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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   28486 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of September 2, 2024

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Once we dig deep enough, the real reason World War II started was to preserve Anglo hegemony over Europe

Oh brother.

You mention that the British guarantees to Poland were anti-German, which is correct, but might that have something to do with the fact that Germany had just broken its promises from Munich? There were also the serious deliberations about aiding Finland in the Winter War. The notion of Anglo hegemony over Europe is silly itself as Britain was never much interested in unilaterally dominating the continent. Instead, it consistently wanted a balance of power where no single entity gained a decisive edge, the goal being to get itself a free hand to manage its overseas empire. If anything, France was much more interested in continental influence, and Britain tolerated this since it was clear that France wasn't going to go full Napoleon but rather was trying to contain the revanchist nations.

ritain was never much interested in the continent. It consistently wanted a balance of power where no single entity gained a decisive edge

Oh come on, you can't just contradict yourself one phrase over.

As I mentioned in that WW1 thread, Britain has always had this particular explicit interest in the continent never unifying, for obvious geopolitical reasons. That's not neutral.

Wanting a balance of power is not the same as being a hegemon, but we can't well pretend that Britain wasn't constantly meddling in continental affairs.

Maybe I could have phrased what I meant more explicitly (which I've gone and edited now), but you also cut out the part I had right before that explained the context. "Balance of power" != "Anglo hegemony" if words mean anything. Sure, Britain was willing to make alliances to prevent hegemony of others. I never claimed otherwise.

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