Chapter 262: The End of France (32)

The British Empire will never allow a unified European continent to emerge!

For quite a long time, the UK has liked to cause chaos in the European continent. The United Kingdom is located in the British Isles in the northwest corner of Europe, facing the European continent across the English Channel. At the other end of the English Channel is France, the famous land of culture and romance. But the shallow Ten Thousand Straits cannot separate Britain and France. In history, the two countries have had a deep hatred. During the Hundred Years' War between England and France, the United Kingdom almost destroyed France. However, after the birth of Joan of Arc, the war situation began to reverse soon. In the end, France not only took back all of its own land, but also restored the British territory on French soil. All "legal territories" were occupied. Through the Hundred Years' War, the French nation formed a strong national cohesion and was able to establish a unified country as the first in the European continent.

Britain, which was defeated in the Hundred Years' War, has had relatively less contact with the European continent since then, and has gradually embarked on a development path different from that of the European continent (of course, this also depends on the fact that Britain has been "conquered" many times, from Celtic to Celtic). (from the Anglo-Saxons to the Normans), Britain gradually parted ways with the European continent in terms of political, economic, and cultural structures. Of course, this does not mean that the European continent has no influence on Britain at all, or that Britain and the European continent no longer have any intersection. In fact, during the period of William III, Britain and France once again formed a competitive relationship.

The relative isolation of the geographical environment and the cultural differences relative to the European continent determine that Britain will not form a stable alliance with any country on the European continent. At the same time, the British economy has continued to develop since the 16th century, and the principle of mercantilism has prevailed, requiring extensive expansion of foreign markets and restrictions on the flow of foreign goods into the United Kingdom (this is trade protection). Therefore, the United Kingdom does not want the European continent to produce a country that can compete with it. Rival economic powers competed with Britain's overseas trade; in addition, maintaining the division of the European continent made it difficult to form a unified market within some countries (such as Germany), so that British goods could easily enter their various states. Based on this, on the one hand, the United Kingdom hopes that the European continent will maintain relative stability to facilitate the circulation of its goods in the European market; on the other hand, the United Kingdom does not hope that a powerful continental country will form a strong influence on the United Kingdom in terms of economy and overseas colonies. compete.

Until Napoleon was born, Britain did not disturb the European continent to a great extent. But Napoleon changed Britain's approach. When Napoleon was in power, France could be said to have strong soldiers and horses, killing all sides, and almost placing the entire Western European continent under the control of the First French Empire. The emperor was not satisfied. He wanted to conquer the whole of Europe, including Britain, which was isolated overseas. So he sent the navy to attack the British mainland many times. Although it ended in vain, this move made Britain completely aware that once a hegemon emerged on the European continent, then It is a great threat to the security of the United Kingdom - although the United Kingdom has considered this before, this factor is not important because no country has ever been able to pose a threat to the British mainland.

Therefore, at the Congress of Vienna held after the fall of Napoleon, Britain tried its best to contain France; on the other hand, in order to avoid the emergence of the next "France", Britain sided with France on the Saxony issue and strongly opposed Prussia's occupation of the Kingdom of Saxony. ——If this is the case, Prussia's strength will be greatly enhanced. Since then, Britain has tried its best to play a balancing strategy on the European continent. Britain will stand opposite whoever is more powerful in order to maintain the balance of power on the European continent and protect Britain's homeland security and economic interests. This also laid the foundation for the glorious isolation of the Salborsley Cabinet in the 1860s in the United Kingdom. At the same time, Palmerston's classic saying also appeared:

“A country does not have permanent friends, only permanent interests (No permanent friends, only permanent interests.)”

Although Britain formed an entente with France and Russia during World War I, at the Versailles Conference after the end of World War I, Britain still pursued a policy of checks and balances and opposed France's demands for dismemberment and huge reparations against the defeated Germany in order to retain Germany's strength. To prevent France from once again dominating Europe.

Churchill later wrote in his "Memoirs of the Second World War" that "Britain's foreign policy over the past 400 years has been to oppose the largest, most aggressive and domineering country on the continent." unite with them to defeat and defeat the military overlord on the continent, no matter who he is or which country he rules." Churchill's words have the same meaning. The United Kingdom pursues the diplomacy of "continental balance of power." policy.

So why doesn’t Britain want to see European unity?

There are many reasons for this.

The UK is located on the northwest border of the European continent, separated from the European continent by the English Channel. It can be said that it is isolated overseas. If Europe is unified, the European capital, economic and cultural center will not be located in the UK, and the UK may be marginalized, which will seriously damage the interests of the UK. If the United Kingdom allows the countries of the European continent to unify, then the United Kingdom will not escape the fate of being unified, so the United Kingdom will try every means to undermine the unity of Europe and the European continent.

Moreover, Britain has been the world's first colonial empire for hundreds of years, and its economic benefits mainly come from its huge overseas colonies, not from the European continent. The economic development level of Britain is higher than that of most parts of Europe. Britain does not want to average its vested interests with its poor brothers. The later Brexit is also based on this reason.

In addition, there are religious and cultural factors. In the eyes of the British, a divided Europe is the most in line with the interests of the British Empire, and naturally they will not think about unification.

After the meeting, Churchill immediately sent a secret telegram to Viscount Gort, the commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force, to the effect that he must keep the expeditionary force, and if the situation changes, he can decide to withdraw on his own.

Everyone knows that the alliance between Britain and France is only for political purposes. Britain does not want to see a unified Europe to consolidate its position as the world hegemon, but has never thought of living and dying with France. Although this behavior of abandoning allies and running away may have a bad impact, Churchill has no longer cared about the consequences.

In order to withdraw the expeditionary force, they would not hesitate to sacrifice their allies. After all, the purpose of the British Empire is "There are no permanent friends, only permanent interests."