3 ms·

Free roaming and peace. The small things..

• gadders 9y ago
  The peace was due to Nato, not the EU.
  • nl 9y ago
    Both. The EU bound counties together through trade and NATO protected against external threats.
    • timrichard 9y ago
      Internal/external. So presumably there would be a higher risk of France, Germany and Britain going to war with each other if it wasn't for a trade agreement and customs union? Despite them all being NATO members, unable to by treaty, with the whole NATO organisation geared up to enforce that? How exactly would your scenario play out? I'm genuinely curious.
      • antientropic 9y ago
        The first precursor of the EU was the European Coal and Steel Community [1]. It had the express purpose of putting control over coal and steel under supranational control, thereby making war between the members materially impossible. It's also important to note that NATO does not provide prosperity (that was the goal of the EEC through closer trade and cooperation). So it does absolutely nothing to prevent the rise of extremist movements that could cause a repeat of the 1930s. There is also nothing it can do to prevent a member from quitting, just like Germany quit the League of Nations. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Coal_and_Steel_Community https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Coal_and_Steel_Commun...
      • nl 9y ago
        The economic structure of the EU provides incentives to avoid conflict. Worth noting that two NATO members (Greece and Turkey) have had deaths from a not-quite shoot out http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/05/23/greece.crash/ http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/05/23/greece.crash/. Interesting also that Turkey isn't an EU member, and counties like Germany and France have had as least as much a history of conflict as Greece/Turkey have.
• Jdam 9y ago
  Exactly. When the EU falls apart, Germany will immediately invade France & Poland and nuke London.