You pit me, and I pit you, struggle is the theme of the era of the great powers.
One can hardly control one's fate in this tumultuous world. In international politics, there are only interests; allies when interests align, enemies when conflicts arise. Role reversal is a basic maneuver.
In this regard, the British are the best, one moment allies and the next enemies, only to become friends again after a while.
To some extent, the diplomacy of European countries in this era was all about learning from the British. Everyone's bottom lines and principles kept dropping lower and lower; close and cooperative alliances only existed before the Middle Ages.
Against this backdrop, the relationships between European countries are a tangled mess, and cannot be narrowly defined as friends or enemies.
