Quote Originally Posted by Kralizec View Post
War is a sound basis for intimacy. Of course, after we kill a lot of Chinese I would happily enter a political union with them as well.

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The 100 years war was more of a dynastic conflict than anything else. "French" troops fought on both sides. Around the same time the low lands were disunited and frequently at war. They're mostly okay with eachother now and are called the Netherlands. Spain, Italy, Romania and others did not exist as single states either.

European nations have a long and turbulent history of dealings with eachother, including but not limited to warfare. I think that people tend to focus on the differences and take the similarities for granted without even noticing them. The shared culture between European countries is greater than that between the various ethnic groups of India.

I've traveled through a decent amount of European countries and in my experience I find it easier to relate to the people there of my age than I do with Dutch people of older generations. Provided that they speak either English or German, because otherwise I can't talk to them- but nowadays most people below the age of 30 do.
Fair enough - but this always looks different from an English perspective, where the Lion has ruled for almost a thousand years - before that we had near 300 years of the Wyvern.

Scandinavia has existed as a region for that long, but no country in mainland Europe is as old.

You pointed to the unity of the Netherlands - which has been achieved after you fought out your differences. From where I'm sitting we've got at least two more wars to come between France, Germany and Britain.