US Allies & Enemies, Explained By This Map

The United States of America has been on the road to becoming a global superpower since their independence in the 18th century and today is the unparalleled economic and military superpower. however, the USA was never alone during their long walk to the top, and on the way made many friends and even worse enemies. Some historic enemies became god friends, and some old friends became worst enemies. In this article, we are going to see who Americans consider their allies, friends, and enemies. 

The map in this article shows which countries Americans consider their allies or enemy according to a poll conducted by YouGov. In reality, the concept of ally or enemy is more complex and bound to time and changes over time.

List Of Us Allies

As the foremost front runner of Democracy and Capitalism in the 21st century (after all, the USA is called the “home of the free and the land of the brave), the US government officially tries to maintain healthy and friendly relationships with democratic nations across the world. However, there is a visible line between the “friend” and the “enemy”, just as well as there is one between “the friend” and “the enemy”.

Abraham Lincoln, the 16^th president of USA, once famously said during one of his speeches that “a friend is a one who has the same enemies as you have”. However, today, that definition goes with the allies, meaning that usually, an ally is a country that will support you during prosperous times and during difficult times, such as war and terrorism.

Looking at from that perspective, then its correct to assume that NATO countries are the main allies of USA, as the regulations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization clearly states that is a nation of the pact is attacked by an invader, then the rest of the countries in the NATO should join in and declare war on the invader.    

Following is the full list of NATO member nations:

1. USA
2. Canada
3. France
4. United Kingdom
5. Netherlands
6. Albania
7. Belgium
8. Bulgaria
9. Denmark
10. Czech Republic
11. Estonia
12. Germany
13. Greece
14. Hungary
15. Iceland
16. Italy
17. Latvia
18. Lithuania
19. Luxembourg
20. Montenegro
21. Norway
22. Poland
23. Portugal
24. Romania
25. Slovakia
26. Slovenia
27. Spain
28. Turkey
29. Croatia

Apart from these allies, the US has made many friends throughout the world through strong economic and trade ties along with business partnerships. They are,

1. Mexico
2. India (one of the largest economies where many American companies do business in)
3. Brazil
4. Israel (the Jewish state is America’s greatest ally in the middle east)
5. Egypt
6. Japan
7. South Korea
8. Panama
9. Saudi Arabia and Iraq (through oil trade as America is the largest oil buyer of these states)

Did you know?

Would it surprise you if I say that some of today’s American allies and friends were their worst enemies some time ago? Some were enemies decades ago and some were enemies centuries ago.

Britain was America’s greatest enemy during the American freedom fight in the 18^th century.

Spain and America were at war in the late 19^th century,

Germany was America’s sworn enemy during the 20^th century. Specifically, during the first and second world wars.

Japan was America’s greatest enemy in the Pacific Ocean during the second world war. Japan became the only country to attack US soil in history when they bombed American stronghold in the Pacific, Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

And some of today’s America’s greatest enemies were America’s best friends some time ago.

Iran, then called Persia was under the rule of king Shah who was a good friend of the Americans.

Cuba, before Fidel Castro and the communist parties, took over, was a great friend of the USA under the rule of Batista.

The USA helped Afghans, or provided arms and funding to Mujahideen freedom fighters to repel the Soviet invasion in the 1980s’.

Vietnam’s ruling regime in the 1950s and 1960s’ were very friendly with the USA before the communist take over of the country in the 1970s’.

List Of Us Enemies

Today, there are only a handful of nations that the USA has officially stated their enemies. As the USA is the global economic powerhouse, many nations tend to maintain healthy diplomatic relationships with them because it is good for their economies and commerce.

Following is the list of countries that Americans consider as enemies:

1. Iran
2. North Korea
3. Syria

Apart from these 3 nations, the following nations are considered to be hostile or unfriendly towards America, either in terms of economic hostilities or political hostilities or both.

1. Russia (America’s greatest adversary since the 20^th century)
2. Libya
3. Afghanistan
4. Somalia
5. China (many differences exists between the USA and China, especially in trade and commerce)
6. Venezuela
7. Pakistan
8. Cuba (the only unfriendly state in North America toward the USA.)
9. Palestine (USA’s recent move to accept Jerusalem as the capital of Israel made the political adversary between the USA and Palestine even deeper.)

However, it is worthy to note that it is found in many surveys and polls that only a handful of Americans consider China and Cuba to be their enemies. Only 11% of Americans think China is an enemy and only 9% consider Cuba as an enemy.

It is natural that when a nation strives to become a superpower, it creates both friends and enemies alike. In the case of America, the fact stays the same, and just as much as they have powerful allies, the USA has made some dangerous enemies during their journey to become the global superpower.