How much do you know about your country's history?
- Thread starter TMAN10112
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Naughty as it is, it would be freakin cool to RULE THE WORLD!!! Mwuhahahaa etc...rossatdi said:
I'm pretty confident I can hold my own when talking about the United States' history. I'm a History major.
A super source of money would have been pretty useful too, maintaining an empire just got too expensive with the pace of technological change. I blame aeroplanes, protecting the land and the sea lanes is expensive enough, but once you have to protect the skies as well...rossatdi said:
I really enjoy history myself so I know a lot about the history of the British Isles, which is very interesting, not just the military part either.
Though I doubt most British people know a majority of it. Massive chunks of it are never taught in schools. Mainly I feel for political correctness reasons and because people don't like to be reminded of the dark parts of our history.
Though I doubt most British people know a majority of it. Massive chunks of it are never taught in schools. Mainly I feel for political correctness reasons and because people don't like to be reminded of the dark parts of our history.
Including the aforementioned War of 1812, and the American Revolutionary War, much of Canada's role before its formal existance in 1867 was primarily a battleground between the two strongest powers in the area. First the French and British colonized parts of North America, then wrestled over who owned what and where, then, once France gave up on fighting his stubborn English brother, America was born and caused a whole new headache with their "manifest destiny" crap, essentially trying to accomplish what the British Empire tried and failed at: taking over the world (evil laughter).
The Canadians and the Native Canadians just happened to be stuck in the middle. Like the youngest-born, given hand-me-downs and never given a chance at anything.
The Canadians and the Native Canadians just happened to be stuck in the middle. Like the youngest-born, given hand-me-downs and never given a chance at anything.
I know quite a bit about my countries history, which is Canada. I was self taught in school, mainly because the class lagged quite a bit and I'd rather just read the text on my own time. The teacher was cool, so the idea flew.
And in the end, I found it quite interesting. Our country has alot to be proud of. And enough to be ashamed of as well.
And in the end, I found it quite interesting. Our country has alot to be proud of. And enough to be ashamed of as well.
Why would you do such a thing? I only took my 2 credit Canadian History courses because they were required for a History degree.implodingMan said:
I know a little of English history, not a great deal though.
It's a little harder to learn it all though compared to say, the 200 years Americans have to learn. I guess there's a bit of difference between an English History degree and a US history degree.
It's a little harder to learn it all though compared to say, the 200 years Americans have to learn. I guess there's a bit of difference between an English History degree and a US history degree.
A general "Most of the important stuff, I guess" until John Cabot.
Canada doesn't have anything really important happen mostly in the 18th Century other than gaining autonomy.
Canada doesn't have anything really important happen mostly in the 18th Century other than gaining autonomy.
We've been passed around between the romans, the dutch, the french, the spanish and finally we become a country of our own ruled by king leopold I who didn't want us. Then we whiped out alot of congo for rubber and got rich. Now we are on the brink of splitting up and either forming 2 new countries or half us joining the Netherlands. Talking about Belgium ofcourse.
Ow yeah, we have alot of racists.
Ow yeah, we have alot of racists.
Aha, my apologies then. Must have mistaken the "original" settlers for Saxons for those that came before them; silly me.scumofsociety said:
And dam those Normans... invading a country for no real reason and subjugating it's citizens!
Oh the sweet imported irony...
I like that, it's a good summary, if brief on British history. But why do we Brits always put such a downer on it all (it was so much better then, now it's all terrible). Yes our history was cool (ethically questionable at times, but cool), and that is the reason we are a rich influential nation now. I'm not directing all this at you but lots seem to think like this. You say yobs (idiots or other generic term of abuse, for non British people), are abundant now. Look back real hard at the industrial revolution. the only difference then was that people like you were working alongside them for horrendous wages in poor conditions, and remembering how much better it was when you'd lived on a farm.Steven Kyzburg said:
And from that rambling, inconsistent and dubiously topical dialogue, I'll give you my conclusion. Britain (without sounding too arrogant) has massively influenced world history, and still is in many ways. We, or settlers originating from these isles, have had major effects on so many nations already mentioned here (good or bad), from America and Canada, to Australia, India and Hong Kong.
Here here my good man! Although I have one or two reas to pick at which I shall do so in my usual pedantic fashion...tomdavi said:
Firstly, we always put a downer on it because it's what we do best! No one can ridicule the British than ourselves, is a trade mark of our humour, even in the height of our power we used to make jokes about ourselves (admitedly from a position of smug superiority)
Yes our history was "cool" as you put it, like the Third Reich... only spread over several centuries... cool uniforms but terrible foregn relations when it came to dealing with our "subjects".
Most importantly, this made me laugh, I did not use "yobs" to describe the immigrants present here, I could certainy embark on that topic but i'd rather not. When I speak of yobs I speak of my own degenerate generation! Home grown! The chav for those of you who are British, those people will be the death of everyone including themselves given their affinity for sharp pointy objects...
Aside from that I agree with you certainly, Not-So-Great Britain with it's glourious past and not so glourious future generation once ruled the waves and a quarter of the globe!
Now our empire consists of B.T, the manufacture of life boats and a small carpark.
I know very little of Chinese or English history. But it really scares me when most of the people I talk to knows much less than I do.
Also I think of history not as "history" but more as propaganda. I often read about the same event in history in a English book and a Chinese book, and get a completely different idea of what happened.
The opium wars (1840) for example, a popular subject in Chinese textbooks to stir up nationalist sentiments; but hardly mentioned in English histories, at most as a minor event in the history of the British Empire, an event no one has ever heard of.
The Korean war (1950) is another example, American books say it's a UN peace keeping mission, Chinese books say it's a war of western powers interferring in other nations' internal affairs, preventing the uniting of Korea, and threatening the security of China.
And these are just the non-controversial stuff, for the real hot stuff like Sino-Japanese wars (1931, '37 - '45), or Iraq war (2003), or the history of the British in the middle East, are just full of lies from whichever side you read it.
Don't take history books too seriously, it's good entertainment, but don't take it as something that really happened in the past.
Also I think of history not as "history" but more as propaganda. I often read about the same event in history in a English book and a Chinese book, and get a completely different idea of what happened.
The opium wars (1840) for example, a popular subject in Chinese textbooks to stir up nationalist sentiments; but hardly mentioned in English histories, at most as a minor event in the history of the British Empire, an event no one has ever heard of.
The Korean war (1950) is another example, American books say it's a UN peace keeping mission, Chinese books say it's a war of western powers interferring in other nations' internal affairs, preventing the uniting of Korea, and threatening the security of China.
And these are just the non-controversial stuff, for the real hot stuff like Sino-Japanese wars (1931, '37 - '45), or Iraq war (2003), or the history of the British in the middle East, are just full of lies from whichever side you read it.
Don't take history books too seriously, it's good entertainment, but don't take it as something that really happened in the past.