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That seems to be a recurring theme in European politics. I am reading a book by America's Henry Kissinger (Diplomacy, 1994). Kissinger is explaining what happened after the Reinsurance Treaty was allowed to lapse by Germany's post Bismarck leadership. France and Russia ganged up on Germany. Germany was already allied to Austria and tried to recruit Britain to its cause. Britain was ready to sign some kind of a mutual non-aggression treaty and that would solve Germany's problem. However Germany's leaders insisted that Britain commit itself to war against France and Russia. When Britain refused to get so deeply entangled in European politics, they started a naval arms race to intimidate the British who then made friends with their implacable colonial rivals France and Russia. Kissinger writes:
The essential incompatibility between British and German perceptions of foreign policy could be seen in the way the two leaders explained their failure to agree. Bülow was all emotion as he accused Great Britain of provincialism, ignoring the fact that Great Britain had been conducting a global foreign policy for over a century before Germany was even unified.
English politicians know little about the Continent. From a continental point of view they know as much as we do about ideas in Peru or Siam. They are naive in their conscious egotism and in a certain blind confidence. They find it difficult to credit really bad intentions in others. They are very quiet, very phlegmatic and very optimistic.
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
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