In April 1945, when World War II was about to end, San Francisco, the United States held a special "United Nations International Organization Conference". A total of 288 representatives from 50 countries participated in the meeting, and after two months of consultation, the historic " United Nations Charter " was passed.
"United Nations International Organization Conference" held in San Francisco
According to the provisions of the United Nations Charter, the five major powers of the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, France and China serve as permanent members of the Security Council and enjoy the " veto power ". Therefore, these five major countries are also called "United Nations Five Constables" by the outside world . As for how strong are these five major countries? At present, even the weakest Britain is enough to drink a pot of the world.
The glorious "Empire of the Sun"
Although today's Britain still ranks as one of the five permanent members of the United Nations", this is actually just the current situation in the UK after the decline of family ties. Two hundred years ago, Britain's status was unquestionable. the world's number one powerhouse .
In the 19th century, Britain was in the reign of Queen Victoria . At this time, Britain had already eaten all the dividends from The first industrial revolution and was in the golden period of national strength development.
Queen Victoria of Britain
By obtaining huge improvements in productivity, British Empire has expanded its sphere of influence to a global scale, occupying a total of 33 million square kilometers of colonies and local areas, and is distributed in 24 time zones around the world. Geographically speaking, there is always a territory of the British Empire in a state of high sunlight, so the 19th century Britain was called "The Empire of the Sun Never Set" .
However, the two world wars in the 20th century severely weakened Britain's national strength. Although Britain eventually achieved the status of victorious countries, the emerging United States quickly surpassed Britain with its local advantage without being devastated by war and replaced Britain's position as the number one overlord. From then on, the sun never sets in the empire irreversible lands to the west.
00000000000: The UK, which was destroyed by World War II, is a victorious country in World War II and the principle of "a lean camel is bigger than a horse", the UK still plays a role in with an extremely profound influence in international affairs. is an example.
Although the UK followed suit and allowed India's independence, the British came up with a copy of the "Mountbatten Division Plan", which separated India and Pakistan , indirectly caused South Asian subcontinent turmoil for more than 80 years. The "McMahon Line" illegally drawn by Britain for India also indirectly constitutes a territorial dispute between China and India to this day.
proposed the "Mountbatten Dividing Plan" Mountbatten
In short, even if the "Empire of the Sun Never Set" is no longer glorious, the UK still has the pivotal influence of in the field of international politics, which is also one of the reasons why it ranks among the "Five Constant Rebellion".
UK's military strength
Of course, any major country that is "spread and colorful" in the field of international politics must have sufficient strength military strength , otherwise all diplomatic means will be empty talk. Judging from the current military power of Britain, although it cannot be compared with a large-scale power such as China, the United States and Russia, it is still qualified to rank first-class in the world.
British Navy's "Elizabeth" aircraft carrier
World Military Media "Global Firepower" announced the military rankings of various countries this year in 2022, among which British ranked 8th . Although the UK is surpassed by rising stars India and South Korea in the rankings, since this list only includes conventional military forces and does not include nuclear deterrence forces, it cannot fully reflect the UK's military strength. Despite this, Britain's military power is still in the top ten.
"Global Firepower" points out that the UK is currently the fourth largest permanent armed force in NATO , with a total number of active troops of 210,000. has a smaller scale and limits the ranking of British military power.However, the UK's military expenditure ranking is an important parameter that reflects its military equipment level. The British military expenditure budget in 2022 is about US$68 billion, ranking fourth in the world.
British Army Soldiers
It can be seen that the British army is currently taking the elite road of , and the size of the troops is not within its main goal. But as long as Britain enters a state of war, the world's fourth-ranked military spending strength can undoubtedly quickly mobilize a large army of large scale and well-equipped troops.
More importantly, the UK is one of the few countries in the world equipped with complete military production line . From the Challenger-2 main battle tank to the USS Elizabeth aircraft carrier, from the typhoon fighter to the latest "Starlight" individual missiles, these weapons can basically be independently produced by the British own arms company. Therefore, the UK's war potential is probably much stronger than the "paper firepower power" such as South Korea and India.
"Typhoon" fighter
powerful global influence
In addition to its extraordinary military strength, what the UK can best reflect its own strength today is actually on the "battlefield without gun smoke", that is, on the competitive stage of cultural soft power .
Since English is currently the language closest to "universal language" in the world, the UK's own culture can easily be widely and profoundly spread around the world.
The UK plays an important role in globalization
According to the data of the International Internet Conference, currently 70% of emails in the global network communicate in English, and 60% of international radio broadcasts use English as language. At various international conferences, the proportion of English speaking reached an astonishing 90%.
In the modern era of economic globalization , if a country wants to integrate into the global production system, the most basic condition is to learn English . This alone is enough to allow the UK to enjoy the special status of "detached from the world" among countries around the world.
Learning English is the basis of globalization
In addition, since the United Kingdom itself has the same relationship with the United States, the strongest country in the world today, , and the same roots , the United Kingdom enjoys a unique bonus advantage in the field of global politics and can quickly achieve its own strategic vision by forming an alliance with the United States.
When the British-Ama War broke out in 1982, under the pressure of Britain, most of the Western countries led by the United States chose to stand on the British side , which is also the indirect factor in the fact that Argentina had no choice but to lose the war.
English-Ama War
In short, even if Britain is now "no longer in glory", in terms of strength, it is even the last place in "Five Constant Permanence", but Britain can still maintain its status as a first-class power with the strong capital accumulated over the past few hundred years. If it takes action, it will be enough for the world to "drink a pot".
