When Did England and France Stop Being Enemies?

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We English and the French haven't always been on good terms. In fact, since Roman times we've had the habit of killing each other. We spent several centuries trying to conquer one another, culminating in the Hundred Years' War, before giving up and spending the next few centuries making each others' lives miserable. But after Napoleon's defeat, Britain and France never went to war again. Why? You can thank the Russians and the Germans!

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0:00 - Intro
0:23 - All the wars
3:24 - Mr. SideQuest leads Wellington to Mount Doom
3:53 - How we became friends
6:36 - Those darn Prussians

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Further Reading:

[b-rse]

Engineering an alliance between Britain and France. Germans truly are the best engineers in the world.

[MrTroves]

In fairness, it's less 'England and France are friends' and more 'England and France stopped fighting each other militarily'. Politically speaking, there has always been conflict between them even after they allied.

[helenjohnston]

Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales & France have managed to formalise our war to an annual rugby tournament now. (Yes, we let Italy join, but it's mainly about the 5 siblings in the fight.)

[awesomehpt]

Julius Caesar never conquered Britain he landed his troops here twice but was forced to go back to Gaul both times. It wasn’t until the Emperor Claudius began the conquest of Britain in 43AD did it become a Roman Province.

[thomasrinschler]

"It should have ended that day... but France was allowed to endure." That made me LOL...

[TanKail]

England and France fighting for a millenia: Calm.
When Russia and Prussia join the chat: Panik

[anachronisticon]

We're like siblings. We bicker constantly. But if anyone else picks on them, we suddenly get very protective.

[OmegaReconGaming]

I think a topic about the Ottoman Empire fall would be pretty cool. They aren’t really talked about in WW1 discussions. But that was the end of the empire and yet it’s a footnote.

[raznaak]

So, as of basically half of the "why [x]" in history and geopolitics: it's because of Napoleon.
The other half is "because Britain LOVES drawing straight lines on maps".

[ErzArt]

6:50 Small correction, the person represented here is Louis Bonaparte (in his king of Holland uniform), brother of Napoléon, and not Napoléon III, the nephew spoken of here who is called Louis Napoléon Bonaparte. Two Louis, but not totally the same!
Anyway, beautiful work and love from France!

[TheNorthie]

Britain: wait you hate Germany?!

France: yeah I hate Germany!

Britain: did we just become best friends?!

France: yep!

[girl]

LoTR reference, yet it actually worked for the better 😆

[jackcarraway]

"There are no 'friends'; only interests."

—Henry Kissinger

[cgt]

The lotr reference was so good. Bravo, SQ. Hats off

[ivan]

Plot twist: hundred years war was never technically ended. They just signed a momentary ceasefire...

[TheRaptorShT]

As a french I always love to remind our dear brittons who won the Hunderd Years War just as much as they like to remember us who ultimately defeated Napoleon, but in the end I believe we both have the deepest respect for the ones that died side by side in Verdun and the Sommes.

Kiss from France my so loved and hated Rosbiff <3

[flipgalaxy]

Amazing Video, but a slight query.

At 6:52 you depict Napoleon III in the outfit of his Father (i.e in the Guards' uniform of the Kingdom of Holland). I think this might have happened because they both shared the same name :)

Anyways, can't wait for more great content

[mlrvjkw]

Dunkirk, we saw how brave the french were when they defended our evacuation

[oliversherman]

Napoleon wasn't actually that short, he was average height for the time. In fact, he was actually taller than Admiral Horatio Nelson

[poisonousbadge]

Pure art. Such an underrated channel, glad its growing!