American Reacts Is A European Federation Inevitable?

Hi everyone! I'm an American from the Northeast (New England). I want to create a watering hole for people who want to discuss, learn and teach about history through YouTube videos which you guys recommend to me through the comment section or over on Discord. Let's be respectful but, just as importantly, not be afraid to question any and everything about historical records in order to give us the most accurate representation of the history of our species and of our planet!

#EU
#Federation
#American
#EuropeanUnion
#MonsieurZ
#McJibbin
#History
#AmericanReacts
#Reaction

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[ssanti]

There's no way Italy's going to break away from the EU. The economy would be too negatively affected.

[spirosgreek]

Im not that keen to full federalization, but i definetely support the institution that is the EU. It surely needs to fix issues and reform, but its main goals of european unity, peace and prosperity is something worth supporting

[johanwittens]

15:20 I think you have a very big misconception there. The EU was never Founded for military reasons or for security reasons. To this day there's is no European army. Yes countries cooperate closely, and almost all are part of NATO, but there is no United military at all.

And it wasn't founded to counter Russia either or to not have to rely on the USA for protection (we'd have a European army then).

The EU was first and foremost founded to stop the constant internal wars between European nations. And it has worked pretty well. By making all European nations completely interdependent trough trade, it has now become economic suicide for one EU nation to declare war on another. So in this way war on the European continent has become extremely costly to anyone who'd even try it. Just look at the economic impact leaving the EU has had in the UK. And they left peacefully. Image a war. It just would be devastating to the initiating country as well as its target.

And that is the HUGE difference with the past. In the past a European country always possibly had something to gain through war, wether it was money, resources, population, territory, ... But now, every eu country can get everything from everywhere, no one country is in control of resources, money, etc, so starting a full on war is just not in your country's interest at all anymore.

And in a way this "pattern" is now being repeated all over the world. For example: While there's often a lot of boisterous language between the USA and China, they both have become so dependant on each other for trade (USA for consumer goods, China for the USA market and trade income) that a war between them would devastate both countries financially in a matter of years or even months...

And besides that we see more and more trade blocks and customs unions forming all across the world. It's the new normal for peace AND prosperity.

So the EU project is in a way a huge succes. And it will remain so for quite a while. The EU may change form, organisation, size, etc, but IMO it is definitely here to stay.

Edit: saw the next video in your EU series, and seems you found out for yourself. So my comment is mute... Sorry.

[gindrinkersline]

9:10 Since 1952 Denmark together with the rest of the Nordic counties, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Iceland, is a member of the Nordic Passport Union. Citizens of these 5 countries can travel between or live within each other's countries. No identity documentation is needed when crossing borders. Denmark is also a member of the Nordic Council, the inter-parliamentary cooperation among the Nordic countries. The Nordic countries have very strong ties to one another.

[PDVism]

McJibbin. Perhaps it will at some point go all down the drain. But every reservation that you have about the EU is as, or even more so, applicable to the US.

To this day you have places that are better off then others and that are more embracing the 'union' then others.
Just have to look at the 'gallant south' ideology still being a thing. Or those places where they o so love the USA but utterly hate the feds and anything to do with D.C. unless it's their people.

In the EU their are strikes and demonstrations but I have yet to see a mob storming the centers of governing, let alone having armed people wanting to hang officials. Truly a sign that we in the EU are not as stable a democracy as the USA. </sarcasm>

[gindrinkersline]

8:54 Denmark's, Sweden's, Norway's, and Iceland's currency is called kronor/kroner/króna (crowns). This is the remains of the Scandinavian Monetary Union (1873-1924). After the end of the union, the countries continued to use the name but now with a national prefix: DKK, SEK, NOK & ISK. Fun fact: In the Icelandic online game Eve Online ISK is used as in-game currency. There called Interstellar Kredits.

[jolie]

As a German, I’d be in favor of an unified European Federation HOWEVER I don’t think it’s very likely at this point and I agree that many current EU member states would have to fall away, cause they’re too incompatible. I also think Germany and France would have to take the first step and show that it can work, bc our two countries together have the economic strength to make it a success

[nenu]

The main reason why americans (and brits for that matter) don't understand the EU is because they see each european country as a group of ethnically uniform independent blocks when Europe is full of transition regions.

Sure Madrid is Spain, Paris is France, Berlin is Germany and Rome is Italy

But is Strasbourg french, german or should Aslace be its own country (after all Alsacian is a language different from French and German)
Should the austrian region of Tyrol remain part of Austria and the italian regions of South Tyrol and Trentino remain part of Italy? Should the whole Tyrol be part of Austria, since even in the italian part they speak german or should Tyrol be it's own thing?
Should the french region of Pyrénées-Atlantiques remain part of France and the spanish regions of Basque Country and Navarra remain part of Spain, or should they all be part of an independent Euskal Herria? What should we do with the southern half of Navarra that does not identify as Basque?

Much like many wars in Africa are the result of borders arbitrarily defined overlapping different ethnic groups, continental european borders are the result of centuries of wars between different powerful aristocrat families fighting for a piece of land, with the result being a continent full of ethnic groups with overlapping territorial claims.

The Treaty of Versailles in 1919 following WWI was pushed by Woodrow Wilson and his diplomats from a traditionally isolationist US administration on an naïve understanding that the problems of Europe would be solved by the creation of beautiful ethnically uniform states.
From that came:
- the partition of the AustroHungarian Empire, creating the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later renamed to Yugoslavia, which means SouthernSlavia) ==> we know down the road how that ended up in the 1990s
- the partial restoration of the state of Poland by taking land from Austria, Germany and to some extent the Russian Empire ==> we know how that ended up only a few years later
- the partition of the Ottoman Empire into clear countries like Turkey, Syria or Lebanon and some other fuzzy territories they had no idea what to do with which ended up on the Mandate for Mesopotamia which was later renamed as Iraq (rings a bell?) and the catastrophic Mandate for Palestine which up to this day we don't have a clue what to do with it.
And many other similar decisions taken with the aim of creating uniform ethnostates, all followed by massive forced relocations of people to ensure that all the people living in each country were from the ethnicity that had been arbitrarily assigned to that country.

As we know the Treaty of Versailles was a major failure and the main reason for WWII only a couple decades after.

What Europeans learnt from WWII is that there is no single set of borders that will make everyone happy because each european ethnic group has its territorial claims that overlap the territorial claims of other ethnic group. And the idea of a unified federal Europe goes in line with having a common space where, with a limited set of common rules, each ethnic group can have its own room.

Today a basque person who solely identifies as basque can live in Bilbao (BasqueCountry-Spain), go with his life speaking Basque and dealing only with other basques from Pamplona (Navarra-Spain) or Bayonne (Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France), while a basque person from Bilbao who identifies as spanish can go with his life speaking spanish and dealing only with people from other parts of Spain and a basque person from Bayonne who identifies as french can go with his life speaking french and dealing only with people from other parts of France. And none of them are forced to relocate away from their home town to live the life they identify with.

Today over half a million people live in Kahl-Germany and commute daily to Strasbourg-France for work/school and reverse.

20 million people EU citizens live in a country different from the one they were born. Sure that only represents 4% as opposed to the 40% americans who live in a different state than the one they were bon. But bear in mind that we've only had the Schengen area since 1992...

As Winston Churchill said in 1946 "What is this sovereign remedy? It is to recreate the European fabric, or as much of it as we can, and to provide it with a structure under which it can dwell in peace, safety and freedom. We must build a kind of United States of Europe. In this way only will
hundreds of millions of toilers be able to regain the simple joys and hopes which make life worth living."

[E-jit]

This feels like a very American point of view. By that I mean the video, not you.

[pauldanks]

You don't need a passport to travel between the UK (Including Northern Ireland) and the republic of Ireland, this predated the EU and has not been affected by Brexit, it's called the Common Travel Area.

[raphaelnikolaus]

Let's be honest: the EU currently is a mess! That does not mean that it is bad per se, it's just that it needs some form of reform. Or maybe reforms (plural). And to the question in what way to reform it, there is probably no straight answer. Possibly even nit a singular one. Maybe we are going to have to accept a "double-EU", the two-speed-Europe. On the other hand, I don't think that's our biggest issue. The biggest issue would be to reform the inner workings, the inner structure, of the EU:
- scrap unanimty (at least on specific issues/policies)
- give the Parliament the right to propose new law instead of the Commission
Just to mention two.

[arnodobler]

I still remember what it was like in Poland, for example, 30 years ago. How badly they were doing economically and how many Poles came to Germany, for example, as harvest workers and in the gastronomy.
Your American way of thinking is so backwards, sorry Connor.
Wars, battles WW2: It was mostly just the authorities (king, prince, dictator etc.) not the people who wanted war. The cheering pictures belong to the propaganda of that time, like "Top Gun" movies today, which are financed by the US military. The people of that time wanted to cultivate their fields and they needed every hand to do so.

Cannon politics is not successful in the long run.
U.S. has fought or intervened militarily in over 200 wars in its history

[quickhistory]

I'm loving the content keep it up!

[kirks]

Good reaction. There can never be a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. It was be impossible to police, too many crossing points on roads both large and small. I was playing golf near the border ( coming from Dublin ) a few years ago. Left the south/ returned to the south, about five times in as my miles. And the only way I knew i’d left the Republic was because my phone operator changed as soon as I crossed the border. And yes, and open border means that Jacques from Paris can fly into Dublin, take a left, and leave the EU sixty miles up the road without any paperwork. The EU won’t go away, we’ve entered an era of giant trading blocks. Modified? Absolutely, it always has, but the core principals will remain.

[NyloElLobo]

I'm a federalist. I'd whish it'd happen sooner than later.

[nenu]

The topic of the exception of Ireland means that EU citizens can freely move to Ireland while nonEU citizens cannot go from one country to another.
When you travel between France and Germany there is no border control.
Since Ireland is an island there are already border controls on ports and airports

[GdzieJestNemo]

In terms of Poland - people are for deeper integration, but gov is not (especially current one)

[gullfiber]

React to Karl Pilkington, you'll love him

[ExecutiveSonda]

What EU needs to do is to invest in occultism and summon Otto von Bismarck back from the dead, give him a crash course on events since his death and make him a diplomat/advisor = profit.

[popelgruner]

It is likely that the Inner Six will integrate further, no matter what the newbies do. If they want to come with us, they are welcome, if not, that's their decision. But they won't keep the Inner Six from further integration.