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English was spread around the world due to colonization, no doubt about that. But the reason it remained the de facto language in many countries is that there is less emotional baggage in using English as a standard tongue (since it was already in use in adminstration and transportation) instead of making one region's or one tribe's language the primary one, which tends to foster resentment and feelings of superiority/inferiority at a time when former colonies/states are/were emerging as sovereign countries in their own right.
English, I think, just happened to be the first language to really reach critical mass world-wide, as a result of a perfect storm of political, economic and social factors. It's ability to incorporate vocabulary quickly from other languages means that every culture has a stake in it. I don't see that changing, especially with countries making English a mandatory course in school. In China, English language lessons begin in the third year of primary school.
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