Is Britain, Germany and France always destined to be rivals?

DrummerMan

DrummerMan

Well-known member
I was thinking about this the other day.... with Remembrance Sunday and my own family fighting and being killed at the Somme

Beginning with the French invasion of Normandy 1202 and ending with the exile of Napoleon in 1815. The French and the British have been at war 23 separate times. We've fought in 130 of the total 613 years during that period.

Obviously the "Big 2" - Wars with Germany in the past 100 years or so as well... i acknowledge they were World Wars, but still

Then there is the Empire stuff with the French helping America, etc, etc
 
Britain and Germany used to to be allies as it was the German help ( well Prussian) that helped defeat napoleon at Waterloo.

England and France though that’s a different matter as even as allies we never fully trusted each other.
 
Only in the minds of "Little Englanders" it appears, sadly.

I think the young people of what's left of this country will sneer at the attitude of those people to our nearest neighbours it is most often promulgated by those who never experienced military service let alone fighting in a war.
 
If we were close 'friends' with France much of our fishing / channel issues would be easily resolved. It's just posturing to appease the populations on each side.

If only we had a mature PM who could take the lead and resolve some of the problems...
 
I read a great line in a book the other day, actually about the buildup to WW1 but still interesting:

“Great Britain keeping the great powers in Europe balanced, and keeping out of Europe.”
 
jonny_greenings_sock said:
I read a great line in a book the other day, actually about the buildup to WW1 but still interesting:

“Great Britain keeping the great powers in Europe balanced, and keeping out of Europe.”
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Keeping them balanced ?
hilarious.
whilst we are ‘ran’ by a chaotic rabble doesn’t seem congruous
 
xxlshirts_fit_all said:
Nationalism is to blame, people get it mixed up with patriotism…

the love of one’s country should not prevent the respect of others but it is a 2 way street….
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Totally agree but the Tories needed to survive the Brexit mess and went down this road of nationalism to survive not fracturing and purged 99% of sane mps as a result
They said; feck the country
We must survive

End of….the is history
 
Just a reminder. We are in this situation so that the Tory party could be saved. That’s it.
 
I love the French people. I have a number of Good friends who are French. I love visiting the country and enjoying their company, the food and the culture. I always get a very warm welcome.

I hope I haven't sat on the fence with my response to the Drummerman.
 
Are Boro, Newcastle and Sunderland always destined to be rivals?

It's just a proximity and power thing in terms of those particular countries (or clubs in my paraphrasing).

We spent a fair bit of time fighting the Spanish but (Gibralter excepted) we don't tend to have any beef with them (pre-Brexit).
 
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