How did English become an important language?

English is one of the most spoken languages in the world, it can be helpful to everyone. Communication, work, business, education, travel, and the like.

It became this lingua franca because there was a need for a common World language and as a result of the vast British Empire, English was already widely known and following this, the US as an English speaking nation drove the language as the language of international commerce through its economic power.

There then came a tipping point where it became obvious to people all over the world that to learn English as your second language meant that you got best value out of this investment because if you knew English, you could speak to more people on Earth than with any other language.

Since that time English has ceased to belong to the English and is now owned (and is being evolved/changed) by the planet.