What are some ideas for a research paper question/topic that falls under the given topic: "how and why the United States became a superpower from the Spanish American War to the present; explain the historical relationships between foreign policy and domestic affairs"? An example research question/topic provided: "How did the United States's naval technology help it become a superpower?"

If you are looking at the new technology that helped the United States develop into a superpower, you could look at how the US Navy became a serious force during the Spanish-American War and the period immediately following the conflict. Alfred Thayer Mahan, who wrote a treatise on how navies helped major nations develop, was quite influential in military planning circles around the world at the turn of the century. Many industrialists in the United States viewed the Asian markets as essential to the continued growth of the United States; they viewed China as being a potential major consumer of American goods. In order to reach these lucrative markets, it was important to have coaling stations for ships across the Pacific. The United States needed to attain islands in the Pacific for this purpose. The United States also had commercial sugar interests in the Caribbean that were under constant threat by Cuban rebels who were protesting Spanish mismanagement on the island. In this respect, the Spanish–American War had a domestic as well as a military agenda, as it was largely driven by American commercial interests. After this war, which turned out to be a disaster for the Spanish due to their outdated navy, the United States was taken seriously in the minds of military planners in Europe and Asia. This would be important in the decades to come, in the buildup to World War I.