Imperial Struggle (Age of Kings)

The so-called "Imperial Struggle" refers to the decade of geopolitical tension and international competition between  and over economic dominance, military strength, and political influence over Europe and the world in the aftermath of. The two powers had fought on opposite sides of the war but were unable to effectively defeat the other, losing large numbers of men and incurring massive debts. As a result, both nations sought to weaken and upstage the other on the global stage.

However, there were also moments of cooperation between the two to ensure that World War I was the "War to End all Wars", often at the urging of the United States and Brazil, the dominant powers within the Americas. These moments of cooperation have caused some scholars to debate or encourage views that the Imperial Struggle was not the proto-Cold War that many have chosen to define it as. Britain and Germany, while willing to lend political and in some cases military support to nations or groups that might upset the agendas of their rival, were almost constant in their mutual desire to support each other against the threat of first international Communism and later the Fascism of Italy and France, leading to their reconciliation in the 1930s.

Origins of the Term
The term "Imperial Struggle" is believed to originate from a speech given by  in the aftermath of World War I. To several members of the British Parliament, Napoleon said that "The age of the common war, where the soldier and nation charge headlong to suicide, is over. Instead we shall see an era of imperial struggle, where no empire shall lay blows against each other but instead seek to undermine its rivals through pinprick conflicts and political competition."