Germany–United Kingdom relations

Germany–United Kingdom relations

Germany	United Kingdom

Germany–United Kingdom relations, or Anglo–German relations, are the bilateral relations between the United Kingdom and Germany.

Before the unification of Germany in 1871, Britain was often allied in wartime with Prussia. The royal families often intermarried. The "Hanoverian kings" were also the rulers (1714–1837) of the small German state of Hanover. They ruled both countries from London.

Historians have long focused on the diplomatic and naval rivalries between Britain and Germany in the period after 1871, searching for the root causes of the growing antagonism that led to World War I. In recent years historians have paid greater attention to the mutual cultural influences and the transfer of ideas and technologies, as well as industry, trade, and science.

During the Napoleonic Wars (1803–15), Prussia was a British ally and suffered for it; some of the other German states at times supported France. Britain and Germany fought against each other in two wars, World War I and World War II. After British occupation of part of West Germany (1945–50), they became close allies in NATO, and now with the former East Germany as well. Trade relations have been very strong since the late Middle Ages, when the German cities of the Hanseatic League traded with England and Scotland. Both nations were active in the EU, with Germany seen as the dominant nation within the Union and Britain a more reluctant member that never adopted the Euro. Britain decided in 2016 to leave the EU.

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