The "success" in this case is based mostly on the geopolitical placement of a given country. Just look at the isolated ancient Egypt, isolated ancient Greece, isolated ancient Rome (before its wide expansion), isolated ancient China, isolated medieval Britain, isolated after-revolution France, isolated after-WW1 Germany, isolated (politically) USSR, isolated (geographically) US. If you are unreachable, you can't be harmed. If a country has such isolation (geographical or political or both), it quickly emerges, builds an economy, gathers a huge army and PKs everything on sight. After that, it gets bored and loses or attacks Russia and loses. :)
My point is - if any country has any advantages over others, it uses them to kick others. US aren't those who started this shit (doesn't make them better though).
People of Earth need an external enemy to stop this. :)