Now the three countries with the most say in Europe are Germany, Britain and France, all three of which are old capitalist countries, Germany is the source of the two world wars, and Britain and France are two of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. After World War II, Germany was divided into two countries because of the Cold War: Soviet-backed East Germany and American-backed West Germany, and when Germany was reunified in 1990, neither the Soviet Union nor the United States opposed it, but British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was firmly opposed.
The reason why the Soviet Union did not oppose it was actually very simple: Gorbachev had been carrying out so-called reforms at this time, and the Soviet Union's strength had also dropped sharply, and it was powerless to prevent East Germany from being annexed by West Germany. Needless to say, the United States was naturally willing to see West Germany reunify Germany, but Britain and France were not happy. Margaret Thatcher has long been aware that German reunification is the trend of the times, but she will still do everything possible to prevent German unification. The same was true of the French, who had a very deep fear of German reunification and had been lobbying other countries to prevent German reunification. Britain and France are obviously in the same camp as the United States, so why have they contradicted the United States on the issue of German reunification?
There were three reasons why Britain and France reacted so strongly to German reunification. First of all, Germany has always been a great power, and in Europe it is the sworn enemy of Britain and France, and Britain and France have suffered no less. Needless to say, France has been invaded by Germany three times in history, whether it is World War I or World War II, France has paid a terrible price. Britain has also been not dealing with Germany, during World War II they were blown up by the Luftwaffe into ruins, it is precisely because of this historical shadow that Britain and France resolutely oppose German reunification, after all, the United States is far from Germany, after the rise of German reunification to find Britain and France to avenge is too simple!
Second, Thatcher's opposition to German reunification was a continuation of Britain's "glorious policy of isolation." In fact, britain is not the same as France, Germany and other countries on the European continent, they are located in an island country outside the European continent, in order to achieve their own interests, they have been pursuing the strategy of "pulling one and fighting one". Whoever is weak in France and Germany will unite with whomever is strong, so that there will be no strong state on the European continent that threatens Britain's position. Margaret Thatcher apparently knew that Germany was still strong and could not make its unity stronger, which was contrary to Britain's consistent diplomatic principles.
In the end, both Britain and France were well aware of Germany's potential, and once German unity would soon surpass them, the voice of the whole of Europe would be in the hands of the Germans. In fact, the fears of the United Kingdom and France at that time really came true, and now in the European Union, Germany has enough right to speak, the French cannot speak, and the United Kingdom is forced to leave the European Union!