欧洲本可以拥有一支单一军队，但欧盟的27个成员国仍保留着27支由国家指挥的部队并重复建设，尽管1952年的条约曾设想在单一指挥之下合并武装力量。1954年法国议会却退缩，既担心战后德国影响，也担心新军队不愿镇压殖民地，从而把欧洲锁定在对美国保护的长期依赖之中。

在大约一个世纪前的巅峰时期，法国、英国、葡萄牙、荷兰等帝国统治了欧洲之外约三分之一的全球人口，而其残余仍在塑造战略与身份。例子包括丹麦与格陵兰的争端（被说成500年但更接近1,000年），以及英国在2016年脱欧时兜售与英联邦贸易的愿景，同时法国也因其太平洋属地而希望在整个印太投射影响力。

帝国还通过语言与商业渠道影响移民，促进了例如阿尔及利亚人流向法国、安哥拉人流向葡萄牙、巴基斯坦人流向英国等流动，而当劳动力需求上升时西班牙也吸纳了讲西班牙语的委内瑞拉人。其遗产撕裂政治：马克龙在2017年称殖民是“反人类罪”，一些前殖民国家曾道歉或仅表达“遗憾”，而前帝国与“无帝国者”之间的紧张仍在；欧洲也警告在强权即公理的时代回归之际，它可能沦为美国的“数字殖民地”。

Europe could field a single army, but the European Union’s 27 members keep 27 nationally commanded forces that duplicate capabilities, despite a 1952 treaty envisioning merged armed forces under one command. France’s parliament balked in 1954, fearing post-war German influence and reduced willingness to police colonies, helping lock Europe into long-term reliance on U.S. protection.

At their peak about a century ago, the empires of France, Britain, Portugal, the Netherlands and others governed roughly one-third of the world’s population outside Europe, and remnants still shape strategy and identity. Examples include Denmark’s Greenland dispute (a claim framed as 500 years but closer to 1,000) and Britain’s 2016 Brexit pitch to trade with the Commonwealth, alongside France’s desire—via Pacific holdings—to project across the Indo-Pacific.

Empire also channels migration through language and commerce, aiding flows such as Algerians to France, Angolans to Portugal and Pakistanis to Britain, while Spain recruited Spanish-speaking Venezuelans when labor demand rose. The legacy polarizes politics: Macron called colonisation a “crime against humanity” in 2017, some former colonialists have issued apologies or only “regret,” and tensions persist between ex-empires and “had-nots” as Europe warns that a revived might-makes-right era could leave it a “digital colony” of America.

Source: How its long-lost empires still shape Europe

Subtitle: The colonial era is gone but not forgotte

Dateline: 1月 29, 2026 07:44 上午