History question for you Empire folks...

Comments

• Number24 NorwayPosts: 22,334MI6 Agent

  February 2017 edited February 2017

  I think the traditional British strategy on the European continent has been to back/ally with the SECOND most powerful country in mainland Europe. This makes sense: if you back the most powerful nation, they might very well get too powerful and invade Britain. If you back someone too weak, you get too little leverage on the mainland. But if you back the second most powerful, you can balance or even win over the most powerful nation there. For a long time France was the main power on the mainland, so other nations were Britain's allies. Back then it was also a point to ally with Protestant countries. But after Germany unified in the 1870's the country quickly became the powerhouse of mainland Europe and the UK needed other allies to keep them in check.
• Ammo08 Missouri, USAPosts: 387MI6 Agent

  February 2017

  That makes a lot of sense, especially about siding with whoever is number 2.

  "I don't know if the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or imbeciles who mean it."-Mark Twain
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• Silhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,845MI6 Agent

  February 2017 edited February 2017

  Yes, and the Entente Cordials of 1904 further sealed the deal between the UK and France of course.

  "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).