In Britain's Europe: A thousand years of conflict and cooperation, Cambridge historian Brendan Simms argues that the relationship between island and continent is central to British identity. British diplomacy, in turn, has focused on maintaining security amid shifts in the balance of power. As the scriptwriters of Yes Minister observed in a 1980 episode:

Sir Humphrey Appleby: Minister, Britain has had the same foreign policy objective for at least the last 500 years: to create a disunited Europe. In that cause we have fought with the Dutch against the Spanish, with the Germans against the French, with the French and Italians against the Germans, and with the French against the Germans and Italians. Divide and rule, you see. Why should we change now, when it's worked so well?

As his title promises, Simms traces these changing alliances with skill. His Britain begins in Cnut's North Sea empire of the early eleventh century, and remains European in focus through to the pan-European economic and security treaties of modern times. The stance is avowedly contrarian: Simms does not accept the conventional narrative of a sceptred isle, unique and separate, but sees Britain's destiny as 'mainly determined by relations with the rest of Europe'. For Simms, Britain emerged from shared European values and institutions in Christendom, and for centuries was tied by conquest and empire to the continent. Although Britain developed an independent set of institutions, key moments such as the Act of Union in 1707 were responses to developments in Europe. Tumult such as the French Revolution and Napoleonic expansion required Britain to articulate a foreign policy vision and invest vast resources to re-establish a balance of power. The age of empire and the cataclysmic wars of the twentieth century continued this pattern, with British interests tied closely to continental developments. 'Europe needs Britain to be part of it,' said Prime Minister Tony Blair in a 1997 speech. 'For four centuries our destiny has been to help shape Europe.'

Yet as the Brexit vote suggests, the idea of Europe presses hard against aspirations for local autonomy. Europe is hinterland and threat, important ally and potential sinkhole. In a period of Soviet threat, close military links helped underpin economic union, though never a surrender of the pound to the Euro. Now the interests of unity give way to older concerns about identity and sovereignty.

Former British Prime Minister David Cameron annouced his resignation following the 'Brexit' referendum results (Wikimedia Commons, photograph by Tom Evans)

Simms published Britain's Europe before the Brexit vote, but his final chapter anticipates the issues. He opens with Winston Churchill in 1946 calling for a United States of Europe, and moves quickly to contemporary crises: threats from Putin's Russia; austerity amid economic stagnation; a return to authoritarian regimes; and secessionist campaigns against the logic of nation states. 'All of these challenges,' argues Simms, 'pose a mortal threat to the European Union and some of its member states.'

For Simms, however, the threat to Britain is domestic rather than existential. The Scottish referendum made stark the fragility of unity. The subsequent leave campaign could play on dissatisfaction with the cost of European membership and the burden of regulation. It was fuelled by the growth of 'Britain first' political movements and the (ultimately career-fatal) decision by David Cameron to quell Conservative critics by agreeing to a referendum.

Ahead of the vote, Simms offered a different way forward: a 'more British Europe'. The European project struggles. It is a currency without a state, a political alliance lacking shared military force, a continent without a common mission. Europe cannot control its borders despite collective commitments, nor deal effectively with Russian territorial ambitions. Europe remains a collection of parliaments rather than a united political entity. So it is time, suggests Simms, to think again about the meaning of 'union.'

His proposal is full European federation – a continental set of governing institutions called into being by a 'single collective act of will'. Local legislatures should be replaced by a two-chamber European Parliament (a House of Citizens and a Senate) with a directly elected president. There would be one army, one foreign policy, a single currency and – remarkably – 'the language of government would be English'.

One country is conspicuously absent from this arrangement. Simms reconstructs Europe to look like (and speak like) an Anglo-American state, but leaves Britain outside this new European Union. The British people, he acknowledges, would never vote to join such a Europe.

It is a provocative, if improbable, polemic, timely when published but already overtaken by events. Brexit saw Britain forfeit influence on European affairs. The United Kingdom will now be preoccupied by the domestic consequences for the British state, and by the ugly politics that may follow.

Britain's Europe: A thousand years of conflict and cooperation offers engaged scholarship, an invitation to think differently about familiar history. It is well crafted, lively, and enjoyably argumentative. The text anticipates objections and answers them. There are fulsome notes, but alas no bibliography or index to encourage further reading.

Protestors march at the 'Move for Europe' demonstration in London prior to the announcement of the 'Brexit' referendum results (Wikimedia Commons)

The day after the referendum, a stunned silence settled on much of Britain. The university towns all voted to remain by very large margins, and now contemplated what would follow. They were suddenly in the minority, isolated electorally and in sentiment from the surrounding countryside.

Others celebrated. A small and apparently drunk group of young Englishmen staggered down Trumpington Street in Cambridge in the warm summer twilight, mocking the academics and students who voted to stay. 'How do you feel?' jeered the men. 'We're in charge now.'

With such taunts, Britain' s complex thousand-year relationship with Europe comes close to home.