How much of American success over the last 70-80 years has less to do with American culture, principles, and ingenuity and more to do with it winning WWII with the least decimation and then being able to set the rules of the global order?

Chasing Curiosity. Empathetic Accelerationist. Founding Fullstack Engineer @icebreaker. YC S16, KB7. 
icbk.me/tayyab.fc

We'll never know, but inventing the internet was a huge help.

Also, it seems like geography > technology might be implicit in winning WWII. Culture, ingenuity, etc. also might be a part of inventing nuclear weaponry etc.

At the end of the day, it's impossible to separate complexity like this. But I do think there has been something special in the water at different points.