The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

At a special cabinet meeting held at the Ministry of Defense, Germany approved the "White Paper on German Security Policy and the Future Development of the Federal Army from 2003 to 2005", which means that Germany will carry out large-scale military expansion in the next nearly three years.

After the news broke, the British newspapers The Times and Financial Times reported it immediately.

Britain is known as the 'troublemaker in Europe', and it's not a false reputation.

It is said that there are only wrong names, but no wrong nicknames.

Britain can be called the "European Troublemaker" because for hundreds of years, most of the chaos on the European continent was actually caused by Britain behind the scenes or in public.

That is, taking advantage of the hostile relations among countries on the European continent to seek benefits for themselves, sometimes forming an alliance with France to fight Germany, sometimes joining forces with Prussia to attack France, or else taking their European brothers to the east to bully Tsarist Russia.

In short, Britain will not allow a unified and invincible superpower to emerge on the European continent, that is, to create a divided Europe!

This strategy is known in the UK as the 'continental balance' policy, also known as the 'offshore balance' policy.

As Churchill wrote in his Memoirs of the Second World War, "Britain's foreign policy for four hundred years has been to oppose the emergence of the largest, most aggressive and most domineering country on the continent." Britain has always "joined the less powerful side, united with them, defeated and frustrated the military hegemon on the continent, no matter who he is or which country he rules."

This can also be summed up in four words: separate the strong and combine the weak!
That is, I will fight whoever is strong on the European continent, and I will help whoever is weak!
In this way, Britain achieved a balance of power among the countries on the European continent, thereby ensuring its own relative advantage.

This tactic has been used in Britain for four hundred years and can be said to have a long history.

As early as the European Community era, Britain was already struggling to leave the EU, hindering the process of European integration.

European unification is beneficial to most European countries, but not to Britain.

If Europe is unified, what will happen to Britain? How can Britain, isolated on an island, compete with France and Germany in a unified Europe?

The UK has been able to maintain its relative advantage because it has always acted as the "European troublemaker", keeping Europe in a state of equilibrium!
If Europe is unified, Britain will not be able to maintain its relative advantages!

The UK is very clear about this!

During the Kosovo War, France, Germany and other European countries were not very willing to fight, but Britain was very happy about it, thinking that the longer the war lasted, the better, and it followed the rhythm of the United States. This was because part of the capital flowing out of continental Europe flowed to Britain. The Kosovo War damaged European interests and hit the euro, rather than damaging Britain's interests or the British pound.

After World War II, Britain's national strength continued to decline. Unable to maintain its dominant position as the British Empire, it had to maintain its status as a world-class country. So Britain chose to get closer to the United States, clinging to the United States and forming a father-son conjugation state.

The Anglo-American alliance, Britain became an ally of the United States and the most important chess piece for the United States to balance Europe. Britain used the United States to expand its own influence, ensure Britain's position, and make Britain one of the world's financial centers.

The British consider themselves the fathers of the Americans, while the Americans consider the British their sons.

The two sides are deeply tied together. The Franco-German alliance broke up with the United States over the Iraq War, and the British were so excited that they manipulated the history of World War I and World War II earlier than the Americans to disrupt Europe and the alliance between France and Germany, fish in troubled waters, and gain benefits.

An anti-American wave was set off in Germany, demanding the withdrawal of the US troops stationed in Germany and the recovery of US military bases in Germany. The British also took action earlier than the Americans to investigate the crimes committed by Germany in World War I and World War II. The Potsdam Declaration was mentioned repeatedly, and it was even stated that Germany should return to the era of partition and occupation to prevent Germany from having the military power to launch a third world war. This was to contribute to world peace.

After all, the initiator and absolute main force of World War I and World War II were both Germany!

The German army was so powerful that even now many people around the world still talk about it.

Especially now that France and Germany have formed an alliance, and France and Germany are launching World War III, who in Europe can stop them? Now there is no Stalin, no Churchill, and no Roosevelt!

When it comes to offshore balancing strategies, the British are true masters, the kind who have learned it all by themselves.

After World War II, although the United States also learned from the British to engage in "offshore balancing", its methods were far inferior to those of the British.

Look at how after World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union dismantled the British and French colonial systems. The United States stabbed Britain in the back several times, causing Britain to completely lose its hegemony and no longer be able to rely on sucking blood from its vast colonies to restore its national strength. The United States ascended to the position of world hegemony and ruled the entire world with the Soviet Union. However, Americans seem immature in governing the world.

The United States had already implemented the "petrodollar" strategy and had a huge advantage in the Middle East, but when its staunch ally, the Pahlavi Dynasty of Persia, collapsed, the Americans did not intervene in advance, and the Pahlavi Dynasty, its staunch ally, became a staunch anti-American country. Since the 80s, the United States has lost one country after another in the Middle East, leaving only Israel, which has been dragged into the muddy waters of the Middle East many times by Israel, resulting in a very bad image and reputation of the United States in the Arab world.

It is obvious that after eight years of recuperation and restoration of national strength, the United States could have used many means to alienate the Middle East and the Islamic world, but it chose the most direct use of force, which is simple and crude, and is now waging two wars at the same time.

When faced with the problems of Japan and Germany, the United States' handling of the situation seemed simple and crude, which made the British look down on it.

Now, Britain was the first to choose to expand Germany's military, and it further magnified the impact of Germany's military expansion, even pointing out that Germany might start a third world war, thereby triggering concerns and fears among European countries about Germany.

In this regard, it is clear that the United States is lagging behind.

However, Merkel visited Paris, France at this time, had friendly exchanges with France, and even went to the French Parliament to give a speech, had candid exchanges with French parliamentarians, gave France enough respect, emphasized the importance of German-French friendship, emphasized the importance of European peace and development, and emphasized that the German-French alliance is the main force driving European integration.

Merkel's attitude and frankness received a very positive response in France and other European countries.

And not only did Merkel go to France, she also visited Italy, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Russia.

France's attitude is also the most clear, which is to support Germany.

This time, Germany expanded its military, and France got a big piece of the pie. It received orders for more than 2000 Rafale fighters, Mirage 4000 fighters, and Mirage 300 fighters. Together with the corresponding weapons and technical services, the total orders exceeded 400 billion euros. (End of this chapter)