How did England and France become friends in light of centuries of bitter warfare?

Answer 1

War and peace are both very temporary states. Peace occurs between 2 nations when leaders in both feel that peace with the neighbour in question is more beneficial than war. War happens when one or both sides decide that war is more beneficial. It's really that simple.

For hundreds of years, leaders in England felt there was a good possiblity they'd be able to conquer most or all of France, taking that land (and its revenue-generating peasants) for themselves. If you look at it financially, war is really an investment: you invest money in the form of soldiers (who must be trained, equiped and payed, all of which costs $$$) and, if successful, you take land which eventually generates revenue in the form of tax dollars.
Over time, the tax revenue pays off the money you invested in the war. If you manage to hold on to your new land for long enough, it eventually turns a profit for you. This is a very over-simplified look at the economics of war, but it's basically true.

Once the colonial era got seriously underway, both England and France realized that they would get a greater return on their investment if they went out and took land from less developed nations (mostly, nations that hadn't invented gunpowder yet, and so didn't stand a chance against musket and cannon-armed British and French forces), though they had a few minor skirmishes over some of the nicer colonies (like Canada, former French colony later taken by the British).

Today, both England and France would be destroyed if either tried to conquer the other (Hello, World War 3), so both benefit more from peace and positive trade relations. The same is true of virtually all fully-industrialized nations, which is why war between 1st-world countries are so rare.

Often times, countries become allies out of convenience. For example, the US once supported Saddam Hussein, providing economic and military aid during Iraq's war with Iran (Iran at this time being a sworn enemy of the US). Once the Iran-Iraq war was over, the US didn't really need Iraq (they already had Saudi Arabia to provide lots of secure oil) so they stopped paying attention to Saddam. He got their attention again when he invaded Kuwait. The invasion of Kuwait wasn't good for US interests, so they declared war on their former ally (Saddam). In the final analysis, aliances last only as long as they are beneficial to both nations, and wars happen between past friends almost as often as between long-time enemies.
Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Biographies of King Edward VII (1901-10), "Edward the Peacemaker", usually credit him with establishing the "Entente Cordiale" between France and Britain on his state visit in 1903. He was well-known as a playboy, and his obvious preference for the somewhat risque Paris atmosphere of the time, compared with pompous stuffed-shirt London, must have gone down well with everybody.

Answer 3

The reformation, an extremely complicated subject count certainly, become carried by using in eire too, even though it tended to concern quite often the ruling instructions, the so-referred to as anglo-irish, who many times accompanied the widespread Church of eire. This kind of corresponded with the Anglican Church in England. THe greater hardcore kinds of protestantism (anglicanism retained a exceptional form of 'catholic' helpful properties like the eucharist, vestments, bishops etc) mutually with prebyterianism got here slightly later and, as different solutions have alluded to, pertained quite often to the North (as a exceptional form of the seventeenth century settlers there got here from Scotland the place the prebyterian church become prolific). So all of eire become 'protestant' in a feeling. the traditional human beings probable caught to their catholicism initially because of the fact it become all they had, yet in addition because of the fact it must be traced lower back to the pre-catholic celtic church (eire become christianised plenty in simple terms before England) which had and has an extremely considerable place interior the Irish psyche. It become in basic terms later whilst the clearer conflict lines between protestant and catholic (ie interior the seventeenth century with the boyne and competing claims for the united kingdom throne) emerged, that human beings began to work out it alongside those lines. And catholicism did not die out in England - northwest England particularly retained a sturdy catholic presence; a exceptional form of consumer-friendly English human beings concept that protestants have been slightly loopy. Charles II switched over to Catholicism on his deathbed and his brother James II become a Catholic. They have been actual repressed nevertheless. So the question oversimplifies issues, yet considerable writers on the time I examine historic past (approximately 15 years in the past meaning there could desire to be some greater cutting-edge, greater effectual stuff) have been JJ Scarisbrick from the Catholic "ingredient', and Christopher Hill from the Protestant ingredient.

Answer 4

The World Wars brought them together to fight a common enemy, as is the case with almost any unity situation. Germany united to fight their 'enemy', the Jews under Hitlers rule. American states were brought together to fight off England. And England and France were brought together to keep from being destroyed by the central powers.

Answer 5

??We didn't, we have the same kind of (not too serious now) animosity between us as ever. The closer countries are together the less likely they are to get on, think Mexico, Canada w. the US or in the South: Brazil and Argentina.

Answer 6

Dimitrius is a genius!

Being English though I must say the we are not friends with the French, we just try hard to ignore them and get by without much fracas'. Don't even get me started on the EU and the Euro!!!!

Answer 7

The Germans.

Answer 8

Probably because they had a much bigger enemy to take on in the Germans and the French knew that the Germans and their allies would walk all over them if they didn't ally themselves with a much more powerful force i.e The Brittish!

How ever we hate the garlic munchers now!!

Answer 9

It's because we learn French in school, and learn about each other's history. They're our brothers, and they don't like the Yanks

Answer 10

What? They're friends now?!? That's news to me. Last time I checked the Brits still can't stand the frogs and vice versa!