Worst European alliance for the British Empire

What alliance of European powers would give the British the most problems. An alliance between France and Germany or Russia and Germany?
 
Define problems? Like which would produce the least boons for the British or which would the British have the most problems with the members of?
 
What alliance of European powers would give the British the most problems. An alliance between France and Germany or Russia and Germany?

The worst alliance from Britain's point of view is different at different times.

Basically, the worst is the one between the 2 strongest continental powers.

From the 1750's on to the 1850's, the worst would have been an alliance between France and Russia.
From the 1860's on to WW2, it was between Prussia/Germany and Russia, ... etc
 
The worst alliance from Britain's point of view is different at different times.

Basically, the worst is the one between the 2 strongest continental powers.

From the 1750's on to the 1850's, the worst would have been an alliance between France and Russia.
From the 1860's on to WW2, it was between Prussia/Germany and Russia, ... etc
Dutring the 17th century I think a Franco-Dutch alliance would spell doom for England (to be fair they weren't yet British, but still).
 
Arguably, the worst alliance for Britain was the one she made with France. Ended up costing her the Empire.

Otherwise, I'd vote for a Franco-Spanish alliance in the 16th or early 17th centuries.
 
France and Germany (as unlikely as it'd be) would be the most dangerous for Britain because the naval and commercial threat would surpass any other European combination of the late 19th or early 20th century. That alliance would be able to spend far more on their navies than in OTL and their combined navies with access to French ports would be a dagger aimed at the heart of Britain. A German/Russian alliance would not pose such a direct threat.
 
The biggest is of course 'everyone' which is basically what happened in the ARW (which, unsurprisingly, the British lost - albeit slowly).

But Franco-Dutch in the 17th century seems the scariest (but also unlikely) - both had a navy and an army of worth (even if for the Dutch the navy was on par with Britain while the army was lesser - but probably better than the British, while for France the army was peerless but the navy was less than Britain's). Besides, they were usually most occupied staring at eachother in the Habsburg Netherlands, and being allied means they can do fun stuff like focus on invading England.

Of course the Dutch alone managed to win and promptly enlisted the English as allies rather than enemies, which I think this alliance would always suffer from. It's so ungodly more powerful than England, it would always win quick and install someone friendly on the English throne, rather than actually destroying the country to a serious extent.
 
Man don't revive an old thread, make a new one!
I disagree. I'd rather folks search for previous threads on whatever ATH comes to their mind and look for how to add to the previous thread. Otherwise you end up with a dozen Bismarck vs. Iowa type threads, all started by different folks but all discussing the same topics and usually the same points.

If you have to start a new thread, I recommend including a link to the old thread in the OP. This way people can review and reflect on the comments from the previous thread and endeavour to present new POVs as opposed to rehashing the old points over and over. I'm no MOD, just one man's opinion.
 
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