It almost seems that we are in a cycle of how "Imperial" our military is. Late 19th/early 20th century, highly imperial. In the late 1920s and 1930s, we retract, mirroring our society and their unwillingness to get involved (or inability) with foreign affairs. Today's "flattened" world has greatly increased the U.S. involvement in global affairs, even more so from when the Cold War kept us physically out of nations within the Soviet sphere of influence. As a reflection of our society, our military is only as imperial as they are.