By Jake Scott

A welcome and significant change has come to European politics: an admission that the European Union (EU) has relied too heavily on the US for its military defense. Only a few years ago, any suggestion that Europe had not been pulling its weight in defending its own continent, or had outsourced its military might to the US, would have been met with scorn and derision. Yet Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz has now not only acknowledged this reality, but has gone as far as saying the continent has been “free-loading” off the US.

A single power dominating global affairs through military power is hardly unusual. In fact, it’s been the norm in international relations for centuries that regions have dominant powers: in Europe, that role was largely played by France from the 14th to the 19th centuries, and it was only the advent of a globalized empire under the aegis of the British crown that a truly “global” power could emerge.

In the waning years of the 19th century, Britain developed what it called the “two-power standard.” The principle was that the British Royal Navy ought to be as strong, if not as large, as the next two great powers combined—then France and Russia. By the first decade of the 20th century, Germany’s rapid industrialization saw this balance of power shift. The purpose of Britain’s policy was to protect its global (and, therefore, maritime) empire and the source of her geopolitical strength.

Nearly 150 years later, we see a remarkably similar approach taken........

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