Britain's unique style of-stirring stick is unmatched
In his Memoirs of the Second World War, Winston Churchill wrote: "Britain's foreign policy has always been to prevent the emergence of the most aggressive, hegemonic and powerful countries on the continent." ”
Churchill once commented on the diplomatic strategy of Bismarck, Germany's iron-blooded prime minister, and he believed that Britain was always looking for a "substitute for death" who could resist the hegemony of the European continent.
Britain deserves its name as a "-stirring stick" in European history. So why is it that only the UK has won this award? Is it because of the UK's geographical location, or is it a unique part of the UK itself?
In the course of 400 years of diplomacy and warfare, Britain developed a strategic tradition of "continental balance", a strategy based on the principle that no matter which country is strong, it must unite with its enemies to weaken it, because the inability of Europe to unify is the most important thing.
As a result, Britain has historically given the impression of being a fickle pragmatist, sometimes accused of treachery and duplicity.
In the eyes of the British, they are more like an impartial arbiter, that's what they call it"Honorably isolated"。Why is it that only Britain can play the "balance of power" strategy?
What are the necessary conditions to become a "-stirring stick" in Europe? Let's take a look at this history. Britain is the greatest of the great powers, and it has a significant advantage in the popularity of English.
From the Battle of the Armada in 1588 to the Anglo-Franco-Dutch War in 1756, Britain won the most victories in France's colonies with its powerful navy.
Even at the beginning of the 19th century, after the rise of Napoleon in France, Britain united almost all European countries and organized 7 anti-French alliances, which finally led to Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo.
In the Crimean War of 1853, Britain united with Ottoman Turkey and France against the rising Tsar**. Britain's ability to play the "continental balance of power strategy" to perfection is the result of the interaction of multiple factors such as history, geography, culture, economy, and military.
History and geography determine the motivation for the emergence of Britain's "balance of power strategy".
The UK's close geographical, economic, military, and cultural ties to Europe may benefit it in a given phase, but it is not set in stone.
Around the outbreak of World War I, Britain signed the Anglo-Japanese Alliance with Japan, and began to gradually abandon "glorious isolation" and began to seek "parity of strength" between opposing camps.
However, Britain is not a European country in the traditional sense, and although geographically it is part of Europe, the British do not consider themselves to belong to Europe.
Unlike Japan, which "broke away from Asia and joined Europe" during the Meiji Restoration, Britain was full of fear of European countries, and this fear stemmed from the history of people on the island of Great Britain being invaded by foreign peoples.
Britain's "European balance of power strategy" was born out of this "sense of insecurity". The island of Great Britain is geographically close to the European mainland, separated only by the English Channel, and the coast is flat and unsafe.
Although the Celts were not the inhabitants of the British Isles, they were the earliest inhabitants of history. The British Isles have a history of nearly 1,000 years of invasion, the Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, and the Vikings invaded the British Isles first, and Britain was formed in this multi-ethnic blood and cultural collision.
In 43 AD, the Roman Emperor Claudius I led a large army to invade the island of Britain and incorporated it into the Roman territory. After the fall of Rome, from the middle of the 5th century AD, a branch of the Germanic tribes, the Angles. The Saxons invaded Britain one after another.
They were no more merciful than the Romans, and the Anglo-Saxon themselves were the second group of invaders, but that doesn't mean they were safe.
At the end of the 8th century, the Vikings invaded the island of Britain, and the Ansars established kingdoms for this purpose, which is the historical background of the Seven Kingdoms in A Song of Ice and Fire.
If you want to understand this history, just look at the coat of arms of the King of Wessex and you'll immediately understand what it means. In particular, King Egbert of Wessex, who succeeded in unifying England in 829 AD and became the first monarch of England.
The family coat of arms of the Wessex dynasty of England symbolizes the fighting spirit of their ancestors, the Vikings. The Vikings, with their fierce fighting prowess, swept almost all of Europe, leaving many traces of being burned, killed and looted.
Their descendants founded the Duchy of Normandy in northern France, known as the Normans. Subsequently, the Normans began to expand in all directions, conquering Italy and Britain, and finally in 1066, William I, Duke of Normandy, conquered England and the Wessex dynasty fell.
William was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey in London, became known as "William the Conqueror", and began the reign of the Norman dynasty. However, during the Plantagenet Dynasty, due to the conflict of succession to the throne, the Hundred Years' War broke out between England and France, and the king of England lost all his territory in France and became an island nation from then on.
This was followed by a 30-year War of the Roses between two branches of the Plantagenet dynasty, the House of Lancaster and the House of York, for the throne of England.
Eventually, Henry Tudor, the illegitimate son of the House of Lancaster, married the House of York, ending the war and bringing England into the Tudor dynasty.
Elizabeth I's father, the son of two families of the tyrant Henry VIII, was the pirate queen. Although he is notorious for marrying six times and killing two wives, the Tudor dynasty was a pivotal point in the development of English history.
During this period, Britain formed a continental balance of power strategy, capitalism began to sprout, and the dream of dominating the seas began to emerge. Henry VIII's brutality stemmed from a fear of the unknown, which came from the continent's two main camps, England's arch-enemy, France, and the Holy Roman Empire of the Habsburgs.
They all wanted to be the masters of Europe, which was undoubtedly a threat to England. History is always strikingly similar, and if these camps invaded England, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Thus, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, a confidant of Henry VIII, proposed a strategy to change the recent history of England.
Thomas Wolsey was convinced that England's security consisted in maintaining the balance of power on the continent. He understands that whether it is helping the weak against the strong, or ostensibly showing favor and confronting the strongest, England can only be more stable on the international stage if countries are balanced.
During the reign of Henry VIII, Wolsey united Spain with the Holy Roman Empire against France to prevent its expansion. When Charles V succeeded to the throne of Spain, England joined forces with Ottoman Turkey and France to weaken Spain.
Although ultimately defeated, Walsey's "balance of power strategy" became one of the core strategies of England. Queen Elizabeth I continued this strategy, uniting France and the Netherlands, and successfully scrapped the Spanish Armada.
In the fragmentation of the European continent, England became an important player and balancer.
Over the past 300 years, Britain, with its capitalist and maritime hegemony, as well as its "balance of power strategy", has successfully defeated France, the Netherlands and the Tsar**, and in the mid-19th century became the most powerful colonial empire in the world, dominating 1 4 of the world's land area.
However, this was not a victory for Britain alone, but through a combination of three strategies: capitalism, maritime hegemony, and the "balance of power" strategy. In particular, the outbreak of the Glorious Revolution allowed the British bourgeoisie to successfully enter the stage of history, and through this realized the transfer of state power and the establishment of a constitutional monarchy.
At the same time, the rise of the British bourgeoisie was also inseparable from the war, whether it was the War of the Roses or the Thirty Years' War, which provided an important historical opportunity for the development of the British bourgeoisie.
After thirty years of war, the feudal and Catholic forces in various European countries were weakened, the national consciousness began to awaken, and the new bourgeoisie began to seize power.
However, instead of bringing peace, this rise of national consciousness has sparked a scuffle of nations for national interests, leading to an even more chaotic and bloody era.
Charles I, one of the participants in this war, involved England in the war, as a result of which England was driven out of the Mediterranean, with serious consequences for the business of the English bourgeoisie.
For this, Charles I tried to continue his participation in the war, but was rejected by a parliament of capitalists, triggering the English Civil War. The war was a duel between the English feudal monarch and the bourgeoisie, and in the end the armed forces of the bourgeoisie prevailed over Charles I, who became the first monarch in European history to be publicly executed.
The Thirty Years' War, while breaking the old order, did not bring peace, but instead led to an era of greater chaos and bloodshed. However, the chaos and gore of this era also gave birth to a new order and a new civilization.
Charles I's son, James II, ascended to the throne during the Glorious Revolution. Unlike his father, he wisely chose to abdicate, thus avoiding the Civil War and the Thirty Years' War.
These wars were, in fact, the catalyst for the development of the British bourgeoisie. What makes the UK stand out? This is due to the fact that after the Glorious Revolution, the development of British capitalism went beyond the European continent, and the main interests of the British bourgeoisie were in the sea**, so they needed to build a strong navy to protect**, expand the colonies, and achieve both offensive and defensive.
Britain's maritime hegemony is achieved by a combination of its superior capital operation efficiency and its unique "continental balance of power strategy". This strategy allowed Britain to consolidate its maritime supremacy by allowing it to be exposed to a strong maritime enemy.
The formation of the core strategy of the "Iron Triangle" is closely related to the British maritime geopolitical conditions, and it has formed a unique strategic combination in the long history. Only with strong capitalism and maritime hegemony can Britain's "continental balance of power strategy" be realized and play an important role on the European continent.
And in order to become a European "-stirring stick", one must first make sure that it is not in a, that is to say it must be an island country, and the entire economy is not dependent on the European continent, and only then will the "balance of power strategy" be able to achieve its meaning.
With the popularity of railways, land powers such as the Tsar** and Germany grew in power, posing an unprecedented challenge to British maritime supremacy. In order to counterbalance the Tsar**, in 1902, Britain formed an alliance with Japan.
Britain also played an important role in the Russo-Japanese War in the early 20th century. After two world wars, Britain's maritime hegemony began to decline, and many colonies became independent after World War II, making Britain's "balance of power strategy" gradually lose its effect.
When the "iron triangle" loses a corner, the "balance of power strategy" becomes inadequate. Thank you for reading and liking, and see you in the next episode!