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preface
Speaking of Britain and France, most friends will think that the relationship between the two countries is very good, after all, they are neighbors, and they are two alliances in World War I and World War II, but this is not the case.
Britain and France often fought fiercely, and Britain, which was across the sea from the European continent, would cross the ocean from time to time and send troops to attack France. From 1137 to 1453, the 116-year Anglo-French War also completely reduced England to an island country.
If you put the British out of the ranking of one of the most hated countries, France would definitely come first, and conversely, France would be the same. Until now, both countries still look down on each other - Britain says that France has only children, women, and outsiders, and France says that Britain has servility that cannot be changed.
In this regard, many netizens ridiculed, can France still beat Britain today?
And what about the real strength of France?
First, Britain and France love and hate
In most people's impression, Britain and France should be good friends like glue. Together, the two countries colonized and plundered the Old Summer Palace around the world. The two countries that are at loggerheads do not share the same real relationship. In fact, the first to start black France, and the most ruthless black France is also Britain.
Ask a random Frenchman who is the most hated country, and he will not hesitate to tell you that it is England!
The earliest connection between England and France can be said to be that in 1066, King Edward of England died without heirs, and Harold II was elected to the throne. William, Duke of Normandy, who had coveted the English throne for a long time, was furious at Harold's robbery of his place. He landed in England and approached London, and Harold II was killed at the Battle of Hastings. Duke William naturally became King of England.
Normandy, on the other hand, became a dependency of Britain. Of course, France would not agree to this, but the land that was originally France was taken by Britain without a single soldier. So the war broke out between the two sides, and the originally invincible William was already about to fight in Paris, France, but jealous of talent, William accidentally fell off his horse and died.
After the death of the King of England, he was succeeded by William II, who in turn died of hunting. He was succeeded by his younger brother Henry I, who had no heirs and was succeeded by the princess's son Henry II. Since it was no longer a direct descendant of William I, it was called the "Plantagenet dynasty" by later generations.
France tried its best to regain its fiefdoms in France, which was the root cause of the Hundred Years' War. Pandora's box opens. The "Hundred Years' War" began for more than 100 years.
Britain and France fought a war that lasted for more than a hundred years, except for a ten-year truce because of the Black Death, and the rest of the time was spent on a frantic offensive and counterattack.
The century-long Anglo-French War ended with France recovering all of its territory.
Although the Hundred Years' War greatly damaged France's vitality, it ushered in the unification of France, and Britain also won naval expansion. The two sides found that neither could conquer the other, and the rivalry between the two countries became less intense after that, allowing the relationship to win a brief peaceful development.
France advocated land conquest, while Britain advocated maritime expansion. Although the strategic goals of the two countries are different, the two countries still regard each other as adversaries, and as long as the other side appears, they will stand on the enemy side and return to attack.
By the time of Louis XIV's reign, France had officially become the hegemon of Europe. By the time Napoleon took charge of France in 1799 and almost ruled all of Europe, Russia had not yet been captured, and Napoleon fought all the way to Moscow, but because of the cold winter in Russia, he failed miserably. After returning to Europe, Napoleon again fought against the Anti-French Coalition and suffered a crushing defeat at Waterloo. Not surprisingly, Britain is still anti-French help.
Although Napoleon ruled Europe for a short time, the glory of that period was the pride of all French people. During that time, French had been the lingua franca of European high society, and if you didn't speak French, sorry, you didn't deserve to be a European aristocrat.
2. Feud
In France's decline, his old wrongdoer, England, contributed the most from it. Although they have a good relationship on the surface and wear a pair of pants, they have done everything "stealing chickens and dogs" together, but in fact, their relationship in private is very bad.
In a British online drama, Britain has repeatedly ridiculed France, saying that France is a "suspicious ally" of Britain.
Britain and the European continent are separated by the sea, which makes the British less identified with their European identity, just like Brexit in previous years, in fact, the British have long had this mentality.
Britain was defeated back to the British Isles in the Hundred Years' War, which not only severely damaged Britain's strength, but also made the British public enemies of Europe.
The British also formulated a balanced continental policy for this purpose, and the European continent does not allow a situation where one family is dominant, and whoever is the big brother is my public enemy of Great Britain.
The most likely to become the big brother of Europe is France, and in the seven anti-French campaigns, Britain has participated in this time, and each time it is the largest contribution from Britain. And the British, in the spirit of pirates, as long as the interests are large enough, what are the enemies of hundreds of years, we and France are good friends.
But good friends are just talk, besides, aren't good friends used to pit? After World War I, at the Versailles Conference in 1919, France demanded the complete dismemberment of neighboring Germany to prevent a resurgence. However, both the United States and Britain were afraid that after dismembering Germany, France would benefit more, so they resolutely opposed it, leaving a complete Germany to continue to contain France. This infuriated France, which suffered a staggering 5 million casualties during World War I alone.
Unsurprisingly, in 1939, Germany regrouped to start World War II again, and France, as a German neighbor, was once again killed. In just 39 days, France, known as the world's second most powerful country, quickly surrendered. But objectively speaking, the surrender of France is also understandable.
After World War I, France's industrial infrastructure was devastated, total steel production fell by more than 3/45 million, and casualties wiped out an entire generation.
Not only that, France's allies Britain and the United States also chose to sell their teammates, and in the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940, France and Belgium stayed behind to block German artillery, while the British took advantage of this to run back to the island. But what is even more excessive is that France hopes to receive British assistance, but Britain takes advantage of the fire and robbery, demanding that all French overseas colonies be handed over to British administration. France, of course, will not agree. In order to prevent the French Navy from surrendering to Germany, the "wise and safe" Britain decisively attacked and achieved Britain's greatest victory in World War II, annihilating the French Navy completely.
France almost died of anger after learning that he had been stabbed in the back by his teammates, and signed a surrender agreement at the end of that month.
France, which fought Germany to the end in World War I, surrendered in just 39 days in World War II. France surrendered so quickly without the credit of the "ally" Britain.
Third, only the Big Three can't beat it
After the end of World War II, all countries ushered in a period of rapid development. Under the leadership of De Gaulle, the last man in France, he not only befriended China in the 60s of the last century, but also withdrew from NATO, becoming one of the few independent and controlled defense forces in European countries.
For its own interests in Europe, Britain forcibly "lifted" France into the P5. And France, which picked up the P5 seats in vain, did not be triumphant, and successfully developed a three-in-one nuclear strike force and a national defense system known as the second in the world.
In the global military power ranking in 2022, in addition to the traditional three giants firmly in the world's top three, France just sits on the head of the United Kingdom, one world seventh, one world eighth.
Moreover, French President Macron has also bluntly said that he will increase France's military spending by about 1/3.
After World War II, the British development center was shifted, and Britain's focus on economic development caused a huge regression in military and industry, which also made Britain have no relatively high-end nuclear strike technology, and the only maritime nuclear strike force was also controlled by the United States. In order to curry favor with the United States, Britain even handed over its own military ports and airports to the United States.
France, on the other hand, not only does not allow any country to station troops on its own soil, but also vigorously develops military industry and heavy industry. Today, France is much ahead of Britain in the military field. For example, France's global combat capabilities, France's huge ocean-going fleet and military bases all over the world. You know, only the United States and France have this ability in the world.
But this advantage, if used against Britain, is of little use. After all, the two countries are separated by only the English Channel, and there is no need for global combat capabilities.
France has an even greater advantage over Britain, and that is the military-industrial side. Originally, Britain, as the world's earliest bearer, the skinny camel was larger than the horse, and it was also second to none in the military industry. Aircraft artillery wants to be built, and nuclear bomb carriers are not a problem. But since hugging the strong thighs of the old beauty, Britain has felt at ease, the military industry has begun to go downhill, the aircraft only recognize the F-35, the newly built aircraft carrier is also full of holes, and even the British tank production line has been shut down.
At present, France has the most sound defense system in Europe, from a rifle screw to an aircraft carrier submarine, France can produce and design it all. And French equipment is very popular in the international market, Rafale fighters, Mistral-class amphibious ships, are products that are in short supply. France's powerful military-industrial capabilities coupled with global combat capabilities, looking at the world, except for the three giants, can no longer compare with France.
If the two countries were singled out, France would probably be able to hang Britain up and fight. But Britain will certainly not choose to single out France, not to mention the thigh behind Britain, the United States, there are many younger brothers under the British umbrella alone. Although France also has a group of younger brothers in Africa, it is probably unrealistic to rely on Africa to help France.
So if there is a real war, France will not be able to get any good fruit to eat.
The author thinks
France and the United Kingdom have a long history between them, and both countries have their own advantages and disadvantages in economic, political, military and other aspects. If the two sides do go to war, they need to consider many factors, such as strategic objectives, diplomatic relations, geographical location, and the form of war.
France does have greater military power than Britain, such as more troops, equipment, overseas bases and military industrial capabilities, and is more politically independent.
But Britain is not without advantages, such as a larger economy, wider international influence and more allies.
The real strength of the two countries will certainly not let us know, in response to the comments on the Internet, everyone just wants to have fun. I only hope that there will be fewer and fewer wars in the world, and that the people of the whole world will live and work in peace.
I don't know what everyone in front of the screen thinks about the strength of Britain and France? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area below to discuss.