Has the British Empire influenced the spread of the English language?

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As we all know, English is considered a global language nowadays. It is almost impossible to meet someone who is not capable of speaking the language which derives its origin from Great Britain. Today, English is the official language in more than 67 countries and more than 400 million people are native speakers. The number of people who speak English as a foreign language varies  between 600 and 700 million.

It is pretty obvious that the extension of the British Empire had a huge impact on the development of the differet countries. Due to the fact that English soldiers, settlers and merchants travelled to the different continents and countries it was hardly possible for them to not "take their own language with them" and pass it on to the natives of the new country.

The first country that was conquered was Ireland which lead to the fact that the Irish people adapted to the English language and slowly forgot about their own native language. Many countries such as North America, India, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and Africa followed.
It is said that the British Empire seized almost one quarter of the entire world. The interesting fact is that those countries who were part of the British Empire pretty much portray the "English-spoken areas" today.

Although most countries became independent after WW2 they still have strong connections to Great Britain and some of them are even part of the Commonwealth which is a logical explanation why English still remains their native language.