Posted: Jan 20, 2023 9:48 pm
Evolving wrote:The whole system of European alliances, the whole balance of power, would have been utterly different if Britain hadn't had an empire and had been just an insignificant island at the edge of the continent as at the time of the Spanish Armada.
How it would have been dfferent rather depends on whether we're assuming that the Spanish, Portuguese, French and Dutch had still had their overseas empires or hadn't had them either.
Fair point, though what I'm saying is that an enemy of Germany (Britain) happened to be the country with such a big empire that it possibly/probably affected the outcome of either/both world wars, which I think is very significant for the rest of the world.