There to be

Hi,

'there' in this case is used as what is called an 'expletive', it is basically a placeholder for a noun that goes with a verb (in this case, an infinitive 'to be'). When you look at sentences like:

'It is time to go',

'It is true that I cry after watching that movie',

and 'It is a shame that I didn't see her last night',

'it' is also an expletive, because there's no obvious subject to go with the verb 'is'. Instead, you substitute it with 'it' as a placeholder.

Looking at other examples using 'there':

'There is a man behind the wall',

'There was a fly in my soup',

and 'There is no way that will happen',

There doesn't refer to a location, but is just a placeholder for the verb 'is', as every verb needs a subject to refer back to.

If you said 'Germany is too big for to be an easy balance-of-power in Europe, but too small to dominate the continent', there would be no subject that refers back to 'to be' in the new clause. So we substitute 'there' in this case as an expletive.

Hopefully my answer made sense, I haven't talked about expletives in a while. 

Thanks,

Shane