Europe on the Brink: War with America
A 1993 docudrama imagining a 2013 war between Europe and America.
Europe on the Brink: War with America is a 1993 BBC docudrama that imagines a future conflict between the United States and a unified Europe in 2013. Presented by Francine Stock, it was the final programme in a three-part Assignment sequence titled Europe on the Brink.
Quick Facts
- Broadcast date
- 26 January 1993
- Series
- Assignment
- Sequence
- Europe on the Brink
- Director
- Marsh Marshall
- Writer
- Michael Blake
- Presenter
- Francine Stock
- Setting year
- 2013
Facts from the source article.
Background and premise
Produced amid the Revolutions of 1989, German reunification, the Soviet Union's dissolution, and Maastricht Treaty negotiations, the programme extrapolated debates on European integration and transatlantic relations. Set in 2013, it blends current-affairs documentary conventions with dramatised fictional events, presenting its imagined future as if reported by a television documentary. Exterior locations were altered using special effects.
Production
Marsh Marshall directed from a screenplay by Michael Blake. Francine Stock presented, with dramatised roles played by Kenneth Haigh as James Milner, Peter Cellier as Sir Brian Donleavy, and others including Wolf Kahler, Don Fellows, Akemi Otani, Alexandra Bastedo, David Graham, Terry Wale, and Andy Lucas. The programme aired on 26 January 1993, following Dying for Europe (12 January) and The Heavyweight Contender (19 January) in the Europe on the Brink sequence.
Plot
A global economic meltdown in 1996 pushed European nations into forming a monetary and economic union. Civil wars across the Commonwealth of Independent States sent waves of refugees, prompting a wall along Europe’s eastern border in 2000. Far-right and regionalist movements eroded national sovereignty, and by 2002 Europe had become a political union. A nuclear terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia led the US to deploy massive forces to the Persian Gulf, suffering 30,000 casualties; anger over Europe’s refusal to join the war caused the US to leave NATO. America grew more racially divided and politically paralyzed over its national debt. In 2008, a Hispanic president was elected and, during his inauguration, announced a North American Union uniting the US, Mexico, and Canada—except Quebec, which sided with Europe. China fractured into three zones: a rearmed Japan controlled northern China and parts of Siberia, while Taiwan and Hong Kong wielded influence over southern China through warlords. Escalating trade disputes between the EuroFederation and the North American Union, especially over Arctic oil fields, followed. The North American Union was linked to the assassination of the EuroFederation’s leader. After European forces moved into Quebec, the two blocs’ navies faced off in the North Atlantic. An ultimatum was delivered to the EuroFederation as it dealt with a constitutional crisis.
More in 1990s British Documentary Television Series
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