• Sauerkraut@discuss.tchncs.de
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    6 hours ago

    The US and Canada haven’t fought since 1812. Which European border of a major super power has a longer history of being close allies?

    The UK and Scotland shouldn’t count because Scotland isn’t a sovereign country, they are a state of the UK that has lied about retaining their sovereignty for 500 years (which is why they have to beg England for permission to even hold an independece referendum)

    Spain and France shouldn’t count because Spain worked with the Nazis in ww2 and wouldn’t help France.

    • thebestaquaman@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      Quite a surprising one here: I think the Norwegian/russian border can actually match that. I believe Norway is the only country neighbouring russia that has never been invaded by them (sans WWII, where they invaded Nazi-occupied Norway and willingly left after the Axis was defeated).

      I also think the Norwegian/Danish border has been conflict-free for some hundred years (to be fair, we were in a union for ≈450 years ending in 1814). We’ve had some skirmishes with the Swedes throughout the years, but I believe the last one was in 1814.

      • barsoap@lemm.ee
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        4 hours ago

        Norway and Denmark don’t have a land border. Thus including alliances in general the Anglo-Portuguese one dates back to 1373, with only 60 years interruption when Portugal was in dynastic union with Spain which in modern terms could be called an occupation.

        …and this isn’t just a technicality with both nations being big on seafaring you can consider the water between them a highway, French cannons nonwithstanding.

        • thebestaquaman@lemmy.world
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          3 hours ago

          I’m not quite sure if you’re disregarding the fact that Norway and Denmark haven’t had a war for hundreds of years because they don’t share a land border? In any case i can point out that there were plenty of Norwegian-Danish hostilities before the union time. With both Norway and Denmark being big on seafaring, the waters between Norway and Denmark have historically been seen much more as a highway (as you say about the Anglo-Portuguese waters) than anything else.

          The distance is shorter though, so I would rather compare the Norwegian-Danish border to the Anglo-French border, and the lack of a land border there hasn’t really prevented any wars.