Europe is the second smallest continent in the world, with a land area of only 10 million square kilometers, which is not much larger than our country. However, this place, which is about the same size as our country, is divided into 48 countries and regions. It is said that the world's general trend will be together for a long time, and long together will be divided. But for Europe, it seems that there is only "division" but no "union".
Looking at European history, since the fall of Roman Empire , Europe has been in a state of fragmentation for a long time, with states and each of them governing themselves.
Although the efforts to seek union or unification on the European continent have never stopped, from the medieval Charlemagne , Holy Roman Empire , to the modern Napoleon Empire and its modern German , all tried to reproduce the glory of the Roman Empire, but they all ended in failure. In fact, even the Roman Empire only unified the southern part of Europe today.
There are many reasons for long-term division in Europe. For example, Europe has inherent shortcomings in its geographical environment, and the entire continent is divided into many different geographical units by mountains and rivers. Such as the Po River Basin, the Rhone River Basin, the Rhine River Basin, and the Danube River Basin, etc. This fragmented geographical structure has led to the dispersion of civilizations on the European continent, and lacks a core area that can radiate the entire continent.
For example, European ethnic group has significant separatist characteristics. There are many ethnic groups on the entire continent, lacking a strong subject. Like Italians, French, Germans, and Slavs, , everyone has been playing with their own things for a long time, with more significant cultural customs and self-national identity, so it is difficult to pee.
Of course, whether it is the geographical environment or national identity, they are actually some more objective factors that are not enough to affect the overall situation. In the face of absolute strength, these obstacles can be overcome. Just like in our Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, how chaotic the disputes among the nations were? In the end, they were different from being served by Qin Shihuang .
In fact, in the European history of the post- Roman era, there were also opportunities similar to the Qin King's victory over Liuhe. For example, the French Empire in the Napoleon era, the German Empire in the early 20th century, etc., they all once fought invincible across Europe, and had the strength to annex the eight deserts and unify Europe. However, in the process of these continental powers unifying the world, there will always be a country that will come out to make trouble.
UK is an island country on the edge of the European continent. The British Isles are located in and are separated from the European continent by a narrow English Channel . The unique geographical location has allowed the UK and Europe to maintain a close and distant emotion for a long time. On the one hand, the natural closeness in position makes them feel that they are part of Europe. On the other hand, the stormy waves in the English Channel made the British feel that they are so unique in Europe.
Under such an emotional influence, the British mentality becomes quite contradictory. They are neither willing to return to the mainland and join forces with the "indigenous people"; they do not want to be completely separated from the European continent and become completely an outsider who is lonely overseas.
So, the UK has always been quite "double standards" when dealing with its relationship with the European continent. That is, the UK can interfere in things on the continent at will, but the European continent must not have any inappropriate thoughts about the UK. In other words, the United Kingdom actually took advantage of the geographical advantage of the island country hanging overseas and placed itself in a very detached position. While not being forced to be involved in continental disputes, it can dominate the European trend with the attitude of a controller. This is a typical transaction without capital, and you can make a profit without losing money.
In order to achieve this goal, the British long-term diplomatic policy of "continental balance" towards Europe and became the notorious "European shit stirrer".
The so-called "continental balance of power" policy here is actually the British manipulating the political balance of the European continent through force or politics, which makes many European powers restrain and compete with each other and unable to dominate Europe, thereby safeguarding their own interests.Simply put, it is to prevent a unified centralized power from appearing on the European continent, posing a threat to the existence of Britain.
As for the specific operation, it is also very simple. It is nothing more than the four words "suppress the strong and support the weak", that is, putting strength into the weak side to fight against the powerful. In the words of Churchill , it is:
"Join the less powerful side, unite with them, defeat and thwart the military overlord on the mainland, no matter who he is, no matter which country he ruled."
As the saying goes, "there are no eternal friends, only eternal interests" between countries. In the British dictionary, there has never been any distinction between friends and enemies. Anyway, I will beat whoever is strong and I will help whoever is weak. Throughout the history of the continent, after the rise of Britain, almost every continental power has been hit by Britain, even though they were allies fighting side by side the moment before.
For example, in the first half of the 17th century, the Spanish Empire under the rule of of the Habsburg dynasty still existed and is still the overlord force on the European continent. In order to defeat Spain, the United Kingdom followed France, Dutch and other rising stars to rub the Habsburg family on the ground.
Thirty Years' War defeated Spain, but the French stood up because of this. By the beginning of the 18th century, France had become a new overlord force on the European continent. Sun King Louis XIV carried Dutch , and stepped on Spain, and was very tyrannical to dominate the continent.
The British who pursued the "continental balance" naturally cannot tolerate France dominating Europe. So they became friends with their former enemies and joined forces with the Habsburgs to fight against the French. So a war of succession to the Spanish throne that swept across most of Europe began.
Although the final result of the war was that the British lost, it consumed a lot of the French's national strength, making it unable to dominate the European continent.
At the beginning of the 19th century, France made a comeback under the leadership of Napoleon, sweeping almost the entire European continent. They punched Austria , kicked Prussian , almost rubbing the continental countries on the ground. That was undoubtedly the most glorious moment for France and the best time for Europe to reunify.
The British were naturally frightened by the invincibility of France on the European continent. In order to prevent France from dominating Europe, they continued to seek allies and formed anti-French alliances again and again. In the end, France lost to four hands with two fists, Napoleon lost to Waterloo, and the European continent returned to a balanced power again.
After Napoleon fell, the European gendarmerie began to dominate the continental order. Among them, , Tsarist Russian , which had an almost paranoid desire for territory, expanded into Europe even more crazily, wanting to become the veritable heir to the Roman Empire. Britain naturally didn't averse to such countries, and immediately joined forces with France to snipe the Slavs. As a result, after an Krim War, was defeated, and Tsarist Russia was directly defeated and there was no hope of fighting for the European continent.
In the late 19th century, the German Empire with the original Prussian Kingdom as the core rose strongly. His arrogant military strength was almost defeated at the time, and all of them were vulnerable to , Denmark, , France and Austria. Faced with the reality that the Germans were about to dominate the continent, the British, who shouted "glorious isolation", immediately stood up again.
At that time, Britain and France and Tsarist Russia formed an Allied Group, confronted the Allied Group with Germany as the axis, and successfully defeated Germany in the final battle, .
After the end of the First World War, Europe did not completely return to a balance of power. At that time, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire were completely destroyed and became the "second-class citizen" of Europe. Tsarist Russia withdrew from the stage of hegemony because of a fire in the backyard. Only one France is left, and he returns to the top of the continent with the advantage of the victorious country.
As the pioneer of anti-France that defeated Napoleon, the British naturally did not want to see the French make a comeback. So as soon as the war ended here, the British chose to betray their allies and began to stand opposite France.
As the saying goes, how can you let others sleep soundly on the side of the bed?Originally, in order to ensure its own safety, France has been trying its best to weaken the nearby Germany. At the Paris Conference, France demanded that Germany's industrial and military capabilities be eliminated forever, and even dismembered Germany, so that it could not make a comeback. However, this plan was opposed by the British, because in their opinion, excessive weakening of Germany would only make France uncontrollable.
In 1923, in order to allow the Germans to fulfill their war reparations, France directly sent troops to occupy Germany's Ruhr industrial zone, which triggered the "Ruer crisis". In response, the British once again jumped out and sang against the French. The French, who were seriously injured in the First World War, did not dare to fight against the British, and in the end they could only retreat in a mess.
France was the country with the worst losses in World War I. It almost wiped out an entire generation and the treasury was consumed. However, the French fought so hard that they ended up with the back pricks of their allies, which undoubtedly made the French very upset. Later, in , in , France did not choose to fight the Germans to the death, but instead surrendered at the speed of light after the war was defeated, and the British should be blamed. Of course, the reason why the Germans were able to quickly recover their strength after World War I became the source of World War II was also a great help from Britain.
After the end of World War II, the world situation changed. Europe, which was originally the core management of the world order, was destroyed, and the European powers, including Britain, could only tremble under the shadow of super forces such as the United States and the Soviet Union. In order to survive, the European countries chose to join forces to keep warm and carry out integrated cooperation.
In 1952, under the leadership of France, France, Germany, Italy, Biography, the Netherlands and Luxembourg established the " European Coal and Steel Community ", which jointly operated their respective coal and steel industries, thus opening the prelude to European integrated . Later, they successively established two similar institutions, namely " European Economic Community " and " European Atomic Energy Community ", and European integrated cooperation was further deepened.
1965, the three major communities mentioned above were merged into " European Community ". And this European Community is the predecessor of EU .
Under such a European integration framework, Europe seems to have ushered in an opportunity for unification again, and even this time even the proud British took the initiative to participate. In 1973, the EU expanded its military for the first time, and the UK joined forces with Denmark and Ireland .
However, things are not that simple. The reason why the British joined the EU was just to be jealous of the EU's economic advantages and wanted to take a ride-sharing to make money. As for the so-called European unification, it is not within the scope of the British's consideration at all, and they still adhere to the "continental balance of power" policy.
To put it simply, in the British, the EU is an intergovernmental cooperative organization rather than a consortium of states. It’s okay for everyone to gather together to make money, but in the fields of politics, defense and social policies, it’s better not to have too much trouble.
So after the UK joined the EU, it has always been a bit unsociable and often has to make some "exceptions". For example, when the EU budget is allocated, the UK can get discounts; for example, when the EU is in the euro zone, the UK does not participate, so people still use the pound. In addition, the UK is not subject to , Schengen Agreement, and they still maintain certain border inspection procedures.
It is obvious that although the UK joined the EU, it has never been the same as the EU, and this also laid the groundwork for the later Brexit .
Judging from the many historical origins of the European continent and the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom is undoubtedly the biggest obstacle on the road to European unification. Its long-term "continental balance of power" policy makes it difficult for hegemony on the European continent, and even if there is any sign of it, it will not work. When the European continent is in a state of balanced power and the strength of all countries is balanced and equal, no one can do anything to each other, so there is naturally no way to talk about unification.
So in summary, the UK should be the culprit of Europe's long-term division.
It is worth mentioning that the British are typical "to things, not people", and they only target countries that may dominate Europe and destroy the balance of power on the mainland.There will be no personal or national emotions involved, everything is based on actual interests. As long as it is in your own interests, even if you have a century-old rival like France, you can still become friends. On the contrary, even if you were fighting side by side in a trench before, you could turn the gun head immediately.
is the final analysis: there are no permanent allies, no permanent enemies, only interests are permanent and unchanging.
So the UK is actually a very "pragmatic" country. When dealing with them, you can only talk about interests, not feelings. Of course, this is not a bad habit, but the "true meaning" of national diplomacy. Think about it, Britain is just an island country on the edge of the continental region, but it can dominate the continental trend for a long time, and even once dominated the world, becoming the famous "Empire that never sets". This is inseparable from its "pragmatic" foreign policy, which brings countless benefits to the UK. Even though everyone says he is a "European shit mess", it is undeniable that he is "stirring" beautifully.
