt supported the Panamanian rebels who were seeking independence, even going so far as to block Colombian troops as they were trying to get into Panama to suppress the rebel movements.  In 1903, Panama declared its independence and granted the US the rights to the Canal Zone shortly thereafter.