Well one empire (sort of empire) defeated another, so it’s related.

The reason German(y) was widely unpopular after WW2 wasn't primarily because they lost.

ETA: They lost WW1 too, but German remained our #1 foreign language.

OTOH, the reason those feelings were free to be expressed...

Yeah, we would all be speaking German now if they had won. But to put it another way, German remained the second language after they lost WW1.

>we would all be speaking German >now if they had won I hope you're saying this as a joke/deliberate hyperbole.

The relative power of German speakers (Germany) dropped massively after WW2 compared to English speakers (USA).

How is that not essentially the same point? The second language was determined by international politics, not linguistic merit.

Depends on your level of abstraction, I guess. GP stated "We all speak English because at one point the English practically owned the entire planet."

Which in our case is false. We stopped learning German as a second language because of the Nazi aggression and atrocities during WW2, and started learning English as a second language due to their aid and closer relations during the war.

But yes, it's obviously not because of any linguistic merit.

It would help if we knew which country. Was this due to (1) pre-WW2 German language mostly useful for trade with Germany, or (2) a significant minority of ethnic Germans, who probably returned to Germany (E/W) after WW2? My guess: #2.

Norway. Just overall friendlier standing with Germany than the UK pre-WW2 I think.

No significant minority of ethnic Germans, and I think trade with Germany and the UK was roughly comparable.

That’s true of many countries, including The US.