China's economy has become internationalized. Sometimes, if you don't understand the world, you don't understand China. At the same time, only by going out can you understand what the world is like.

Lessons from the rise of China: Why can Britain and the United States dominate the world?

China's economy has become internationalized. Sometimes, if you don't understand the world, you don't understand China. At the same time, only by going out can you understand what the world is like.

Financial Street Telecom sees the world/stones from other mountains around the planet 022-12-28 07: 19

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"Britain will always have more enemies than Britain has"

- Viscount Castlereagh, the most outstanding diplomat of the British Empire Castlereagh)

"The British have never lost a war. If a new war breaks out, Turkey must not become Britain's enemy."

--Marshal Kemal, the father of Turkey, greatly admired the strategic vision of the British. When he was dying, he told his successor Mustafa Inonu.

Since 1704, the British Empire of the Anglo-Saxon nation and its successor, the United States of America, have been the masters of world hegemony for three hundred years.

During these long hundreds of years, although the hegemony of the Anglo-Saxon nation faced many challenges from other countries, these challenges were all defeated without exception.

This almost mythical strategic achievement is deeply engraved in the rough and turbulent history of human modern strategy. So much so that before his death, Marshal Kemal Kemal, the outstanding politician and the father of Turkey, solemnly told his successor: "The British have never lost in a war. If a new war breaks out, Turkey must not become her enemy." Let others take the crown. France should always unite the masses to defeat the weak! "

- Richelieu, the most outstanding politician in modern history, created France's European hegemony at a very low cost during the Thirty Years' War. What's their strategy?

In fact, the fundamental reason why Britain and the United States have maintained their hegemony for hundreds of years is very simple, that is, in major geopolitical struggles related to destiny, Britain and the United States tried their best to "join the masses to defeat the few, and defeat the few with the more."

The War of the Spanish Succession in the early 18th century (the War of the Rise of the British Empire's Hegemony):

The hegemony of the British Empire rose in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714). In this war, in order to curb the ambitions of the European superpower, the Kingdom of France, Britain united with other powers, the Netherlands, Austria, etc. to fight France, and defeated the French army at the Battle of Blenheim. It successfully seized the fruits of victory with the minimum cost and maximum gain, and since then laid the foundation of British hegemony.

Oil painting "The Duke of Marlborough, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, Signs a Report of Victory at Blenheim" The Beginning of the British Empire's Hegemony

" Louis XIV could not understand that his excellent army was not only defeated, And perished. From then on, what he considered was not how to dominate Europe, but how to end the war he provoked decently."

- Winston Churchill commented on the Battle of Blenheim on August 13, 1704. This battle was the beginning of British hegemony. The British commander, the Duke of Marlborough, was Churchill's ancestor. Interestingly, the hegemony of the British Empire began with the Duke of Marlborough and ended with his descendant Churchill

The Napoleonic Wars in the early 19th century (Consolidation of the British Empire’s hegemony)

However, the real consolidation of the British Empire’s world hegemony also benefited from the Napoleonic Wars in the early 19th century. In this war against Napoleon's ambitions, the British Empire united with Russia, Austria, Prussia, Spain, Sweden and other powerful countries to attack Napoleon's France. In the end, the extremely powerful French nation was reduced to a second-rate power with a poor country and poor people, and secured the top spot among the world's powers at a relatively low cost.

The Crimean War in 1853 (the British Empire defeated Russia's challenge)

After the European revolution in 1848, the strength of Tsarist Russia became a challenger to British hegemony, and the Tsar launched an expansion into the Near East. In this case, the British Empire united with the French Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia, and induced the Austrian Empire to attack the Russian Empire. The Russian army could not resist, and the Russian Czar Nicholas I failed to create the myth of defeating more with less, and committed suicide in despair.

World War I in 1914 (The Decline of the British Empire's Hegemony)

The world developed to the beginning of the 20th century. As the national power of the German Empire increased rapidly, the German nation began to promote a global strategy in an attempt to compete with the British Empire. The British Empire then united Russia, France, Italy and the United States to attack Germany, and in 1918 sent the pretentious Germans into a hell of despair.

1941 World War II (The hegemony of the British Empire collapsed and the hegemony of the United States rose)

Twenty years later, the German head of state Hitler wanted to revive Germany. , launched World War II in an attempt to seize world hegemony. In this case, Britain and its successor the United States, united with Russia, once again attacked the Germans, destroying Germany's ambitions with extremely low human losses. Due to its financial inability to afford it, the British Empire gradually withdrew from the center of the world after the war, and the United States, whose strength doubled during the war, assumed hegemony.

Cold War (Consolidation of American Hegemony) in 1947

After World War II , Soviet Russia controlled Eastern Europe and resisted the hegemony of the United States. The United States and the Soviet Union fell into confrontation. In this case, the United States joined forces with the United Kingdom, France, China, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, Canada, and the Islamic world to suppress Soviet Russia. The Soviet Union was unable to bear the burden of its national power and eventually collapsed and perished.

Why can Britain and the United States always attack less with more?

As history has shown, from the War of the Spanish Throne to the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union (except for the Miracle of Brandenburg in the Seven Years' War) , compared to rising powers such as France, Germany and Russia, why can Britain and the United States always unite to defeat the weak?

In fact, the strategic success of Britain and the United States is no accident. It is due to a series of firm and wise diplomatic strategies and unique geographical advantages.

First of all, the national strategies pursued by Britain and the United States at the beginning of their rise did not conflict with the core security interests of most powers, thus effectively avoiding a group attack by the powers.

Since Elizabeth I, Britain has promoted a strategy centered on the expansion of overseas colonies. This strategy does not involve the core interests of most European powers. Its real opponents are often only those countries with more colonies: Spain at first, then the Netherlands, and then France. This makes Britain's real opponents in the process of geopolitical games always very limited (In fact, there is often only one) ;

The same was true for the U.S. policy of consolidating North America as its core strategy before World War II (while pursuing strict isolationism in other regions) . At that time, the only major country with core interests in North America was the United Kingdom. Considering that Britain was isolated by sea routes, it was unable to get too involved. The United States only needed to guard against and befriend Britain to build national strength.

This clear strategy has always limited competitors in the rise of Britain and the United States.

Secondly, in the process of their rise, both Britain and the United States made targeted sacrifices around their core strategic goals to prevent too many enemies. All their resources were used to attack their main opponents.

Since Britain’s strategy focuses on the expansion of overseas colonies, the territory of the European continent is tantamount to a heavy strategic burden for Britain, which can easily attract the hostility of the great powers and unnecessary opponents. Therefore, the British Empire has always refused to get involved in carving up European territories to avoid attracting unnecessary mortal enemies.

At the 1815 Congress of Vienna , Britain readily gave up all European territories occupied by the British army during the Napoleonic Wars. At the same time, it refused to give up the overseas colonies of other European countries occupied by Britain during the war (such as Dutch South Africa and Dutch Sri Lanka) ; When conflicts arose, they simply took advantage of the inheritance law to give up the ownership of the continental territory of Hannover (in Germany, which triggered the Seven Years' War); in 1890, the British ceded the Heligoland Island near the European continent to Germany to reduce the possibility of unnecessary conflicts with each other.

While abandoning its territory on the European continent, Britain in all wars concentrated its efforts on attacking other continental powers that could truly threaten its overseas colonial expansion strategy.

In the Netherlands War, the British Queen Elizabeth secretly supported the Dutch resistance movement, with the goal of weakening Spain, the largest overseas rival; in the war between Louis XIV and the Dutch, the British King Charles II joined forces with the French King Louis XIV to attack the Netherlands, with the goal of weakening the rising maritime power of the Netherlands;

The same is true for the United States. In the process of its rise, the United States pursued isolationism in its world policy. This policy strictly limited the possibility of conflicts of interest between the United States and other powers, while concentrating its efforts on attacking Indians and Mexicans.

The most important thing is that the unique geographical environment and superb national strategies of Britain and the United States enable Britain and the United States to make full use of the contradictions between countries, easily unite the masses to defeat the few, and crush the ambitions of challengers.

Britain is isolated from the European continent by the English Channel . At the same time, it does not pursue territorial expansion in the European continent. This makes its conflicts with European powers quite limited, that is, Britain's European The continent's non-expansion policy prevents it from threatening the core interests of other great powers. The conflicts between the great powers and Britain are always smaller than the conflicts between the great powers. This allows the great powers to tolerate the strength of Britain, but cannot tolerate the strength of other continental powers. This is what Bismarck called the British Empire as a "saturated country".

For example: the French ambitions of Louis XIV and Napoleon first threatened the security of the Netherlands, the Austrian Empire, Prussia and Spain before impacting the UK; William IIThe rise of the German nation first threatened the security of France, Russia and Italy before impacting the UK; the expansion of Tsar Nicholas Ithe Russian Empire first threatened the security of Sweden, the Ottoman Empire and the Austrian Empire before impacting the UK.

In this case, facing the hegemonic ambitions of other powers, the British Empire only needed to take a rest and unite with its allies who were eager to fight back. The genius of Napoleon, the courage of Russia (Crimean War) and the bravery of Germany (World War I) are all buried here.

The geographical advantage of the United States of America is even more significant. The country dominates the New World and controls the two oceans (Pacific , Atlantic ). At the same time, it does not seek to expand its territory in the Old Continent. This allows it to easily sit back and watch the powers of the Old Continent fight each other and restrain each other.

From the perspective of national security, the rise of Russia (such as the Soviet Union), before impacting the United States, first threatened the security of China, Japan, France, Turkey, Iran, and Germany; after the rise of China (such as currently), before impacting the United States, the first people to feel fear were Japan, India, Vietnam, and even Russia ( Far East Belonging to Central Asia's Backyard) ; After the rise of Japan (such as 1931), before impacting the United States, China and Russia were the first to feel the pressure; after the rise of Germany (such as 1938), before impacting the United States, France, Britain, and Russia were the first to feel the trembling.

Therefore, whether it is dealing with the former Soviet Union, Japanese militarism, or German Nazis, the United States only needs to unite many powerful countries around it to defeat the weak with strong force and easily destroy them.

The Dilemma of Continental Countries: United Containment

From the above facts, it can be seen that in modern political history, the biggest danger for late-comer continental countries compared to maritime empires such as Britain and the United States is that the rise of continental powers is more likely to arouse fear from surrounding powers, which in turn causes these powers to unite and take concerted actions to bury and destroy (such as Napoleonic France, Hitler's Germany) or contain and dismember the country (such as the Soviet Union).

In the history of modern diplomacy, in fact, only two leaders of rising continental countries have ever escaped this crisis - France's Richelieu and Germany's Bismarck. They not only had superhuman courage, but they were also able to fully restrain their ambitions and make choices about the gains and losses of national territory and glory, thus making full use of the contradictions between the great powers to maintain their dominant position.

"For Your Majesty, the Netherlands is a controllable maritime power. The strength of the Netherlands cannot threaten France, but it is enough to suppress Britain. Therefore, Your Majesty must not easily weaken the Netherlands. Then Britain will become a powerful enemy of France that is out of control, and France's overseas wealth will not be preserved."

- Richelieu warned his successors that thirty years later, Louis XIV Coveting the wealth of the Netherlands and attacking the Netherlands, the consequences were just as Richelieu expected.

"Germany only needs to focus on its position in Central Europe and must not pursue overseas colonies and a super navy. Otherwise, Germany will become the first enemy of all great powers and cannot survive."

- Bismarck warned his successors that twenty years later, the German Empire would perish under the siege of the great powers.

However, giants like Richelieu and Bismarck are rare in the world. Their successors were born in peace and lacked the wisdom and pragmatism of their predecessors, but they expected the glory and majesty of their predecessors. They fantasized about the miracle of the weak defeating the strong all day long, but in the end they faced the humiliation of beating an egg against a stone.

In contrast, in the war history of the British Empire (United States of America) , there has been almost no extraordinary record (European battlefield) in which the weak defeated the strong and stood out in history, and their victory can hardly be sung as a model of heroism.This is not because Britain and the United States lack brave and skilled soldiers, but because their persistent and superb strategies enable them to always defeat the weak with the strong and unite the masses to defeat the outnumbered. This is the pride of the Anglo-Saxon nation that dominates the world.