“England will soon show us her true face: It is a fight for existence between us. England wants to destroy Germany, her most serious rival in the world market, and, if not today or tomorrow, will do so soon, before the German fleet has been further strengthened. I do not believe that the matter will be taken so seriously in official circles with us. As in their way, the Liberal papers try to disguise the gravity of the situation; it is really too hard on them that their paragon, England, should want to break with free trade. A bitter revenge is now in store for those who have sought to turn Germany into an industrial country pure and simple.”

— Alfred von Waldersee

Waldersee in his diary, 19 February 1904, shortly before his death.

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Alfred von Waldersee 37

Prussian Field Marshal 1832–1904

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Heinrich Müller (1900–1945) German police official and head of the Gestapo

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Joseph Chamberlain (1836–1914) British businessman, politician, and statesman

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“Germany, which has lately united 80 million Germans, has submitted certain neighboring countries to her supremacy and gained military strength in many aspects, and thus has become, as clearly can be seen, a dangerous rival to principal imperialistic powers in Europe — England and France.”

Vyacheslav Molotov (1890–1986) Soviet politician and diplomat

Molotov's report on (29 March 1940), after the Polish defeat, as quoted in the weekly Soviet newspaper Moscow News, published by Mezhdunarodnaya Kniga (1 April 1940)
Context: Germany, which has lately united 80 million Germans, has submitted certain neighboring countries to her supremacy and gained military strength in many aspects, and thus has become, as clearly can be seen, a dangerous rival to principal imperialistic powers in Europe — England and France. That is why they declared war on Germany on a pretext of fulfilling the obligations given to Poland. It is now clearer than ever, how remote the real aims of the cabinets in these countries were from the interests of defending the now disintegrated Poland or Czechoslovakia.

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“Nobody's wrong but England – and England's always wrong,
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Her own sons crowd and hurry to shout her back to shame.”

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"Poor Old Britain", Leave My Old Morale Alone (1948).

“England, unlike in 1914, will not allow herself to blunder into a war lasting for years… Such is the fate of rich countries… Not even England has the money nowadays to fight a world war. What should England fight for? You don't get yourself killed for an ally.”

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vassalité

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But in England I've a mate!
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Edward Lear (1812–1888) British artist, illustrator, author and poet

St. 5.
The Courtship of the Yonghy-Bongy-Bò http://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ll/ybb.html (1877)

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Alfred von Waldersee 37

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