Ah, the United Kingdom and France…Frenemies for the ages.
The pair have a long and engaging history.
They have been at war, they have been at peace, they have been allies who have fought together
on the battle ground.
Just over 19 nautical miles separates the shores of Great Britain and France at the
narrowest part of the Strait of Dover.
The pair are even joined together by the 50 mile stretch of the channel tunnel.
These days they are connected, but that wasn’t always the case.
What if things soured and the pair once again found themselves at war?
Hello and welcome back to Life’s Biggest Questions – the channel that, despite its
name, loves to answer questions big and small, wide and narrow… because all questions deserve
an answer.
I am your host Rebecca Felgate and today I am asking WHAT IF ENGLAND AND FRANCE WENT
TO WAR?
AGAIN.
Blimey.
I certainly hope that that never happens.
Before we get into answering this question, I want to ask you guys where you are from
and if you have ever visited your neighbouring country?
I live in Canada now, so my adopted neighbours are the US, and I have seen plenty of them!
While you are down there, why don’t you like this video, share it with a friend and
hit that notification bell to be the first to hear a big answer.
Stick around to the end of the video where I will be reading out comments from a previous
one.
Okay.
France and The UK.
The UK and France.
Mon dieu – what a pair!
The pair have had multiple wars, including the hundred years war - a war that lasted,
you guessed it, 100 years.
Actually it last 115 years, but what’s a decade and a half of battle between friends.
Then of course was the second hundred years war, which actually lasted 126 years, but
honestly baby, who’s counting.
Fun fact of the day, but did you know that England and Scotland unified basically because
they wanted to join forces against France.
After Napoleon, things settled down, although there was the Fashoda incident as both reprehensible
colonists scrambled to own parts of Africa.
Since the mid 1800s, the UK and France have had a pretty good working relationship.
The pair were allied against Russia in the Crimean War and then of course during World
War One and Two.
After that devastation, the bond between the two nations has become very strong.
If they were to break down into war, something must have gone very very wrong.
But enough beating around the bush… what would happen if they fought?
The UK spends around 10 billion more a year on defense which does put Britain above France
in military standing although in practice that isn’t quite the case.
The UK has less active army members than France, and despite having better naval equipment
than France, it does have a smaller feet.
France also has a slightly bigger airforce but the UK has better interceptors.
Let’s leave the Nukes out of it for a second… because the Nukes really do tend to overshadow
things some what.
If the pair did go to war, the Dover Strait and English Channel would be pretty damn tense.
Although I imagine each side would think better than to launch a brazen attack in these bodies
of water.
They would be heavily militarized and if any aggression did take place on either side,
they would be ready and raring to go.
Instead it is more likely that attacks would happen further up the British coastline, or,
most likely, cruise missile strikes and air attacks.
The UK have better interceptors to preempt attacks than the French, which works in their
favour.
Ultimately both sides would look to damage one anothers infastructures, which would mean
London and Paris would be dangerous places to be, as well as factories across the country
and areas key for transport.
The UK has always fared well in traditional warfare because of its extensive coastline.
France shares boarders – Andorra, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxumbourg, Monaco, Spain
and Switzerland.
Strategically this leaves France more vulnerable to attack…depending on how friendly it is
with its neighbours.
ALTHOUGH that being said, France is a bigger country which gives it more strategic depth.
Okay, Nukes then.
Both the UK and France are nuclear nations.
France has around 300 nuclear warheads and the UK has around 220.
More doesn’t necessarily mean better, though… but it does give the French an advantage when
it comes to the targets they would choose.
It is unlikely that either nation would turn to nuclear war – the wider ramifications
would be too great – not least because the blowback from nuclear winds would likely harm
both nations, and also it would greatly anger the UN and totally destroy NATO.
While both nations would avoid nuclear war, would they avoid chemical?
We know that the UK planned an Anthrax attack on Germany in order to cripple their beef
and dairy supply.
These days using chemical weapons Is considered a human rights violation, but would it happen?
Again, I hope not.
So, we have kind of been cheating.
The question asks what would happen if ENGLAND and France went to war.
We have been talking about the UK so far as it is impossible for England as a country
to go to war without the rest of its gang, for now anyway.
Right now England isn’t the most popular with the Scots, or indeed the Northern Irish.
A lot of people blame the English for the swing of the Brexit vote and aren’t happy
to be dragged out of the EU.
If a situation did arise where England as a solo nation went to war with France….
Will long story short, England would lose.
Not least because trident, the British nuclear arm, is co-owned with Scotland.
For now though, we’re treating this question as if it applies to the whole of the United
Kingdom.
The wider implications of a war between the UK France would be messy.
Right now the countries are allies, so what would happen to their shared friends?
I think France has more political friends than the UK at this point, although what about
the United States?
Ultimately, if two of the worlds most powerful neighbouring nations go to war it would have
the power to spark a much wider war, so more cool headed nations outside of the fray would
look to encourage resolutions.
With the shared history of the UK and France, I honestly don’t image war breaking out
again between the allies.
But if it did, well, as a British citizen I would be devastated if a booze cruise to
Calais was off the agenda, and French wine no longer available in tesco… but the ultimate
kicker would be the loss of French cheese….
There is no universe where I could kiss goodbye to camembert… meanwhile, I’m sure no one
in France is going to be crying over the loss of bangers and mash or a gregs sausage roll.
Wow.
I wish I could end all videos with the mention of cheese and sausage rolls.
Anyway.
What do you guys think would happen if England, or the UK and France went to war?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments section down below.
Also let me know who your country neighbours are? Les have some chat in the comments.
THUMBS UP.
Comments from what if India and Pakistan went to war?
SimBol1216 said: To all the Indians and Pakistanis arguing in the comments: You're giving the
British exactly what they wanted.
Tartan deep left a very insightful comment – they said: I am Indian and tbh I feel
that we Indians and Pakistanis want peace.
The media is over exaggerating things in both countries so that the countries look bad to
one another.
In all honesty I feel that the politicians in both the countries aren't trying to overcome
the hatred in turn they are actually fueling the hatred of the citizens for their own power
and support I think that is likely pretty true.
Let’s all just be friends.
GOOD.
Great.
Thank you.
I am your host Rebecca Felgate, I’ll catch you in the next video, but until then, stay
curious, stay peaceful, camembert forever, and never ever stop questioning.