Such is the case with the nations of Europe, now united as never before in the European Union (well, most of them are in there anyway). These nations share a common currency, their borders are relaxed, the Iron Curtain has fallen and with it the threat of mutual assured destruction (at least from the Soviet Union, which isn't exactly living and breathing any longer). They do squabble amongst themselves, especially over who else to let into the club, but they do swap the EU leadership around and they do present a real economic powerhouse on the global market stage.
Many people in Europe were in mind of alliances recently in Belgium — in Waterloo, to be precise, at a re-enactment of the famous battle fought there in 1815. This, as many good students of history will remember, was the final defeat of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France, he of the mammoth military reputation an intellect whose best-paid plans went for nought when the heavens opened up and muddied the field and Prussian reinforcements arrived just in time to help the Duke of Wellington complete his triumph. Every year, tens of thousands of people arrive at Waterloo, not only to remember the events of the day (June 18 it was) but also to don the uniforms, fire the guns, mount the horses, and otherwise participate in a replay of one of the most famous battles in European military history. (Sadly for fans of the great Napoleon, it ends the same way no matter how many people take part in no matter how many re-enactments.)Napoleon, a symbol of the French Revolution somehow turned into Empire, was the giant of the age, bending other world leaders (and their armies) to his whim, reinventing the French legal system (and many countries still build their laws on his revisions), and otherwise bringing more glory to France than anyone possibly before him or since. A shrewd tactician and brilliant politician, he willed his men to victory on the battlefield, sometimes against spectacular odds. (Indeed, Wellington is famous for saying of Napoleon: "His presence on the field made the difference of forty thousand men."
One thing Napoleon was good at as well was uniting people against him. The English hated him, not only because of what he represented — at first a representative government and later a more successful monarch than many kings and queens of England — but also a rival to English hegemony over the Continent. All of the Grand Alliances against France in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries were spurred on by England and its hatred of Napoleon. The Emperor made mistakes, of course, and often did little to endear the leaders and populaces of other countries to his or France's causes. He was successful, however, at uniting most of Europe under his sway at one time or another. The Confederation of the Rhine and the Continental System are examples of that. Neither, however, included England; both, it can be said, eventually angered the people of Central and southern Europe — not to mention England.
And so it came to be that England convinced more and more European leaders and armies to unite with England against Napoleon. The Battle of Waterloo featured a grand coalition, formed in reaction to the Hundred Days, and so it was that nearly equal numbers of French troops fought against British, German, and Dutch troops until tens of thousands of Prussians arrived and turned the tide. In its wake, Waterloo left a powerful mark on the alliance structure of Europe.
A century later, World War I would start and inflame so quickly mainly because of "entanglements," mutual defense treaties signed by various countries to protect against the aggression of other countries. Similar alignments could be found involving the combatants of World War II and the Korean and Vietnam Wars. More recently, European nations worked together to oust Iraq from Kuwait and to stop genocide in Bosnia.
Is this a straight line from Waterloo to today? Probably not. A hundred years on, the hard feelings on both sides of the battlefield have lessened somewhat, as generations pass on to generations the lessons not only of war and statesmanship but also forgiveness and seeing the big picture.
It is that big picture that features in European thinking today, even on the battlefield of an epic struggle that defined an age. And it is that big picture that is embraced by the tens of thousands of people who come to Waterloo to fight and remember. These people who show up year after year (and they may be the same people from year to year or they may not) come from all over Europe and, indeed, all over the world. The re-enactors choose their sides out of interest not so much out bloodlust. The spectators revel in the global nature of it all, as should we all.
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