introduction:
The rise of The Uk is a long process!
When the Glorious Revolution of 1688 established a bourgeois form of government under a constitutional monarchy, it took advantage of offshore advantages, a powerful navy, and the blessing of the Industrial Revolution.
After a long struggle, after more than a hundred years of development, it has achieved the glory of the empire that never sets.
This splendor lasted for more than a century, and Britain during World War II was still one of the three great powers recognized internationally.
These three giants, in addition to being other names for conference participants, are also interpretations of the status of the country.
This interpretation of status also extended after World War II.
(Big Three)
I: The international status of the United Kingdom after World War II.
The world after World War II is an era of reshaping the international pattern!
The United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom are the undisputed big three.
This is also the interpretation of the international pattern for more than a decade after World War II, from this point of view, although Churchill is a loser, in the loser, the United Kingdom is still very strong.
(Churchill, the Loser)
At that time, the world's evaluation of the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union was like this.
The United States: the world's largest economic power, industrial power, military power with military projection capabilities in most parts of the world, a leader with high prestige among allies, and a great power that shares the world's sea power with the British Empire.
The Soviet Union: the world's first territorial power, the second industrial country, military capabilities are enough to project Eurasia, the military power of the situation in Eastern Europe and East Asia, and the political power with high influence within the camp.
Britain: The world's second-largest economic power, a financial power, ruling vast colonies and numerous populations, capable of projecting military power around the globe, controlling homonymous states such as Canada, Australia, and New Zealand through Commonwealth influence, and sharing global sea power with the United States.
This is the strength of Britain after World War II, a powerful country that is at the end of the three strong, but its strength is still the same, and its international influence is still the same!
In addition to this hard power, the international pattern built by Britain based on the colonial system has not completely disintegrated, so that Britain still has the power to fight a war when facing the confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union.
With such strength, as long as Britain does not die and does not go out of the way, it actually hopes to unite with France to maintain its status as a great power!
The British thought and did this, but the various deaths in the process made them still fail.
What made Britain lose all this, the answer is divided into time periods, there are two factors before and after.
(World War II and the Fall of Britain)
Two: Cause and effect before World War II.
Before World War II, Britain was still a proper superpower.
Although the foundation of this great power began to waver, the industrial output value was surpassed by the United States as early as 1894, and then surpassed by the Soviet Union and Germany, becoming the world's fourth industrial country.
But the long-term legacy, as well as colonial wealth and trade gains, still allowed Britain to maintain its status as a superpower.
But the way this status is maintained is fragile.
In the industrial age, the age of science and technology, the criterion that determines the strength of the country is no longer the population area of the classical era, but the industrial strength and scientific and technological strength.
Britain, which once had a panoramic view of the mountains, was left behind in the second industrial revolution, lagged behind, and lost its foundation as a strong country.
The cornerstone of this foundation is manufacturing, and it is technology that bonds the cornerstone to build the backbone of a great power.
In these two points, Britain is inferior to the rising stars of Germany, the United States, and the Soviet Union.
Faced with a gradually weak pattern, the British still do not want to improve, but are committed to the financial model of lying and earning, free trade within the colonies, trade protection externally, after a round of double standards, making a lot of money, but making the backward countries angry.
The point of their anger was that the British occupied the colonies and took them, making the late-entrants stare dryly.
Thus came the outbreak of two consecutive world wars, which caused an unworthy martial arts alliance lord to suffer two consecutive blows.
After the first blow, the United States became a creditor of Britain, and that time Britain was able to smash the pot and sell iron to pay off the debt.
But after the second blow, in the face of the top ally and the number one creditor, the United States, Britain's once rich surplus grain is not much.
As the saying goes, money can make ghosts grind, money is the key to determining the fate of the country, as for where money comes from!
The physical wealth created by industrial strength, the monopoly wealth created by scientific and technological strength, and the transaction wealth created by financial strength are the three aspects of wealth sources.
In these three aspects, in addition to the financial strength that remained after World War II, the other two wealth channels, the United Kingdom is not able to do.
Although Britain and the United States are allies and there is no possibility of war, it is feasible to fool around, so the Americans come to seize power.
(The Ambitions of the American Empire)
Three: Cause and effect after World War II.
In the world after World War II, Britain and the United States seem to be one family, but in fact, the contradictions are very deep.
More than a decade after the end of World War II, the greatest enemies of the United States and the Soviet Union were not each other, but Britain and France.
There is also a lot to support this.
Before the end of World War II, the United States used the loan as a chip to warp the British wall, so that Canada, Australia and New Zealand, which were originally monolithic, began to deviate from The United Kingdom.
After the end of World War II, the rise of national movements made it impossible for Britain to maintain its most important Indian colony.
After the independence of the partition of India and Pakistan, Britain lost the jewel in the imperial crown and also lost the largest market, coupled with the failed economic policies of the British mainland, so that britain's already weak national strength was more and more weakened.
Then, barely until 1956, Britain and France suffered a combination of routines and iron fists.
(Canal Crisis)
On July 26, 1956, Nasser, the Egyptian lion, announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal Company and confiscated the assets of Britain and France.
The fact that one stone stirred up a thousand layers made Britain, which still had the name of a superpower, indignant, and even Egypt dared to ride on its head to spread wilderness, so that they had to fight back.
But Britain remains wary, and the root of that concern is the Americans, its biggest ally.
In order to understand the attitude of the United States, the british prime minister at the time, Aiden, made two preparations before sending troops.
First-hand: pull people's heads and bold, contact old friends France to send troops together, and enlist the United States' little brother Israel to echo military operations.
Second-hand: Repeatedly asking and testing the attitude of the United States, after learning that the United States does not oppose and does not express its position, the United Kingdom is slightly at ease.
On the surface, the attitude of the United States is acquiescence, but for the politically savvy British, the United States must have acquiesced, otherwise the shrewd British would not have done such a stupid thing.
But the British found out afterwards that they were still being tricked.
When israeli attacking forces broke through the Egyptian lines, the Americans and the Soviets joined forces as the Anglo-French coalition marched into the eastern Mediterranean to spy on Egypt.
The Americans said that if the British did not retreat, they would interrupt their aid to Britain and announced that they would sell the pound in large quantities.
The Soviets said that if the situation deteriorated further, the possibility of sending troops to intervene or even launch a nuclear threat was not ruled out, and said to Israel, do you still want to exist as a country?
The linkage between the United States and the Soviet Union, as well as the pressing of the army, made Britain and France panic.
The British, who thought they were holding high the banner of anti-Sovietism and engaging in Cold War confrontation to avoid death, found that the American was the worst person.
In the end, this joint operation between Britain and France ended without any problem under the intervention of the United States and the Soviet Union, and the wretched actions of Britain and France made all countries realize that these two countries were only foreign powers.
This event also accelerated the wave of colonial independence.
In the ensuing era, the world ushered in countless independent countries, and britain and France could not maintain their status as great powers with the help of colonies. Britain and France, whose national strength had plummeted, had less and less influence in the world, and began to shrink their strategies and adjust their national policies.
This strategic contraction and national policy adjustment have put Britain and France on different paths.
(Proud de Gaulle)
Four: The Nassau Agreement and de Gaulle's grievances.
In the 1956 Suez Canal crisis, France was deeply humiliated, and the chaotic French Fourth Republic was criticized by the French people because of its lack of ability to govern and its inability to cope with the crisis.
Then, in 1958, Algeria erupted in crisis, almost triggering a civil war, and countless people began to call for heroes to come out of the mountains.
At the invitation of the French military, the hero of World War II, Charles de Gaulle, re-emerged from the mountains, became the president of France, and established the French Fifth Republic.
France's last hero, Charles de Gaulle, also lived up to expectations!
Between 1958 and 1969, France no longer followed the political ideas of the United States and chose an independent foreign policy.
Diplomatic autonomy has been continuously restored by establishing diplomatic relations with China and easing relations between the East and the West.
By withdrawing command of the French army from NATO and prohibiting the United States from using French bases, the US garrison was excluded and military autonomy was restored.
In order to secure this hard-won right, de Gaulle has been committed to building France's nuclear power.
When he took office in 1958, he ordered the development of the atomic bomb and detonated the first atomic bomb in 1960.
Subsequently, France detonated hydrogen bombs, developed nuclear submarines and intercontinental missiles, and possessed a two-in-one nuclear strike force. (Lack of strategic bombers)
(France's nuclear forces)
After doing all this, with the atomic bomb and the self-preservation force, the European Community was formed on the basis of the European Coal and Steel Community, led by France, and embarked on the European road of Europe with an iron heart, and then with the help of Germany, there is today's European Union.
France is the most independent country in the West and the leader of the European Union, all of which stems from de Gaulle's vision of a great power.
In contrast, in Britain, the style is completely different.
After encountering the humiliation of the Suez Canal and the independent attacks of the colonies, they completely disregarded the face of the superpower and followed the United States with all their hearts. According to the mind of the british prime minister Macmillan at the time, perhaps: I have completely conceded defeat, will the big brother of the United States still rectify me?
Unfortunately, Americans don't think so!
In 1962, President Kennedy, who was well versed in the multilateral political landscape, used a fierce tactic against Britain and France.
He threw out the policy of "multilateral nuclear forces", in the name of NATO, hoping to control the nuclear forces in the hands of Britain and France!
According to the Americans: You have a nuclear umbrella with me, and you are struggling to figure out what the trinity of nuclear forces is doing.
When de Gaulle looked at it, of course, he understood the mind of the United States, didn't he want France to be a vassal forever?
Categorically rejecting this so-called "multilateral nuclear force", the nuclear umbrella, or holding it in your own hands is better.
The British way of doing things is completely different.
On the left, Britain wants to join the European Community and become part of the European family.
On the right, Britain is not willing to offend the United States and lose the umbrella from the United States.
After weighing left and right, the Americans were in a hurry!
De Gaulle, who could not persuade the hard bones, could not take you Britain, so under the persecution of the United States,
In December 1962, Britain and the United States signed the Nassau Agreement, under which the United States supplied Britain with Polaris submarine missiles on the condition that Britain support the United States' multilateral nuclear force program.
(Kennedy and Macmillan)
The United States can organize NATO countries to use nuclear forces, and Britain's nuclear forces are subordinate to the United States, and Only when Britain's supreme interests are threatened, Britain has the right to use nuclear forces with the consent of the United States.
After britain signed the agreement, Kennedy took the British agreement and asked de Gaulle again!
Frenchman, would you like to play together? Promise you have a Polaris submarine missile.
The arrogant de Gaulle did not hesitate to reject the Americans' proposal, and not only that, but in retaliation for the British submission, de Gaulle completely turned his face to the British.
The European Community you don't want to enter, Europe has you, it is humiliating!
This obsession influenced de Gaulle's life and was the source of Britain's inability to enter the European Community during de Gaulle's administration.
What's even funnier is that after britain signed the Nassau Agreement and got the British nuclear button, the Americans tricked the British into saying, "You join the European Community, go inside and be a traitor?"
It's like taking advantage of a benefactor, and after getting what you want, you lift your pants and say, you go to your ex-husband.
When the British saw the American pie, their hearts were like ashes, and they did not dare not follow, so they could only beg the French in vain, saying how they loved the European family and how they wanted to be together.
The French, seeing britain's popularity, struggled with the British for more than a decade before agreeing to Britain's membership in the European Community after de Gaulle's retirement.
Since then, Britain's international image has become a joke, and no one has ever seen Britain as a world power.
Also, a nuclear code is in the hands of the United States, and the foreign policy requires a country designated by the United States, and where is there independence to speak of?
End:
From this history of Anglo-American exchanges, we can see that the United States is really a master of routines!
What was the anglo-French relationship before the agreement? The answer is to help each other and struggle to maintain the status of a great power.
In such a relationship, the Americans still forced the British to sign the Nassau Agreement to turn the face of Britain and France.
After turning the other cheek, he instigated Britain to enter the European Community as a factor of instability and assumed the same role as Israel in the Middle East, so that Europe could not form a joint force.
Feelings make Britain, the former suzerainty, a tool man?
This last tool man, after leaving the European Union, has only one end, that is, to throw himself into the arms of the United States without hesitation.
After reading the whole text, after comparing it now, I can't help but sigh!
The country still has to have an uplifting spirit and a leader to have autonomy, and what would happen if France did not have Charles de Gaulle, dare not think?
This may be the importance of the country in addition to the pure masters!