[apexalpha]

Europe was beaten down, broke and simply kaput.

Then it was split in a camp dependent on the US and a camp dependent on the USSR.

Both the US and USSR spent decades keeping us together but definitely not united.

This runs deep in European political culture.

Until 2 years ago many Dutch people had more in common and more trust in Americans than <insert European country>. If only because half of them go broke once every generation.

[RetroTechie]

To be fair: the # of wars fought between European nations... many. This goes back way further than WWII or Cold War.

But yes both US and Russia (perhaps China too) might stand to gain from Europe staying divided as it is.