In my latest essay in @WarOnTheRocks, I look to the past for insight into the challenges the United States could face as it seeks to compete with China.

What history? The competition between France and Prussia from 1866 to 1870, obviously! https://twitter.com/WarOnTheRocks/status/1339918425108439041

Admittedly, this probably isn’t the episode that comes to most folks’ minds right away. Over the last few years, the discussion of great power competition has been informed (maybe even shaped) by the obvious analogy to the Cold War.

As a Cold War historian by training, I enjoy reading these debates. But I think we should be careful about leaning too heavily on a single metaphor, whether its Munich, Vietnam, or now the U.S.-Soviet contest.

Instead of searching for the perfect analogy, what if we think more about a broad range of imperfect comparisons? Broadening our analogical arsenal might reveal new patterns and help think through the range of possibilities.

Which brings us back to…the 1860s! The comparison between France then and the US now isn't exact, for reasons I note in the piece. But because it is less familiar, it might help us think anew about our circumstances and add to our list of challenges ahead https://twitter.com/WarOnTheRocks/status/1339918425108439041?s=20