Twenty Ninth Annual Report And Accounts: Fill & Download for Free

I have been asked this question in so many roundabout and different ways on Quora and I have never answered directly. There is something about your simple and direct question that makes me want to answer it. It’s probably time.Important Note 1: This is a very private and personal account. It applies only to me and my personal spiritual journey, no one else’s.Important Note 2: I will leave comments open. I welcome differing opinions and open discussion in the comments. I will answer most questions, at my discretion. However, any offensive comment or personal attack (against me or another commenter) will result in a report and a block. Thank you for playing nice.Tl;dr - God did it.Part I - FoundationsI grew up in a very observant Orthodox Jewish home. Yes, there were a lot of halachot (religious laws and rules) to be followed, but in my home there was a context of “this is what the Maker of the Universe wants of us, so we want to do it”. We kids made mistakes, were corrected, did it right the next time (or the time after that). We memorized a lot of blessings, and we each had our own siddur (prayer book) and once we were old enough to read and understand, we prayed three times a day, plus the morning blessings and the bedtime prayers.My mother, may she rest in peace, had a running conversation with God out loud, all day long. “Riboyno shel oylam (Master of the Universe in her Ashekenazi accent),” she would say. “You know how Honi (my father’s name) is about his shirt collars and how bad I iron. For once, please let me get it right”.When my brother and I walked to school and there was a big street we had to cross. There was a crossing guard, a lady who held up a big “STOP” sign for the cars to allow us kids to cross in small groups, but her name was Mary and my mother didn’t entirely trust her to take care of us. As we were leaving the house, my mother would say, “Riboyno shel oylam, the children are leaving for school now and you know they have to cross Victory Boulevard. Make sure that shiksa keeps a good look out and please protect my children.”To sum up, I grew up in a home where prayer was constant, and pleasing God by doing what he wants us to do was our daily goal. There is more, of course. I’m just sticking to the pertinent bits so we can get on with this.There were some early encounters with Christians, of course, not all of them pleasant[1].Part II: Intellectual CuriosityMy first university studies were to obtain a Bachelor of Nursing Science degree. (It wasn’t my first choice of career (I wanted to be a doctor), but my parents insisted and I obeyed. A story for some other time.) That was the first time I worked and studied with Christian girls and I found that we shared many of the same values. It was very interesting to me, but I gave short shrift to anyone who tried to convert me, no matter what the current jargon for it was. I was a Jew. It’s not easy to be a Jew, and sometimes it’s very hard indeed, but that’s what I am and that’s what I’ll stay. Go away.During my studies, and later as I studied for a Master of Nursing Science and licensing as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, I worked with mostly very ill Christian patients, patients of all faith communities, and it was important to be able to discern between tenets of their faith and those beliefs that were the result of their diseases and disorders. So I started taking courses and became very interested, in particular in the discipline of philosophy of religion.This led to further advanced degrees, this time in philosophy of religion. For my master’s thesis I combined my psychology background with my studies in philosophy, and wrote a Jungian analysis of the feminine imagery in the writings of Francis of Assisi. It was not groundbreaking by any means, but I really enjoyed it. Since Francis is so completely gospel-based, this meant I read the gospels, then all the New Testament. The reading was entirely for my research; it had no aspect of personal searching. At least, I was aware of none.During my research for the master’s, I frequently made use of a library that belonged to the Franciscan friars in Los Angeles. There, and at my own university, I started to run across sisters and theologians. Sometimes the sisters would ask why an intelligent woman like myself was still a practicing Jew. I would reply by asking how intelligent women like themselves could possibly believe in mishegos (crazy, useless nonsense) like a virgin birth and a triune God. We discussed.My PhD dealt specifically with Catholic women religious[2], and quite a bit of my data was from in-person, written (by letter - this was in the early 1980s), or telephonic interviews. I formed relationships with some of these women, and we discussed all kinds of things, including our religious beliefs. My rabbi, by the way, was not worried. I had asked him at the beginning if such study was permitted, and he said that as long as it was scientific/intellectual he wasn’t worried about me.To sum up, from my entrance to university and through my twenties I was in intermittently close contact with Christian women and we often discussed our respective faiths. I continued with formal study in philosophy of religion and with research that involved Christian subjects through my doctorate.Part III: The light bulb pops and the penny drops.Again, I am leaving out a lot of personal biographical detail because it is not directly pertinent to the question and this answer is quite long enough, thank you.At this point, soon after receiving my doctorate, I am living in Israel. After shabbos (shabbat, the Sabbath) one Saturday evening I was washing a mound of dishes and suddenly had a strong desire to hear some spoken English. I flipped on the radio, tuned to BBC World Service. At that time they had an inter-religious program called Words of Faith. The program that day was presented by a Christian. I decided to keep it on because a music program would follow.The presenter was talking about the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. He said it was the ultimate sin offering, the final one.I was stopped in my tracks or rather in the dishwater, suds dripping from my hands. I had a sense of things I knew to be true, each one like a puzzle piece, flying around in my mind like autumn leaves in a strong wind.I recalled the principle in Jewish thought and commentary that in Hebrew is defined as the remedy preceding the injury (הקדמת תרופה למכה). I thought of it over and over. (This link is an explanation in English from an Israeli yeshiva[3].)I knew that once the Temple was destroyed (the event we call the horban), Jews were no longer able to make the sin offerings, the sacrifice for forgiveness of sins, of transgressions against halacha. (The destruction of the Temple was an unspeakable tragedy for that very reason, partly explained at this link to an article in Wikipedia[4].)All my life I had been fasting and mourning the horban annually on the Ninth of Av[5].Jesus was crucified just a few years before the horban.Other, less directly related “things I knew”, were also in the mix.Then, it was as though all the puzzle pieces fell to earth, having perfectly assembled themselves into a beautiful, logical image: Jesus was crucified as the ultimate sin offering (the remedy) and only then did the Master of the Universe allow the Temple to be destroyed (the injury) because we didn’t need it any more. Jesus is both High Priest and offering.And that is how I became a Christian.Note: I am well aware of rabbinical explanations of the horban, particularly indiscriminate hatred[6](שנאת חינם), but no matter what, it would not have happened had God not permitted it.Footnotes[1] ‎Claire-Edith de la Croix (קלייר-עדית)‎'s answer to What is the most racist thing someone has said to you?[2] Nuns? Sisters? Religious as a noun?[3] Parshat Trumah: The Labour of Gratitude[4] Korban - Wikipedia[5] Tish'a B'Av - The Ninth of Av, fast commemorating the destruction of the two Temples - תשעה באב[6] What Is Sinat Chinam, or Baseless Hatred? | My Jewish Learning

Did slave owners really own Mandingos (slaves that would fight to the death), as portrayed in the film Django Unchained?Thanks for the A2A!I’m not sure that I’ve read any evidence of masters making slaves fight till the death. I wouldn’t put it past them, but I think they more likely would make them fight until they were concussed and could fight no longer.In fact… I know this happened.These activities were known as Battle Royals or Battle Royales.Nowadays when you think of a Battle Royal, you probably envision something like this…But this is where its root come from…Kindly notice that the people witnessing this event are government paid servicemen.The Washington Herald published a story called "Negro Troopers Enjoy Battle-Royal" in 1918. The story, accompanied with a picture, went as follows;"It's a great old game, the battle-royal. It used to be that boxing promoters would get a bunch of husky black boys to climb into a ring and battle for a ten-dollar note, the note going to the boy who was on his feet last. They've made it a little different with some of our negro troops overseas. At a recent athletic carnival in England a bunch of troopers were blindfolded and sent in a ring with the above amusing result" (December 9, 1918). Negro Battle Royal - 2014 - Question of the Month - Jim Crow Museum - Ferris State UniversityAs you can see, they kids are blindfolded, given one boxing glove to wear and a cup to hold (if someone understands the purpose of the cup, please let me know).Now the thing to understand here is that the punches that hurt the worse.. and are the most dangerous… are the ones that you don’t see.They are blindfolded…So I wouldn’t be surprised if these kids suffered permanent damage from some of these fights. I would expect…That they had teeth knocked outThat they suffered eye injuries that weren’t tended toThat they often suffered neurological damage from being concussedThat they weren’t given medical treatment afterwardsThat they couldn’t turn down this wonderful opportunity to get the hell beaten out of them by people that couldn’t even seeKeep in mind that they would make both children and men fight in these events. Sometimes with each other.I wouldn’t be surprised either to find one day that they forced Black women to fight in these spectacles as well. After all, they didn’t mind torturing women in medical experiments.How Black Slaves Were Routinely Sold As ‘Specimens’ To Ambitious White DoctorsThe US medical system is still haunted by slaveryAnd they certainly didn’t mind using them as sex toys and selling the unwanted offspring for profitThe Loathsome Den- Sexual Assault on the Plantation: #MeTooAfricans in America/Part 4/Letters regarding slave women abuseThe Sexual Abuse of Black Men under American SlaverySo making them fight each other seems like something that would be expected.Here are a few accounts of how these Battle Royals worked.[A] ring was drawn on the ground which ranged from about 15 ft. to 30 ft. in diameter depending on the number of contestants who engaged in the combat. Each participant was given a kind of bag that was stuffed with cotton and rags into a very compact mass. When so stuffed, the bags would weigh on an average of 10 pounds, and was used by the contestants in striking their antagonist.Each combatant picked whichever opponent he desired and attempted to subdue him by pounding him over the head with the bag, which he used as his weapon of defense. And which was used as an offending weapon.The contest was continued in this manner till every combatant was counted out, and a hero of the contest proclaimed. Sometimes two contestants were adjudged heroes, and it was necessary to run a contest between the two combatants before a final hero could be proclaimed.Then the two antagonist would stage a battle royal and would continue in the conflict till one was proclaimed victorious. Sometimes these Free-For-All battles were carried on with a kind of improvised pair of boxing gloves, and the contests were carried on in the same manner as previously described.Very often, as many as 30 darkies of the most husky type were engaged in these battles, and the contests were generally attended by large audiences. Being staged during the period of favorable weather, and mostly on Saturday afternoon; these physical exhibitions were the scenes of much controversial conflict, gambling, excessive inebriation and hilarity.~ Frederick Douglass, 1818-1895https://learning.hccs.edu/faculty/selena.anderson/engl2307/readings/battle-royale-by-ralph-ellisonInteresting that these boys appear to range from 12 to 19 years old. I guess no one saw a problem with that.Mind you… these visual depictions are all AFTER slavery was over. One can only imagine how they were treated when they were slaves.Of course, some will be quick to say, “but Robert… White people wouldn’t have done anything to harm their slaves. They loved them like their own children. Plus, the slaves were too valuable to hurt. They were given better treatment than the actual slave masters”We’ve all heard this… or something like this before. So lets pause for a moment to address it.A quick internet search would clear all this up. In fact…This law was created fairly early in the history of American slavery. At the time, there were only about 2000 slaves in this country. But violence against them was already a common place concept. ~ Slavery and the Law in VirginiaAlso, I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s important to note that we have evidence of how brutal slavery was to many of the people who lived under it’s harsh rulesThe bones, almost pristine despite being buried for more than 200 years, represent the emergence of African-American culture in the United States…while most people think of slavery as having been concentrated in rural or the Southern parts of the country, Edna Medford of the Historical Component says New York had a significant slave population during the 18th century….The bones show the hardships the Africans faced the moment they stepped off the slave ships; in some cases they literally were worked to death."You have so many individuals who have trauma or injury to the bone, broken neck bones because they were forced to do that kind of labor," says Ena Fox of Howard University. He [Dr. Michael Blakey] says half of the populations died before they became teen-agers; others died within the first two years of their arrival.Fox, who's been collecting data from the teeth that were found, says defects in the tooth enamel were caused by malnutrition. Further examination of the bones and teeth reveal Africans who were enslaved as children and then shipped here had more cased of metabolic illness and malnutrition than children who spent their childhood in Africa and later died as adults.Signs of arthritis in the neck bones were probably caused by toting heavy items on the head -- a traditional African practice -- and lesions on the thigh bones probably resulted from muscle and ligament tears, Blakey said. "These people were obviously working at the very margins of human endurance and capacity," he said. "Arguably, a few were worked to death in a time when it was considered cost-effective to work slaves to death. Even some 6-year-old children show signs of being worked in what we would today consider an extreme way." ~ Bones reveal little-known tale of New York slaves | 4-22-97 -- Colonial-Era Burial ProjectSo the takeaway here is that slave masters probably didn’t fight their slaves to the death. But this is not because they loved them or because they were worried about their well being. No. It was because they made more money from working them to death than they would from making them fight each other to the death.If they could’ve found a way to make more money from the fighting, they would have done it.So yeah. The fighting happened, and I’m sure that some people were permanently hurt from it. After all… how can you expect to protect yourself in a fight when you’re blindfolded?These fights went under different names and had different rules.Battle RoyaleNigger fightsFree for AllsRough and Tumbleshttps://books.google.com/books?id=R_UACwAAQBAJ&pg=PA310&lpg=PA310&dq=slaves+rough+and+tumbleNow, it must also be said that Irish and other lower class White men would also participant amongst themselves in rough and tumbles. The reasoning behind this is that they weren't, at the time, considered by mainstream Whites to be “part of their group”. As such, they had to face their own brand of ridicule, which would include being called weakling cowards. Often these fights were a way to make money while proving their toughness and manhood to others.These fights continued long after slavery. In later years, the Blacks were either coerced into fighting or paid small amounts for their efforts as White men looked on and made bets on who would last the longest.It was announced in the newspapers as an “Athletic Show” and it began with a “battle royal” boxing bout among five Negroes. Five burly men, stripped to the waist, entered a roped arena on a platform. At the stroke of the bell two couples immediately began sparring. The fifth man then pitched into one of the boxers who seemed to be having the best of it, thus breaking up the pair. The released man turned to the other group and picking out one of the men began without warning to punch him. And so the fight proceeded. No matter how cleverly a man might be holding his own he was always in danger of having someone come at him from behind with a none too well padded fist. Scientific boxing was not in evidence. The contest was one of brutal physical endurance. When a man could keep it up no longer he left the ring and the winner was the man who stayed in longest. As announced, the winner was to receive $4.00, the second place man $2.00, and the third $1.00.At fairs, carnivals, benefits, and holiday festivals throughout the country, battle royals were among the featured events.In the Amarillo Globe Times in 1932, a sports carnival included “wrestling, hosing, comedy, novelty numbers, orchestra and a negro battle royal” (May 9, 1932).In Iowa, a “negro battle royal” was staged at the center of the park for a Fourth of July celebration (Mason City Globe-Gazette, June 29, 1934).At a Firemen’s picnic in Biloxi, Mississippi, it was determined to have a “negro battle royal Sunday at 8 p.m. as a feature attraction (Biloxi Daily Herald, July 6, 1937).Along with bicycle and relay races at the annual Scurry County Fair in Texas, there was a “feast of good things” where community stunts, fiddlers, string band contests and a negro battle royal were going on every day during the fair (Abilene Reporter News, September 22, 1929).In between horse races and bicycle races at the state fairgrounds in Wheeling, West Virginia, a battle royal “between six colored boys” would be part of the “amusements” (Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, August 7, 1899).(Recreation in Springfield, Illinois 1914) ~ Battle Royal: When whites paid black men to beat the hell out of each otherA rare interracial battle royal including "four colored boys and two white boys" ended when one of the white participants "quit the ring rather than take the chance of being knocked out by a little colored fellow named Cal Butler." The white contestant "asserted that he was entitled to a draw, but the referee's decision gave the fight to Butler" (Omaha Daily Bee, November 9, 1900).A featherweight championship bout featuring Abe Attell had an undercard battle royal "between five negro employees of the race track" (Los Angeles Herald, December 10, 1908).The "most interesting part" of a boxing program at the Ardmore Airdome in Oklahoma, "will be the battle royal by five negroes. This feature alone furnishes more amusement than a whole sideshow." The article mentions that the "proceeds will be given to the Confederate home committee" (The Daily Ardmoreite, September 15, 1910).In Utah, a "Comical Boxing Bout" put the crowd in a good humor "by a comical exhibition of a battle royal between five negroes who pummeled each other with large boxing gloves… When the sport dragged, one of the battle royal kids kindly dropped to the mat and was counted out" (The Evening Standard, January 23, 1913)."Six big, husky negroes were mingling in a battle royal at the old Long Acre Club, in Twenty-ninth Street, one night. To be more exact, five were big, but the other hadn't flirted with a steak in weeks. It so happened that the five picked on the one, and ere long the little fellow was knocked down. He was wise, this little fellow, and, rising on all-fours, he crawled across the ring, climbed over the lower rope, and dropped to the floor. 'Hey, you!' yelled Mike Newman, 'ain't you going to fight any more?' 'Oh, yes 'Marse Newman. Ahm goin' to fight plenty more. But no more to-night!' replied the coon, and he kept his word" (The New York Tribune, August 18, 1915).Closing the bill was the battle royal between six colored fighters. This was the funniest bout that has been staged in this city for some time. Every one crowded to the ringside to see the grand hubbub. They entered the ring, all kinds, big and husky, black and tan. With no referee in the ring they went at it. One darky opened up with corking another boy and they all went after him. He was sent rolling out of the ring for his offence. Down they went one after another until only three were left. Two of these set out to beat the other one up. Reading defeat, he retired and left one tall lanky "brown skin" and another husky black boy to settle the argument. They fought for about a minute when the black one was sent sprawling through the ropes and the lanky "high yella" grinned and picked up the money the fans had thrown in the ring and was declared the victor" (October 29, 1920).On a particular Saturday night "Ten thousand on-lookers see dem big Negroes in the Ring!!! A ring full of gloves and hour full of fun Wild Swings-haymakers-Upper Cuts Amusing-Ludicrous Free Fun for everybody" (Denton Record-Chronicle, October 3, 1930)."Act one of the evening's performance opened with a negro battle royal. The darkies were blindfolded and battled one round, and then their blindfolds were removed, and they went another round. The two survivors sparred and battled for two rounds. The victor left the mat as the colored orchestra played 'Bye-Bye Blackbirds,' for the vanquished" ( Corsicana Daily Sun, August 28, 1931).In an apparent effort to increase diversity among the boxing audiences, a "Negro Battle Royal" was among the featured events and it was said, "these matches will be run under the very highest standards and no one need hesitate bringing their wife and children" (Corsicana Daily Sun, July 21, 1933).I guess you can’t blame the black participants for their role in this. After all… the only other jobs they had available to them at the time wereButlerField handMaidFoot servantSex workerSleeping car porterSteel mill workerMinstrel show performerSeveral well known Black people had to fight in these events either because they were slaves or because they needed to put food on the table. Some that you might know areJack Johnson - Unforgivable Blackness . Sparring . Johnson's RiseBeau Jack - Beau Jack, 78, Lightweight Boxing Champion in the 1940'sHenry Armstrong - The Great Henry Armstrong • Boxing NewsJoe Gans - Gant, Joe “Gans” (1874-1910)Tom Molineaux (Slave fights)- The shameful story of how - 200 years ago this week - a bigoted mob cheated a freed slave out of the British heavyweight title | The Life of Bare-knuckle Boxer Tom MolineauxBill Richmond (Slave fights) - Bill Richmond – the pioneering pugilist - Black History Month 2018 | Black History Month Celebrating the Great Black British AchieversEssay about Battle Royal, by Ralph EllisonNegro Battle Royal - 2014 - Question of the Month - Jim Crow Museum - Ferris State University

Both France and United Kingdom along with some other European has shaped the history of our modern world. The historical ties between France and the UK, and the countries preceding them, are long and complex, including conquest, wars, and alliances at various points in history. The Roman era saw both areas, except Scotland and Northern Ireland, conquered by Rome, whose fortifications exist in both countries to this day, and whose writing system introduced a common alphabet to both areas; however, the language barrier remained. The Norman conquest of England in 1066 decisively shaped English history, as well as the English language. In the Middle Ages, France and England were often bitter enemies, with both nations' monarchs claiming control over France, while Scotland was usually allied with France until the Union of the Crowns. Some of the noteworthy conflicts include the Hundred Years' War and the French Revolutionary Wars which were French victories, as well as the Seven Years' War and Napoleonic Wars, from which Great Britain emerged victorious.The last major conflict between the two was the Napoleonic Wars in which coalitions of European powers, financed and usually led by the United Kingdom fought a series of wars against the First French Empire and its client states, culminating in the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815. There were some subsequent tensions, especially after 1880, over such issues as the Suez Canal and rivalry for African colonies. Despite some brief war scares, peace always prevailed. Friendly ties between the two began with the 1904 Entente Cordiale, and the British and French were allied against Germany in both World War I and World War II; in the latter conflict, British armies helped to liberate occupied France from the Nazis. Both nations opposed the Soviet Union during the Cold War and were founding members of NATO, the Western military alliance led by the United States. During the 1960s, French President Charles de Gaulle distrusted the British for being too close to the Americans, and for years he blocked British entry into the European Economic Community, now called the European Union. De Gaulle also pulled France out of its active role in NATO because that alliance was too heavily dominated by Washington. After his death, Britain did enter the European Economic Community and France returned to NATO.In recent years the two countries have experienced a quite close relationship, especially on defence and foreign policy issues; the two countries tend, however, to disagree on a range of other matters, most notably the European Union.France and Britain are often still referred to as "historic rivals" or with emphasis on the perceived ever-lasting competition that still opposes the two countries. French author José-Alain Fralon characterised the relationship between the countries by describing the British as "our most dear enemies".Unlike France, the United Kingdom left the European Union in 2020, after it voted to do so in a referendum held on 23 June 2016. It is estimated that about 350,000 French people live in the UK, with approximately 400,000 Britons living in France.France economic strength:The economy of France is highly developed and free-market-oriented. It is the world's seventh-largest economy by 2020 nominal figures and the tenth-largest economy by PPP. As of September 30, 2020, it is the 3rd largest economy of Europe, after the economy of Germany and the United Kingdom.La Défense, the financial hub of France.Paris, a leading global city, has one of the largest city GDP in the world and is the first city in Europe (and 3rd worldwide) for the number of companies classified in Fortune's Fortune Global 500. Paris has been ranked as the 2nd most attractive global city in the world in 2019 by KPMG. La Défense, Paris's Central Business District, was ranked by Ernst & Young in 2017 as the leading business district in continental Europe, and fourth in the world. The OECD is headquartered in Paris, the nation's financial capital. Other major economic centres include Lyon, Toulouse (centre of the European aerospace industry), Marseille, Nice and Bordeaux.France's economy entered the recession of the late 2000s later and appeared to leave it earlier than most affected economies, only enduring four-quarters of contraction.France has nominal GDP of $2.6 trillion and $3.0 trillion by power purchasing parity.A member of the Group of Seven (formerly Group of Eight) leading industrialized countries, as of 2020, it is ranked as the world's tenth-largest and the EU's second-largest economy by purchasing power parity. France joined 11 other EU members to launch the euro in 1999, with euro coins and banknotes completely replacing the French franc (₣) in 2002.France has a diversified economy, that is dominated by the service sector (which represented in 2017 78.8% of its GDP), whilst the industrial sector accounted for 19.5% of its GDP and the primary sector accounted for the remaining 1.7%. The fifth-largest trading nation in the world (and second in Europe after Germany). It is the third-largest manufacturing country in Europe behind Germany and Italy. France is also the most visited destination in the world, as well as the European Union's leading agricultural power.France was in 2019 the largest Foreign Direct Investment recipient in Europe, Europe's second-largest spender in Research and development, ranked among the 10 most innovative countries in the world by the 2020 Bloomberg Innovation Index, as well as the 15th most competitive nation globally, according to the 2019 Global Competitiveness Report.According to the IMF, in 2020, France was the world's 20th country by GDP per capita with $39,257 per inhabitant. In 2019, France was listed on the United Nations's Human Development Index with a value of 0.901 (indicating very high human development) and 23rd on the Corruption Perceptions Index in 2019.In 2018, France was the 5th largest trading nation in the world, as well as the second-largest trading nation in Europe (after Germany). In 2008, France was the third-largest recipient of foreign direct investment among OECD countries at $118 billion, ranking behind Luxembourg (where foreign direct investment was essentially monetary transfers to banks located there) and the United States ($316 billion), but above the United Kingdom ($96.9 billion), Germany ($25 billion), or Japan ($24 billion). In the same year, French companies invested $220 billion outside France, ranking France as the second-largest outward direct investor in the OECD, behind the United States ($311 billion), and ahead of the UK ($111 billion), Japan ($128 billion) and Germany ($157 billion).Financial services, banking and the insurance sector are an important part of the economy. The three largest financial institutions cooperatively owned by their customers are located in France. The Paris stock exchange (French: La Bourse de Paris) is an old institution, created by Louis XV in 1724. In 2000, the stock exchanges of Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels merged into Euronext. In 2007, Euronext merged with the New York stock exchange to form NYSE Euronext, the world's largest stock exchange. Euronext Paris, the French branch of the NYSE Euronext group is Europe's 2nd largest stock exchange market, behind the London Stock Exchange. French companies have maintained key positions in the insurance and banking industries: AXA was in 2019 the world's third-largest insurance company by total non-banking assets. The leading French banks are BNP Paribas and the Crédit Agricole, both ranking among the top 10 largest banks by assets according to a 2020 S&P Global Market Intelligence report. According to the same source, Société Générale and Groupe BPCE were in 2020 the world's 17th and 19th largest banks, respectively.France is a member of the Eurozone (around 330 million consumers) which is part of the European Single Market (more than 500 million consumers). Several domestic commercial policies are determined by agreements among European Union (EU) members and by EU legislation. France introduced the common European currency, the Euro in 2002.France is a part of a monetary union known as” EuroZone” (Shown in dark blue), and of the “European Single Market” (shown in light blue).France economic sectors:Agriculture:France has historically been a large producer of agricultural products. Extensive tracts of fertile land, the application of modern technology, and EU subsidies have combined to make France the leading agricultural producer and exporter in Europe (representing 20% of the EU's agricultural production) and the world's third-biggest exporter of agricultural products.Wheat, poultry, dairy, beef, and pork, as well as internationally recognized processed foods, are the primary French agricultural exports. Rosé wines are primarily consumed within the country, but Champagne and Bordeaux wines are major exports, being known worldwide. EU agriculture subsidies to France have decreased in recent years but still amounted to $8 billion in 2007. That same year, France sold 33.4 billion euros of transformed agricultural products. France produces rum via sugar cane-based distilleries almost all of which are located in overseas territories such as Martinique, Guadeloupe and La Réunion. Agriculture is an important sector of France's economy: 3.8% of the active population is employed in agriculture, whereas the total agri-food industry made up 4.2% of French GDP in 2005.Champagne widely regarded as a luxury good originates from The Champagne region in Northeast France.Tourism:With 89 million international tourist arrivals in 2018, France is ranked as the first tourist destination in the world, ahead of Spain (83 million) and the United States (80 million). It is third in income from tourism due to the shorter duration of visits. The most popular tourist sites include (annual visitors): Eiffel Tower (6.2 million), Château de Versailles (2.8 million), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (2 million), Pont du Gard (1.5 million), Arc de Triomphe (1.2 million), Mont Saint-Michel (1 million), Sainte-Chapelle (683,000), Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg (549,000), Puy de Dôme (500,000), Musée Picasso (441,000), and Carcassonne (362,000).The Eiffel Tower is the world’s most-visited paid monument an icon of both Paris and France.France, especially Paris, has some of the world's largest and most renowned museums, including the Louvre, which is the most visited art museum in the world (5.7 million), the Musée d'Orsay (2.1 million), mostly devoted to Impressionism, the Musée de l'Orangerie (1.02 million), which is home to eight large Water Lily murals by Claude Monet, as well as the Centre Georges Pompidou (1.2 million), dedicated to contemporary art. Disneyland Paris is Europe's most popular theme park, with 15 million combined visitors to the resort's Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park in 2009.Energy sector:Électricité de France (EDF), the main electricity generation and distribution company in France, is also one of the world's largest producers of electricity. In 2018, it produced around 20% of the European Union's electricity, primarily from nuclear power. France is the smallest emitter of carbon dioxide among the G8, due to its heavy investment in nuclear power. As of 2016, 72% of the electricity produced by France is generated by 58 nuclear power plants. In this context, renewable energies are having difficulty taking off. France also uses hydroelectric dams to produce electricity, such as the Eguzon dam, Étang de Soulcem and Lac de Vouglans. France derives most of its electricity from nuclear power the highest percentage in the world.Transport:The railway network of France, which as of 2008 stretches 29,473 kilometres (18,314 mi) is the second most extensive in Western Europe after that of Germany.It is operated by the SNCF, and high-speed trains include the Thalys, the Eurostar and TGV, which travels at 320 km/h (199 mph) in commercial use. The Eurostar, along with the Eurotunnel Shuttle, connects with the United Kingdom through the Channel Tunnel. Rail connections exist to all other neighbouring countries in Europe, except Andorra. Intra-urban connections are also well developed with both underground services (Paris, Lyon, Lille, Marseille, Toulouse, Rennes) and tramway services (Nantes, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Grenoble, Montpellier...) complementing bus services.A TGV Duplex crossing the Cize–Bolozon viaduct. The train can reach a maximum speed of 360 kilometres per hour (220 mph).There are approximately 1,027,183 kilometres (638,262 mi) of serviceable roadway in France, ranking it the most extensive network of the European continent. The Paris region is enveloped with the densest network of roads and highways that connect it with virtually all parts of the country. French roads also handle substantial international traffic, connecting with cities in neighbouring Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Andorra and Monaco. There is no annual registration fee or road tax; however, usage of the mostly privately owned motorways is through tolls except in the vicinity of large communes. The new car market is dominated by domestic brands such as Renault (27% of cars sold in France in 2003), Peugeot (20.1%) and Citroën (13.5%). Over 70% of new cars sold in 2004 had diesel engines, far more than contained petrol or LPG engines. France possesses the Millau Viaduct, the world's tallest bridge, and has built many important bridges such as the Pont de Normandie.There are 464 airports in France. Charles de Gaulle Airport, located in the vicinity of Paris, is the largest and busiest airport in the country, handling the vast majority of popular and commercial traffic and connecting Paris with virtually all major cities across the world. Air France is the national carrier airline, although numerous private airline companies provide domestic and international travel services. There are ten major ports in France, the largest of which is in Marseille, which also is the largest bordering the Mediterranean Sea. 12,261 kilometres (7,619 mi) of waterways traverse France including the Canal du Midi, which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean through the Garonne river.Air France is one of the biggest Airlines in the world.Science and Technology:Since the Middle Ages, France has been a major contributor to scientific and technological achievement. Around the beginning of the 11th century, Pope Sylvester II, born Gerbert d'Aurillac, reintroduced the abacus and armillary sphere and introduced Arabic numerals and clocks to Northern and Western Europe.The University of Paris, founded in the mid-12th century, is still one of the most important universities in the Western world. In the 17th century, mathematician René Descartes defined a method for the acquisition of scientific knowledge, while Blaise Pascal became famous for his work on probability and fluid mechanics. They were both key figures of the Scientific Revolution, which blossomed in Europe during this period. The Academy of Sciences was founded by Louis XIV to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at the forefront of scientific developments in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is one of the earliest academies of sciences.The Age of Enlightenment was marked by the work of biologist Buffon and chemist Lavoisier, who discovered the role of oxygen in combustion, while Diderot and D'Alembert published the Encyclopédie, which aimed to give access to "useful knowledge" to the people, a knowledge that they can apply to their everyday life. With the Industrial Revolution, the 19th century saw spectacular scientific developments in France with scientists such as Augustin Fresnel, founder of modern optics, Sadi Carnot who laid the foundations of thermodynamics, and Louis Pasteur, a pioneer of microbiology. Other eminent French scientists of the 19th century have their names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower.Famous French scientists of the 20th century include the mathematician and physicist Henri Poincaré, physicists Henri Becquerel, Pierre and Marie Curie, who remained famous for their work on radioactivity, the physicist Paul Langevin and virologist Luc Montagnier, co-discoverer of HIV AIDS. Hand transplantation was developed on 23 September 1998 in Lyon by a team assembled from different countries around the world including Jean-Michel Dubernard who, shortly thereafter, performed the first successful double hand transplant. Telesurgery was developed by Jacques Marescaux and his team on 7 September 2001 across the Atlantic Ocean (New York-Strasbourg, Lindbergh Operation). A face transplant was first done on 27 November 2005 by Dr Bernard Devauchelle.France was the fourth country to achieve the nuclear capability and has the third-largest nuclear weapons arsenal in the world. It is also a leader in civilian nuclear technology. France was the third nation, after the former USSR and the United States, to launch its own space satellite and remains the biggest contributor to the European Space Agency (ESA). The European Airbus, formed from the French group Aérospatiale along with DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (DASA) and Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA), designs and develops civil and military aircraft as well as communications systems, missiles, space rockets, helicopters, satellites, and related systems. France also hosts major international research instruments such as the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility or the Institut Laue–Langevin and remains a major member of CERN. It also owns Minatec, Europe's leading nanotechnology research centre.The SNCF, the French national railroad company, has developed the TGV, a high-speed train that holds a series of world speed records. The TGV has been the fastest wheeled train in commercial use since reaching a speed of 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph) on 3 April 2007. Western Europe is now serviced by a network of TGV lines.The Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) has been ranked by the Nature Index 2020 as the fourth institution with the highest share of articles published in scientific journals in the world. France itself was the 6th nation globally with the highest share of articles published in scientific journals according to the Nature Index 2020, which is valid for the calendar year 2019.As of 2018, 69 French people have been awarded a Nobel Prize and 12 have received the Fields Medal.Now, let us return to the military might of France:France has the sixth-largest defence budget in the world and the first in the European Union (EU). It has the largest armed forces in size in the European Union. According to Credit Suisse, the French Armed Forces are ranked as the world's sixth-most powerful military.The military history of France encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas including modern France, greater Europe, and French territorial possessions overseas. According to British historian Niall Ferguson, the French participated in 50 of the 125 major European wars that have been fought since 1495; more than any other European state. They are followed by the Austrians who fought in 47 of them, the Spanish in 44 and the English (and later British) who were involved in 43. Besides, out of all recorded conflicts which occurred since the year 387 BC, France has fought in 168 of them, won 109, lost 49 and drawn 10; thus making France the most successful military power in European history.In the Middle Ages, rivalries with England and the Holy Roman Empire prompted major conflicts such as the Norman Conquest and the Hundred Years' War. With an increasingly centralized monarchy, the first standing army since Roman times, and the use of artillery, France expelled the English from its territory and came out of the Middle Ages as the most powerful nation in Europe, only to lose that status to Spain following defeat in the Italian Wars. The Wars of Religion crippled France in the late 16th century, but a major victory over Spain in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Under Louis XIV, France achieved military supremacy over its rivals, but escalating conflicts against increasingly powerful enemy coalitions checked French ambitions and left the kingdom bankrupt at the opening of the 18th century.Resurgent French armies secured victories in dynastic conflicts against the Spanish, Polish, and Austrian crowns. At the same time, France was fending off attacks on its colonies. As the 18th century advanced, global competition with Great Britain led to the Seven Years' War, where France lost its North American holdings. Consolation came in the form of dominance in Europe and the American Revolutionary War, where extensive French aid in the form of money and arms, and the direct participation of its army and navy led to America's independence.[4] Internal political upheaval eventually led to 23 years of nearly continuous conflict in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. France reached the zenith of its power during this period, dominating the European continent in an unprecedented fashion under Napoleon Bonaparte, but by 1815 it had been restored to its pre-Revolutionary borders. The rest of the 19th century witnessed the growth of the Second French colonial empire as well as French interventions in Belgium, Spain, and Mexico. Other major wars were fought against Russia in the Crimea, Austria in Italy, and Prussia within France itself.Following defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, the Franco-German rivalry erupted again in the First World War. France and its allies were victorious this time. Social, political, and economic upheaval in the wake of the conflict led to the Second World War, in which the Allies were defeated in the Battle of France and the French government surrendered and was replaced with an authoritarian regime. The Allies, including the government in exile's Free French Forces and later a liberated French nation, eventually emerged victorious over the Axis powers. As a result, France secured an occupation zone in Germany and a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. The imperative of avoiding a third Franco-German conflict on the scale of those of two world wars paved the way for European integration starting in the 1950s. France became a nuclear power and since the 1990s its military action is most often seen in cooperation with NATO and its European partners.France is one of the five "Nuclear Weapons States" under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, but is not known to possess or develop any chemical or biological weapons. France was the fourth country to test an independently developed nuclear weapon, doing so in 1960 under the government of Charles de Gaulle. The French military is currently thought to retain a weapons stockpile of around 300 operational (deployed) nuclear warheads, making it the third-largest in the world, speaking in terms of warheads, not megatons.[7] The weapons are part of the national Force de frappe, developed in the late 1950s and 1960s to give France the ability to distance itself from NATO while having a means of nuclear deterrence under sovereign control.France did not sign the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which gave it the option to conduct further nuclear tests until it signed and ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty in 1996 and 1998 respectively. France denies currently having chemical weapons, ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in 1995, and acceded to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) in 1984. France had also ratified the Geneva Protocol in 1926.The French Armed Forces (Forces armées françaises) are the military and paramilitary forces of France, under the President of the Republic as supreme commander. They consist of the French Army (Armée de Terre), French Navy (Marine Nationale, formerly called Armée de Mer), the French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l’Espace), and the Military Police called National Gendarmerie (Gendarmerie nationale), which also fulfils civil police duties in the rural areas of France. Together they are among the largest armed forces in the world and the largest in the EU. According to a 2018 study by Crédit Suisse, the French Armed Forces are ranked as the world's sixth-most powerful military, and the most powerful in Europe, only behind Russia.France the sixth most powerful military on Earth and the third-biggest nuclear power by warheads.France has a special military corps, the French Foreign Legion, founded in 1830, which consists of foreign nationals from over 140 countries who are willing to serve in the French Armed Forces and become French citizens after the end of their service period. The only other countries having similar units are Spain (the Spanish Foreign Legion, called Tercio, was founded in 1920) and Luxembourg (foreigners can serve in the National Army provided they speak Luxembourgish).France is a permanent member of the Security Council of the UN and a recognised nuclear state since 1960. France has signed and ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. France's annual military expenditure in 2018 was US$63.8 billion, or 2.3% of its GDP, making it the fifth biggest military spender in the world after the United States, China, Saudi Arabia, and India.The current French nuclear force consists of four Triomphant class submarines equipped with submarine-launched ballistic missiles. In addition to the submarine fleet, it is estimated that France has about 60 ASMP medium-range air-to-ground missiles with nuclear warheads, of which around 50 are deployed by the Air and Space Force using the Mirage 2000N long-range nuclear strike aircraft, while around 10 are deployed by the French Navy's Super Étendard Modernisé (SEM) attack aircraft, which operate from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. The new Rafale F3 aircraft will gradually replace all Mirage 2000N and SEM in the nuclear strike role with the improved ASMP-A missile with a nuclear warhead.France has major military industries with one of the largest aerospace industries in the world. Its industries have produced such equipment as the Rafale fighter, the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, the Exocet missile and the Leclerc tank among others. Despite withdrawing from the Eurofighter project, France is actively investing in European joint projects such as the Eurocopter Tiger, multipurpose frigates, the UCAV demonstrator nEUROn and the Airbus A400M. France is a major arms seller, with most of its arsenal's designs available for the export market with the notable exception of nuclear-powered devices.France has consistently developed its cybersecurity capabilities, which are regularly ranked as some of the most robust of any nation in the world.The Bastille Day military parade held in Paris each 14 July for France's national day, called Bastille Day in English-speaking countries (referred to in France as Fête Nationale), is the oldest and largest regular military parade in Europe. Other smaller parades are organised across the country.Now let's see the economic and military strength of friendly rival of France the United Kingdom Of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.The economic strength of the United Kingdom:The economy of the United Kingdom is a highly developed social market and market-orientated economy. It is the fifth-largest national economy in the world measured by nominal gross domestic product (GDP), ninth-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP), and twenty first-largest by GDP per capita, constituting 3.3% of world GDP.London the historic capital and financial centre of the United Kingdom.The UK is one of the most globalised economies and comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In 2019, the UK was the fifth-largest exporter in the world and the fifth-largest importer. It also had the third-largest inward foreign direct investment and the fifth-largest outward foreign direct investment. In 2020, the UK's trade with the 27 member states of the European Union accounted for 49% of the country's exports and 52% of its imports.The service sector dominates, contributing around 80% of GDP; the financial services industry is particularly important, and London is the second-largest financial centre in the world.Edinburgh is ranked 17th in the world, and 6th in Europe for its financial services industry in 2021. Britain's aerospace industry is the second-largest national aerospace industry. Its pharmaceutical industry, the tenth-largest in the world, plays an important role in the economy. Of the world's 500 largest companies, 26 are headquartered in the UK. The economy is boosted by North Sea oil and gas production; its reserves were estimated at 2.8 billion barrels in 2016, although it has been a net importer of oil since 2005. There are significant regional variations in prosperity, with South East England and North East Scotland being the richest areas per capita. The size of London's economy makes it the largest city by GDP per capita in Europe.In the 18th century, the UK was the first country to industrialise, and during the 19th century, it had a dominant role in the global economy, accounting for 9.1% of the world's GDP in 1870. The Second Industrial Revolution was also taking place rapidly in the United States and the German Empire; this presented an increasing economic challenge for the UK. The costs of fighting World War I and World War II further weakened the UK's relative position. In the 18th century, the UK was the first country to industrialise, and during the 19th century, it had a dominant role in the global economy, accounting for 9.1% of the world's GDP in 1870. The Second Industrial Revolution was also taking place rapidly in the United States and the German Empire; this presented an increasing economic challenge for the UK. The costs of fighting World War I and World War II further weakened the UK's relative position. In the 21st century, the UK retains the ability to project power and influence around the world.Government involvement is primarily exercised by Her Majesty's Treasury, headed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Since 1979 management of the economy has followed a broad laissez-faire approach. The Bank of England is the UK's central bank, and since 1997 its Monetary Policy Committee has been responsible for setting interest rates, quantitative easing, and forward guidance.The currency of the UK is the pound sterling, which is the world's fourth-largest reserve currency after the United States dollar, the Euro and the Japanese yen, and is also one of the 10 most valued currencies in the world.The UK is a member of the Commonwealth, the G7, the G20, the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, NATO, the United Nations Security Council, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the United Nations.As of 2021, Britain has nominal GDP of $2.64 trillion fifth largest and biggest.And is the world’s 9th largest and biggest by power purchasing parity of $2.98 trillion.it has the 21st highest GDP per capita $39,229 making it one of the richest and highly advanced country in Europe and the World.The UK service sector makes up around 79 per cent of GDP. London is one of the world's largest financial centres, ranking 2nd in the world, behind New York City, in the Global Financial Centres Index in 2020.London also has the largest city GDP in Europe. Edinburgh ranks 17th in the world, and 6th in Western Europe in the Global Financial Centres Index in 2020. Tourism is very important to the British economy; with over 27 million tourists arriving in 2004, the United Kingdom is ranked as the sixth major tourist destination in the world and London has the most international visitors of any city in the world. The creative industries accounted for 7 per cent GVA in 2005 and grew at an average of 6 per cent per annum between 1997 and 2005.Following the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union, the functioning of the UK internal economic market is enshrined by the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 which ensures trade in goods and services continues without internal barriers across the four countries of the United Kingdom.The Industrial Revolution started in the UK with an initial concentration on the textile industry, followed by other heavy industries such as shipbuilding, coal mining and steelmaking. British merchants, shippers and bankers developed an overwhelming advantage over those of other nations allowing the UK to dominate international trade in the 19th century. As other nations industrialised, coupled with economic decline after two world wars, the United Kingdom began to lose its competitive advantage and heavy industry declined, by degrees, throughout the 20th century. Manufacturing remains a significant part of the economy but accounted for only 16.7 per cent of national output in 2003.The automotive industry employs around 800,000 people, with a turnover in 2015 of £70 billion, generating £34.6 billion of exports (11.8 per cent of the UK's total export goods). In 2015, the UK produced around 1.6 million passenger vehicles and 94,500 commercial vehicles. The UK is a major centre for engine manufacturing: in 2015 around 2.4 million engines were produced. The UK motorsport industry employs around 41,000 people, comprises around 4,500 companies and has an annual turnover of around £6 billion.The aerospace industry of the UK is the second or third-largest national aerospace industry in the world depending upon the method of measurement and has an annual turnover of around £30 billion.Jaguar XE Jaguar cars are manufactured, designed and developed in the United Kingdom.BAE Systems plays a critical role in some of the world's biggest defence aerospace projects. In the UK, the company makes large sections of the Typhoon Eurofighter and assembles the aircraft for the Royal Air Force. It is also a principal subcontractor on the F35 Joint Strike Fighter – the world's largest single defence project – for which it designs and manufactures a range of components. It also manufactures the Hawk, the world's most successful jet training aircraft. Airbus UK also manufactures the wings for the A400 m military transporter. Rolls-Royce is the world's second-largest aero-engine manufacturer. Its engines power more than 30 types of commercial aircraft and it has more than 30,000 engines in service in the civil and defence sectors.The UK space industry was worth £9.1bn in 2011 and employed 29,000 people. It is growing at a rate of 7.5 per cent annually, according to its umbrella organisation, the UK Space Agency. In 2013, the British Government pledged £60 m to the Skylon project: this investment will provide support at a "crucial stage" to allow a full-scale prototype of the SABRE engine to be built.The pharmaceutical industry plays an important role in the UK economy and the country has the third-highest share of global pharmaceutical R&D expenditures.Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanised and efficient by European standards, producing about 60 per cent of food needs with less than 1.6 per cent of the labour force (535,000 workers). Around two-thirds of production is devoted to livestock, one-third to arable crops. The UK retains a significant, though much-reduced fishing industry. It is also rich in a number of natural resources including coal, petroleum, natural gas, tin, limestone, iron ore, salt, clay, chalk, gypsum, lead, silica and an abundance of arable land.In the final quarter of 2008, the UK economy officially entered recession for the first time since 1991. Following the likes of the United States, France and many major economies, in 2013, the UK lost its top AAA credit rating for the first time since 1978 with Moodys and Fitch credit agency, but, unlike the other major economies, retained its triple-A rating with Standard & Poors.By the end of 2014, UK growth was the fastest in both the G7 and in Europe, and by September 2015, the unemployment rate was down to a seven-year low of 5.3 per cent. In 2020, coronavirus lockdown measures caused the UK economy to suffer its biggest slump on record, shrinking by 20.4 per cent between April and June compared to the first three months of the year, to push it officially into recession for the first time in 11 years.The UK has an external debt of $9.6 trillion dollars, which is the second-highest in the world after the US. As a percentage of GDP, external debt is 408 per cent, which is the third-highest in the world after Luxembourg and Iceland.Canary Wharf and the City Of London both are financial centres of UK.During the Second World War, the UK was one of the Big Three powers (along with the U.S. and the Soviet Union) who met to plan the post-war world; it was an original signatory to the Declaration by United Nations. After the war, the UK became one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and worked closely with the United States to establish the IMF, World Bank and NATO. The war left the UK severely weakened and financially dependent on the Marshall Plan, but it was spared the total war that devastated eastern Europe. In the immediate post-war years, the Labour government initiated a radical programme of reforms, which had a significant effect on British society in the following decades. Major industries and public utilities were nationalised, a welfare state was established, and a comprehensive, publicly funded healthcare system, the National Health Service, was created. The rise of nationalism in the colonies coincided with Britain's now much-diminished economic position so that a policy of decolonisation was unavoidable. Independence was granted to India and Pakistan in 1947. Over the next three decades, most colonies of the British Empire gained their independence, with all those that sought independence supported by the UK, during both the transition period and afterwards. Many became members of the Commonwealth of Nations.The UK was the third country to develop a nuclear weapons arsenal (with its first atomic bomb test in 1952), but the new post-war limits of Britain's international role were illustrated by the Suez Crisis of 1956. The international spread of the English language ensured the continuing international influence of its literature and culture. As a result of a shortage of workers in the 1950s, the government encouraged immigration from Commonwealth countries. In the following decades, the UK became a more multi-ethnic society than before. Despite rising living standards in the late 1950s and 1960s, the UK's economic performance was less successful than many of its main competitors such as France, West Germany and Japan.In the decades-long process of European integration, the UK was a founding member of the alliance called the Western European Union, established with the London and Paris Conferences in 1954. In 1960 the UK was one of the seven founding members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), but in 1973 it left to join the European Communities (EC). When the EC became the European Union (EU) in 1992, the UK was one of the 12 founding members. The Treaty of Lisbon, signed in 2007, forms the constitutional basis of the European Union since then.Following a period of widespread economic slowdown and industrial strife in the 1970s, the Conservative government of the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher initiated a radical policy of monetarism, deregulation, particularly of the financial sector (for example, the Big Bang in 1986) and labour markets, the sale of state-owned companies (privatisation), and the withdrawal of subsidies to others.[142] From 1984, the economy was helped by the inflow of substantial North Sea oil revenues.Around the end of the 20th century, there were major changes to the governance of the UK with the establishment of devolved administrations for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The statutory incorporation followed acceptance of the European Convention on Human Rights. The UK is still a key global player diplomatically and militarily. It plays leading roles in the UN and NATO. Controversy surrounds some of Britain's overseas military deployments, particularly in Afghanistan and Iraq.The coalition government of 2010 introduced austerity measures intended to tackle the substantial public deficits which resulted. In 2016, 51.9 per cent of voters in the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. The UK remained a full member of the EU until 31 January 2020.The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has seriously affected the UK. Emergency financial measures (such as the furlough scheme) and controls on movement (known as lockdown measures) have been put in place. The number of people who have died from the virus in the UK has exceeded 100,000.The military strength of the United Kingdom Of Great Britain and Northern Ireland:The British Armed Forces are also known as Her Majesty Armed Forces. responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and the Crown dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, support international peacekeeping efforts and provide humanitarian aid.Since the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 (later succeeded by the United Kingdom), the armed forces have seen action in a number of major wars involving the world's great powers, including the Seven Years' War, the American Revolutionary War, the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War, the First World War, and the Second World War. Repeatedly emerging victorious from conflicts has allowed Britain to establish itself as one of the world's leading military and economic powers. Today, the British Armed Forces consist of: the Royal Navy, a blue-water navy with a fleet of 79 commissioned ships, together with the Royal Marines, a highly specialised amphibious light infantry force; the British Army, the UK's principal land warfare branch; and the Royal Air Force, a technologically sophisticated air force with a diverse operational fleet consisting of both fixed-wing and rotary aircraft. The British Armed Forces include standing forces, Regular Reserve, Volunteer Reserves and Sponsored Reserves.The Head of the Armed Forces is the British monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II, to whom members of the forces swear allegiance. Long-standing constitutional convention, however, has vested de facto executive authority, by the exercise of Royal Prerogative, in the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Defence. The Prime Minister (acting with the Cabinet) makes the key decisions on the use of the armed force. The UK Parliament approves the continued existence of the British Army by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years, as required by the Bill of Rights 1689. The Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and Royal Marines among all other forces do not require this act. The armed forces are managed by the Defence Council of the Ministry of Defence, headed by the Secretary of State for Defence.The United Kingdom is one of five recognised nuclear powers, is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, is a founding and leading member of the NATO military alliance, and is a party to the Five Power Defence Arrangements. Overseas garrisons and training facilities are maintained at Ascension Island, Bahrain, Belize, Bermuda, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei, Canada, Cyprus, the Falkland Islands, Germany, Gibraltar, Kenya, Montserrat, Nepal, Qatar, Singapore and the United States.During the later half of the seventeenth century, and in particular, throughout the eighteenth century, British foreign policy sought to contain the expansion of rival European powers through military, diplomatic and commercial means – especially of its chief competitors; Spain, the Netherlands and France. This saw Britain engage in a number of intense conflicts over colonial possessions and world trade, including a long string of Anglo-Spanish and Anglo-Dutch wars, as well as a series of "world wars" with France, such as; the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), the French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802) and the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815). During the Napoleonic wars, the Royal Navy victory at Trafalgar (1805) under the command of Horatio Nelson (aboard HMS Victory) marked the culmination of British maritime supremacy and left the Navy in a position of uncontested hegemony at sea. By 1815 and the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars, Britain had risen to become the world's dominant great power and the British Empire subsequently presided over a period of relative peace, known as Pax Britannica.With Britain's old rivals no longer a threat, the nineteenth century saw the emergence of a new rival, the Russian Empire, and a strategic competition in what became known as The Great Game for supremacy in Central Asia. Britain feared that Russian expansionism in the region would eventually threaten the Empire in India. In response, Britain undertook a number of pre-emptive actions against perceived Russian ambitions, including the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–1842), the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878–1880) and the British expedition to Tibet (1903–1904). During this period, Britain also sought to maintain the balance of power in Europe, particularly against Russian expansionism, who at the expense of the waning Ottoman Empire had ambitions to "carve up the European part of Turkey". This ultimately led to British involvement in the Crimean War (1854–1856) against the Russian Empire.The beginning of the twentieth century served to reduce tensions between Britain and the Russian Empire, partly due to the emergence of a unified German Empire. The era brought about an Anglo-German naval arms race which encouraged significant advancements in maritime technology (e.g. Dreadnoughts, torpedoes and submarines), and in 1906, Britain had determined that its only likely naval enemy was Germany.The accumulated tensions in European relations finally broke out into the hostilities of the First World War (1914–1918), in what is recognised today, as the most devastating war in British military history, with nearly 800,000 men killed and over 2 million wounded. Allied victory resulted in the defeat of the Central Powers, the end of the German Empire, the Treaty of Versailles and the establishment of the League of Nations.Although Germany had been defeated during the First World War, by 1933 fascism had given rise to Nazi Germany, which under the leadership of Adolf Hitler re-militarised in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles. Once again tensions accumulated in European relations, and following Germany's invasion of Poland in September 1939, the Second World War began (1939–1945). The conflict was the most widespread in British history, with British Empire and Commonwealth troops fighting in campaigns from Europe and North Africa, to the Middle East and the Far East. Approximately 390,000 British Empire and Commonwealth troops lost their lives. Allied victory resulted in the defeat of the Axis powers and the establishment of the United Nations (replacing the League of Nations).According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the United Kingdom has the fourth- or eighth-largest defence budget in the world.For comparison's sake, this sees Britain spending more in absolute terms than France, Germany, India or Japan, a similar amount to that of Russia, but less than China, Saudi Arabia or the United States. In September 2011, according to Professor Malcolm Chalmers of the Royal United Services Institute, current "planned levels of defence spending should be enough for the United Kingdom to maintain its position as one of the world's top military powers, as well as being one of NATO-Europe's top military powers. Its edge – not least its qualitative edge – in relation to rising Asian powers seems set to erode, but will remain significant well into the 2020s, and possibly beyond." The Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 committed to spending 2% of GDP on defence and announced a £178 billion investment over ten years in new equipment and capabilities.The United Kingdom is one of five recognised nuclear-weapon states under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and maintains an independent nuclear deterrent, currently consisting of four Vanguard-class ballistic missile submarines, UGM-133 Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and 160 operational thermonuclear warheads. This is known as Trident in both public and political discourse (with nomenclature taken after the UGM-133 Trident II ballistic missile). Trident is operated by the Royal Navy Submarine Service, charged with delivering a 'Continuous At-Sea Deterrent' (CASD) capability, whereby one of the Vanguard-class strategic submarines is always on patrol.According to the British Government, since the introduction of Polaris (Tridents predecessor) in the 1960s, from April 1969 "the Royal Navy’s ballistic missile boats have not missed a single day on patrol", giving what the Defence Council described in 1980 as a deterrent "effectively invulnerable to pre-emptive attack".In contrast with the other recognised nuclear-weapon states, the United Kingdom operates only a submarine-based delivery system, having decommissioned its tactical WE.177 free-fall bombs in 1998.The House of Commons voted on 18 July 2016 in favour of replacing the Vanguard-class submarines with a new generation of Dreadnought-class submarines. The programme will also contribute to extending the life of the UGM-133 Trident II ballistic missiles and modernise the infrastructure associated with the CASD.Former weapons of mass destruction possessed by the United Kingdom include both biological and chemical weapons. These were renounced in 1956 and subsequently destroyed.The British Armed Forces maintain a number of overseas garrisons and military facilities which enable the country to conduct operations worldwide. All of Britain's permanent military installations are located on British Overseas Territories (BOTs) or former colonies which retain close diplomatic ties with the United Kingdom and located in areas of strategic importance. The most significant of these is the "Permanent Joint Operating Bases" (PJOBs), located on the four overseas territories of Cyprus (British Forces Cyprus), Gibraltar (British Forces Gibraltar), the Falkland Islands (British Forces South Atlantic Islands) and Diego Garcia (British Forces British Indian Ocean Territories). While not a PJOB, Ascension Island (another BOT) is home to the airbase RAF Ascension Island, notable for use as a staging post during the 1982 Falklands War, the territory is also the site of a joint UK-US signals intelligence facility.Qatar is home to RAF Al Udeid, a Royal Air Force outpost at Al Udeid Air Base which serves as the operational headquarters for No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group and its operations across the Middle East. A large Royal Navy Naval Support Facility (NSF) is located in Bahrain, established in 2016 it marks the British return East of Suez. In support of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA), the United Kingdom retains a naval repair and logistics support facility at Sembawang wharf, Singapore. Other overseas military installations include; British Forces Brunei, British Forces Germany, the British Army Training Unit Kenya, British Army Training Unit Suffield in Canada, British Army Training and Support Unit Belize, and British Gurkhas Nepal.Some British Overseas Territories also maintain locally raised units and regiments; The Royal Bermuda Regiment, the Falkland Islands Defence Force, the Royal Gibraltar Regiment and the Royal Montserrat Defence Force. Though their primary mission is "home defence", individuals have volunteered for operational duties. The Royal Gibraltar Regiment mobilised section-sized units for attachment to British regiments deployed during the Iraq War. The Isle of Man, a Crown dependency hosts a multi-capability recruiting and training unit of the British Army Reserve.Since 1969 Britain has had a military satellite communications system, Skynet, initially in large part to support East of Suez bases and deployments. Since 2015 Skynet has offered near-global coverage.Royal Navy:The Royal Navy is a technologically sophisticated naval force, and as of January 2021 consists of 79 commissioned ships with an additional 13 support vessels of various types operated by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. Command of deployable assets is exercised by the Fleet Commander of the Naval Service. Personnel matters are the responsibility of the Second Sea Lord/Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command, an appointment usually held by a vice-admiral.The Surface Fleet consists of aircraft carriers, amphibious warfare ships, destroyers, frigates, patrol vessels, mine-countermeasure vessels, and other miscellaneous vessels. The Surface Fleet has been structured around a single fleet since the abolition of the Eastern and Western fleets in 1971. The recently built Type 45 destroyers are technologically advanced air-defence destroyers. The Royal Navy has commissioned two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, embarking an air-group including the advanced fifth-generation multi-role fighter, the F-35B.A submarine service has existed within the Royal Navy for more than 100 years. The Submarine Service's four Vanguard-class nuclear-powered submarines carry Lockheed Martin's Trident II ballistic missiles, forming the United Kingdom's nuclear deterrent. Seven Astute-class nuclear-powered attack submarines have been ordered, with four completed and three under construction. The Astute class are the most advanced and largest fleet submarines ever built for the Royal Navy and will maintain Britain's nuclear-powered submarine fleet capabilities for decades to come.Royal marines:The Royal Marines are the Royal Navy's amphibious troops. Consisting of a single manoeuvre brigade (3 Commando) and various independent units, the Royal Marines specialise in amphibious, arctic, and mountain warfare.[73] Contained within 3 Commando Brigade are three attached army units; 383 Commando Petroleum Troop RLC, 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, a field artillery regiment based in Plymouth, and 24 Commando Regiment Royal Engineers.[74] The Commando Logistic Regiment consists of personnel from the Army, Royal Marines, and Royal Navy.British Ground Forces:The British Army is made up of the Regular Army and the Army Reserve. The army has a single command structure based at Andover and known as "Army Headquarters". Deployable combat formations consist of two divisions (1st Armoured and 3rd Mechanised) and eight brigades. Within the United Kingdom, operational and non-deployable units are administered by two divisions, Force Troops Command, and London District.The Army has 50 battalions (36 regular and 14 reserves) of regular and reserve infantry, organised into 17 regiments. The majority of infantry regiments contains multiple regular and reserve battalions. Modern infantry has diverse capabilities and this is reflected in the varied roles assigned to them. There are four operational roles that infantry battalions can fulfil: air assault, armoured infantry, mechanised infantry, and light role infantry. Regiments and battalions e.g.: the Parachute Regiment, exist within every corps of the Army, functioning as administrative or tactical formations.Armoured regiments are equivalent to an infantry battalion. There are 14 armoured regiments within the army, ten regular and four yeomanry (armoured reserve), of which four are designated as "Armoured", three as "Armoured Cavalry", and six as "Light Cavalry". Army 2020 Refine has seen developments which will further modify the Royal Armoured Corps. with two existing regiments forming the core of two new STRIKE Brigades. These two regiments, along with the Armoured Cavalry will be equipped with the "Ajax" armoured fighting vehicle, a new £3.5 billion procurement programme. The Ajax will be employed in the task organisation and roles of both Armoured Cavalry and Medium Armour. With a slight exception of the Household Cavalry, which maintains quasi-autonomy within the Household Division, armoured regiments and their yeomanry counterparts collectively form the Royal Armoured Corps.Arms and support units are also formed into similar collectives organised around specific purposes, such as the Corps of Royal Engineers, Army Air Corps and Royal Army Medical Corps.Royal Air Force:The Royal Air Force has a large operational fleet that fulfils various roles, consisting of both fixed-wing and rotary aircraft. Frontline aircraft are controlled by Air Command, which is organised into five groups defined by function: 1 Group (Air Combat), 2 Group (Air Support), 11 Group (Air and Space operations), 22 Group (training aircraft and ground facilities) and 38 Group (Royal Air Force's Engineering, Logistics, Communications and Medical Operations units). In addition 83 Expeditionary Air Group directs formations in the Middle East and the 38 Group combines the expeditionary combat support and combat service support units of the RAF. Deployable formations consist of Expeditionary Air Wings and squadrons—the basic unit of the Air Force. Independent flights are deployed to facilities in Afghanistan, the Falkland Islands, Iraq, and the United States.The Royal Air Forces operate multi-role and single-role fighters, reconnaissance and patrol aircraft, tankers, transports, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, and various types of training aircraft. Ground units are also maintained by the Royal Air Force, most prominently the RAF Police and the Royal Air Force Regiment (RAF Regt). The Royal Air Force Regiment essentially functions as the ground defence force of the RAF, optimised for the specialist role of fighting on and around forward airfields, which are densely packed with operationally vital aircraft, equipment, infrastructure and personnel. The Regiment contains nine regular squadrons, supported by five squadrons of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force Regiment. In addition, it provides the UK's specialist Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear capability. It also provides half of the UK's Forward Air Controllers and the RAF's contribution to the Special Forces Support Group. By March 2008, the three remaining Ground Based Air Defence squadrons (equipped with Rapier Field Standard C) had disbanded or re-rolled and their responsibilities transferred to the British Army's Royal Artillery.I provided this long, boring argument for you. It’s up to you to decide who is more powerful.But if you look at facts and statistics United Kingdom Of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a much more powerful and bigger economic and military beast.France has the seventh most powerful military in the world whereas Britain has the eighth-most powerful military in the world.France is the seventh biggest economy nominally with a GDP of $2.551 trillion dollars and tenth-largest by power purchasing parity GDP of $2.954 dollars.The United Kingdom has the 5th largest economy nominally with a GDP of $2.638 trillion dollars and 9th largest by power purchasing parity GDP of $2.979 trillion dollars.France has $39,257 GDP per capita which ranks 20th in the world and United Kingdom has $39,229 GDP per Capita which ranks 21st in the world.Both are NATO allies and maintain permanent seats in the UN security council both are considered major world powers.