Reach into Europe?

To be honest, Yang Weiping has never had this idea until now.

Europe is the Europe of Europeans, and Yang Weiping agrees with this view. This is the same reason that Yang Weiping has always believed that Asia is the Asia of Asians.

As for whether Africa is the Africa of Africans, whether the Americas are the Americas of the Americans, and whether Australia is the Australia of Australians, Yang Weiping feels that it can be viewed in two ways. Because, the law of the jungle is always an objective law of the continuous development of human society.

As the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, no one knows how deep and thick Europe's heritage is. Perhaps, this is also the fundamental reason why US imperialism has been pondering control of Europe since the First World War.

As an island nation, the United Kingdom has its own unique national culture. But when the Romans, who represented the pinnacle of European civilization, set foot on English soil, England was not destined to be isolated from the continent. From that time onwards, there was a strong or weak notion of European unity in Britain, both culturally and intellectually.

And after Christianity became the dominant ideology in Europe, Britain's sense of identity with the continent became stronger.

Although after the formation of nation-states on the European continent, the nationalization reform of Christianity and the continuous foreign wars made Britain's national consciousness rise vigorously, Britain, France and other continental European countries were politically hostile and economically conflicted, but this was not the case culturally. Cultural homology is not shattered by the clash of national interests.

It can be said that the British idea of European unity has never disappeared, it is only hidden in the national consciousness, and it will emerge when the right time comes.

In 1905, Graham Wallas, a well-known British politician, put forward a warning that if the Western world did not stop the vicious competition for survival of "Darwinism". If it continues in its current form, then in the end there may only be two empires left in modern civilization!

Marcos Wahitt, a British-German industrialist, founded the "Union of European Unity" in London in 1914, hoping to establish a federation of European countries on the basis of economic cooperation. In 1938, Britain also established a "federal league" that advocated a "federation" and had tens of thousands of members.

After the end of the Second World War, in the face of the great disasters caused by the war to Europe, European countries put forward various proposals to stop the war and promote peace, and the elite and far-sighted people in Britain were also unremittingly exploring this purpose. Everyone came to one conclusion. Only European unity can bring true peace.

To this end, the then British Prime Minister Winston Churchill lobbied and agitated everywhere to establish the "United European Movement Organization", which was joined by many powerful families of the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party, as well as well-known figures of the Labour Party, to campaign for the realization of European unity, to spread the idea of European unity among the people, and to promote the development of the European United Movement.

It's just that the ideal is very full. The reality is skinny.

Britain did not become a member of the European Community until 1973, and Yang Weiping had to admire that the countries of the European continent were really wary of the British.

The reason for this is that Yang Weiping came to a conclusion: It is not so much that European countries are wary of Britain, but that France does not want Britain to point fingers in Europe. French President Charles de Gaulle expressed doubts about Churchill's real motives at the time. To be precise, it was the French government led by Charles de Gaulle who was very disgusted by the Anglo-American alliance's attempts to control the whole of Europe.

On April 18, 1951, France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg signed the European Coal and Steel Consortium Treaty in Paris, deciding to establish a European Coal and Steel Community. The treaty entered into force in 1952. The establishment of the Coal and Steel Community marks a substantial step forward in European integration.

After the establishment of the Coal and Steel Community, it has developed extremely rapidly, and the cooperation between the two industries is no longer able to meet the needs of the six countries. So March 25, 1957. France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Beneluxe and Rwanda countries signed the Treaty on the European Economic Community and the Treaty on the European Atomic Energy Community in Rome, which together became known as the Treaty of Rome. Entered into force in 1958. On 8 April 1965, the six powers supplemented the Treaty of Brussels.

In 1967, the six countries merged the Coal and Steel Community, the Economic Community, and the Atomic Energy Community to form the European Community.

From the beginning of the establishment of the Coal and Steel Community, the French insisted on not agreeing not to play with the British. At that time, Britain was still very strong in its economic competitiveness, and with the special relationship between the British Commonwealth and the Anglo-American alliance, it did not have the same knowledge as the French for the time being. But after entering the sixties. The difficulties and economic problems encountered by the British forced the Johannius to negotiate with the French and join the European Community to get out of the economic crisis facing Britain.

Who would have thought that the French would not give face to the British at all. Two British applications in 1961 and 1967 were rejected without hesitation by French President Charles de Gaulle. It was only after de Gaulle's resignation that Britain was deprived of the biggest obstacle to joining the European Community. But even so, under the many constraints of the French. The UK finally joined the European Community in 1973 after submitting its third application.

It can be said that in Britain, all the British politicians who have been seeking European unity are all angry with the Gallic chicken of France.

If Britain had joined the Coal and Steel Community and the Economic Community since 1961, perhaps Britain's economic crisis and social predicament would have been resolved long ago. But because of the Gallic chickens, the Johan cattle were delayed for twelve years.

In Elizabeth II's mind, she even believed that the Royal Navy had not been able to defeat the Argentines until now, and a large part of it was also caused by the impact on the British economy in the past 12 years. Moreover, if the French had played with the British, Margaret Thatcher might not have had a chance to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Regarding the resentment in the heart of Her Majesty the Queen of England, Yang Weiping still understands it better.

The British industrial system has a distinctly British tradition of crux. As the oldest industrial country in the world, the British have always lived in the illusory glory of the empire on which the sun never sets. The outdated equipment of enterprises, the backward management model, the relatively small use of new technologies, and the successful implementation of the nationalization policy and welfare state implemented by Britain after the war put Britain on a heavy financial burden, so it lacked the necessary funds to upgrade the old industrial system. As a result, the UK's economic development lacks stamina and lacks the necessary impetus for further development.

From 1950 to 1960, the average annual growth rate of real GNP in the major capitalist countries was 10.8 per cent in Japan, 7.8 per cent in West Germany, 5.5 per cent in Italy, 4.8 per cent in France, 3.2 per cent in the United States, and only 2.7 per cent in the United Kingdom.

From 1960 to 1969, the average annual growth rate was 11.1% in Japan, 5.9% in France and Italy, 4.9% in West Germany, 4.5% in the United States, and 2.6% in the United Kingdom.

The above figures are sufficient to show that in the fifties and sixties, Britain's economic growth rate was the lowest among the major capitalist countries, and Britain's economic power fell to the fifth place in the world. During this period, the economies of the six European Community countries benefited from the common market and achieved rapid development.

In addition, various social factors such as the shutdown strike and inflation in Britain further hindered the transformation of Britain from the traditional mode of production to the modern economic model, and greatly weakened Britain's ability to participate in the competition in the modern world.

As the Queen of England, Elizabeth II has always believed that joining the European Community and promoting European unity is the cure for the "British disease". But the problem is that the damned French are always doing everything possible to prevent Britain from entering the European Community. To this end, Britain did not hesitate to gather Sweden, Denmark and other countries to form a seven-nation free trade alliance, hoping to annex and melt the European Community dominated by the French. However, the economic strength of Europe's own trade union has always been at a disadvantage compared to that of the six members of the European Community. In the end, the member states of the Union became members of the European Community.

As for Britain's ambitions, Yang Weiping saw very clearly as a bystander.

After the formation of the Cold War pattern between the United States and the Soviet Union, in the face of the two superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union in the new world system, Britain is obviously a bit of a weak position. In order to maintain Britain's international status, Winston Churchill put forward the idea of "three-ring diplomacy": "Take the first ring of the British Commonwealth and the British Empire as the basis of power, use the second ring of the special relationship between the United States and Britain, and use the strength of the United States to rebuild the status of a world power, and then use the united Europe of the third ring to seek the leadership of Western Europe and use the power of Western Europe to fight against the Soviet Union." ”

It is clear that in this concept of "three-ring diplomacy", Britain is at the pivot of the three rings, and Qiu Fatzi intends to use this to restore the former world power of the British Empire.

Of the three rings, the UK's focus is on the Commonwealth and the Anglo-American alliance special relationship. However, the development of the international situation has led to the decline of the status of these two rings in British diplomacy.

After World War II, the Commonwealth was the foundation of British diplomacy, with great economic, political and military value for Britain, and a significant impact on Britain's world status. In addition, Britain's world colonial system reflects Britain's glorious history, and the British people have a special affection for it, and any change in this system will make the sensitive national feelings of the British people tighten. As a result, Britain vigorously defended the colonial system after the war.

However, after the end of World War II, the national independence and liberation revolutionary movements that broke out around the world flourished, and many colonies gained independence or autonomy one after another. Countries such as Egypt, Pakistan, India, and South Africa essentially broke away from Britain, causing the British world colonial system to collapse. At the same time, the member states of the British Commonwealth have actively developed their own national industries, reducing their dependence on Britain, so that the British Commonwealth has been severely weakened in the strategic position of the United Kingdom. In addition, Britain's own strength declined, and at the same time, it had to face the tremendous pressure brought about by the United States and the Soviet Union competing for hegemony, and Britain had no choice but to gradually implement strategic contraction.

And this is also the fundamental reason why Britain has always wanted to pull Yang Weiping's control of Northern Burma into the British Commonwealth. (To be continued......)