Biggest Country Rivalries in Europe

hey everyone welcome back to general knowledge in this video we're going to be going through what are regarded as some of the biggest country rivalries in Europe now I know what some of you are gonna say because of the thumbnail Turkey isn't in Europe well a little part of it is Plus my point is that Greece has a rivalry with them and Greece is in Europe but we'll get to that in a minute throughout history certain events have taken place either Wars or just strange disputes between countries and those have in some cases transformed into long lasting rivalries even until today so let's take a look at a few of those in Europe and try to figure out why they exist first France versus Germany when Julius Caesar wrote his famous book commentaries on the Gallic war he talked about a notable and significant cultural difference and rivalry between the goals and the Germanic tribes some say those differences were aggravated by the fact that Gaul was romanized as a part of the Empire and Germania was not but these are just the justifications for the differences between the two peoples they aren't justifications for the rivalry to exist especially because in most of these cases the two rival countries are located right next to each other and often share cultural values the main issue is territory most rivalries seem to arise from the simultaneous desire to rule over a piece of land and this is certainly the case with France and Germany a great example of that is the region of Alsace Lorraine a region which has switched between French and German rule a few times throughout history being at the origin or at least in the results of many Wars and almost all of the conflicts between France and Germany had to do with territory starting with the Battle of Bhuvan in 1214 and throughout history like the franco-prussian war in 1870 thankfully today the countries are now friends and allies but Frances historical enemies weren't reduced to Germany there was also another big one which is now it's a lie as well England a long time ago a bunch of Danish Vikings decided to set sail and head west a few landed in France and settled in Normandy the French were pretty much annoyed by it and the Normans grew stronger and developed a new culture in the region in 1066 the norman duke set sail again going north and conquering England becoming king of that land and he also decided to claim France this started the 100 Years War after the war ended the French one and the English were somewhat pushed off continental Europe this caused key animosity to grow and the rivalry to intensified throughout history it was demonstrated through various other conflicts and Wars but today they are also allies after having fought together in many wars England itself also has a somewhat long-term rival although they are at least for now part of the same United Kingdom Scotland and here we can also go back to Roman times in 122 AD after the Roman invasion of Britain Emperor Hadrian ordered the building of a wall separating England from the Caledonian tribes of Scotland that the Roman forces couldn't control this demonstrates how their cultures are somewhat different since so early on almost a thousand years later William of Normandy invaded Scotland from England and this was in 1070 to defeating the Scottish King ever since then the English and Scottish went up against each other time after time war after war for instance in the 14th century England conquered and occupied Scotland for several decades the English were persuaded to withdraw the occupation forces in return for Scotland's payment of a ransom of around 80 billion pounds in today's money I guessing this didn't help the Scottish liking the English after that Scotland remained independent and a close friend of France England's other rival eventually in 1706 the acts of Union took place effectively uniting the kingdoms of England and sky Oakland into one next the one on the thumbnail Reece versus Turkey one of the biggest country rivalries in the world even until today one of the biggest issues between Greeks and Turks is the mutual belief that their rivalry has been going on forever when in reality if we look at the big picture of history it's quite recent the first main event of their rivalry was apparently the Battle of Monza kept in 1071 fought between the Byzantine Greeks and the Seljuk Turks although some even say it dates back to the legendary battle of Troy with the Greek invaders fighting the Trojans to whom the Turks would maybe relate to eventually the Turks took Constantinople and expanded their rule into the Balkan region stretching into Europe and occupying Greece in the same fashion that the Scottish didn't like being occupied by the English the Greeks probably resented the Turks for occupying them as well so essentially I think the rivalry is rooted in many centuries of conflict between the two countries fighting over the same territories just like in antiquity Greece ruled over parts of Anatolia later in history the Turks ruled over parts of Greece a good example of that territorial dispute lasts until today with the issues in the island of Cyprus being divided between Greeks supported Cyprus and half the island being supported by Turkey two countries which are usually seen as classic rivals for instance in football matches but which are also allies and actually pretty close these days or Portugal and Spain and the issue here is once again the same one territory and two previous historical occupation Portugal emerged as independent from the kingdom of Castile one of the kingdoms which eventually became part of Spain Portugal's very first moment was marked by conflict against the future Spanish in order to achieve their independence in 1139 throughout history other wars happened as well for instance in 1383 there was a crisis of succession to the Portuguese throne leading to the Spanish wanting to claim the Portuguese crown this culminated in the Battle of Alba Jota which the Portuguese won consolidating their indepen in 1385 but conflicts continued throughout history with the last real wars between the two being in 1801 and 1800 817 m a city toward spain was also increased during a brief period of Iberian Union from 1580 to 1640 when because of another succession crisis Spain ruled over Portugal however after that independence was restored and today the two countries are allies and even close friends and then we have the case of some city rivalries although these are mostly historical ones that have since disappeared Sparta vs. Athens is a good example despite sharing a common language and the same gods Greek city-states were very different from each other this was the case between Sparta and Athens Athens was a maritime power that derived its wealth mostly from trade and Sparta was an agrarian state very focused on military Spartans were an aristocratic oligarchy while Athenians lived in a democracy although were not very fair won by today's standards but more egalitarian regarding the population as a whole Athens devoted much of its wealth and attention to art and architecture while the Spartans famously prided themselves on living an unnecessarily harsh life this is a case where the conflict wasn't so much rooted in desires for territory but more in big cultural differences other examples of city rivalries that didn't have to do with only territorial disputes are ones based on other types of power trade for instance a good example of this is Venice versus Genoa thanks to the Crusades there was a lot of money in transporting crusading armies to the war supplying the Crusader kingdoms purchasing goods and selling those goods back in Europe competition for their trade led to conflict between the two cities in a trade war there usually isn't a decisive winner but I guess in this case you could say Venice came out on top and a last example that shows conflict of all three types territory trade and culture is Carthage verse Rome with the Romans wanting Rome to be the main hub for trade in the Mediterranean wanting to take control of North Africa and wanting to assert the dominance of the Roman Way of life Rome was involved in three Punic Wars which eventually led to the full destruction of Carthage and the Imperial control of their lands so those are some of the biggest historical rivalries between countries in Europe there are a lot more and if you remember any others leave a comment below and let me know which they are and I can maybe do a part two of this video or also talk about country rivalries in other continents when it comes to city rivalries I don't think we have a lot of those today mostly they are inside the same country usually between the capital and the second-biggest city but I could also make a video about that it's interesting to see that despite these country rivalries in a lot of cases the cultures of the peoples are somewhat similar and that at times they even fought on the same sides like Portugal and Spain against the Moors or England and France in the world wars paving the way to good relationships and friendships between the countries thanks so much for watching this video subscribe if you want to see more and I will see you next time for more general knowledge

Channel: General Knowledge

Views: 429,318

Keywords: generalknowledge, funwithflags, countriesthatdon'texist, greek turkish rivalry, are portugal and spain rivals, why are france and england historical rivals, france germany rivalry, alsace lorraine, sparta and athens rivalry, venice vs genoa, rome against carthage, english scottish rivalry, why are england and scotland rivals, european rivalries

Id: xJeUURPDbuM

Length: 10min 11sec (611 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 03 2020