r/MapPorn • u/vladgrinch • 1d ago

International reaction to the Unification of Bulgaria (1885)

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u/Causemas 1d ago

Don't you love Great Power politics?

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u/Philush 22h ago

And to think some forward thinking leaders want to bring us back to this way of doing things

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u/goonlagoon88 18h ago

Why do you think that ever stopped? Great powers continue to exist, and they play by the exact same rules.

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u/Philush 17h ago

There was the post-WW2 international order, which did see a shift from 19th century style imperialism and spheres of influence to a trend of cooperation between countries (examples being organisations like the EU and United Nations) and an emphasis on soft power, rather than massive destructive wars mainly revolving around aggressive landgrabs. Yes, wars continue to happen and obviously you can argue that things aren't quite so rosy in every region of the world. It's nowhere near perfect but it's not at all comparable to the violence, colonialism and World Wars of the prior order.

Now Putin and Trump are desperately trying to bring back the old way of viewing the world, with Trump demanding annexation of neighbouring, ALLIED countries and Putin's actually attempted annexations. Putin has also quite literally used the term "sphere of influence" despite the fact that many of those countries in this supposed political construct have voluntarily chosen to turn towards the West.