If you could change something about your countries history

[MetalDooley]

Well actually dude, my family is originally from Cork; and for some unknown reason we moved up North to live with the British.

However, you must know that Northern Ireland is made up of all the people who wished to stay apart of the British Empire. Also the majority of Northern Ireland?s problems are caused by the republican?s constant attempts to make Ireland unified with the south.

A rather simplified view don't you think.Maybe if Catholics and Republicans hadn't been treated like second class citizens for so long they would have no problem being part of the UK

Doesn't change my original point though.If the Plantation of Ulster had never happened then those problems wouldn't exist to begin with as the population would be almost entirely Irish,there wouldn't have been a demand to stay part of Britain and the 6 counties would never have been separated from the rest of the country

 

[applesandoranges]

edit

 

[theparsonski]

I'd eradicate our involvement with the slave trade. I know that it did bring in a huge amount of money and power, and that we weren't the only country doing it, but no amount of wealth or prosperity is worth that amount of sheer human misery and suffering.
It might have also made Liverpool less of a shithole that it is today. (No offense any Liverpudlians on here, but nothing on Earth will ever convince me that your city is a nice place, and I often go to Hull, so I'm experienced with shitholes)

Sorry. I watched Amazing Grace again the other day.

I don't know about that. Hitler used the Versailles Treaty as a rallying point, but the main reason for Hitler's rise to power was the Great Depression in 1930, which caused high employment. There's a 14 year margin between the Treaty of Versailles and Hitler being appointed as Chancellor in 1933. A time where people like President Hindenburg and such were in power.

Germany paid less because of the Versailles Treaty, then France after the Franco Prussian.

For my native country it would be the First World War. In one month at Verdun, it managed to kill 698,000 people. More men than the entirety of the American Civil War, to put it in proportion. An entire generation was destroyed. There was also no lesson learned."War is bad" was not learned, "misplaced nationalism" was not learned and " horrible weapons like mustard gas should not be used" was not learned.

The Treaty of Versailles was what caused such a massive increase in extremism in the first place. There were a ton of attempted uprisings in Germany in the years following the Treaty, you can't say that the Great Depression (which happened in 1929 by the way) was the most important reason for the Nazis rise to power, because there were a ton of contributing factors. And did you mean high uneployment?

 

[MetalDooley]

Well dude actually Ireland had been apart of the British empire since 1169, and if The Irish parliament had been given home rule, They still would be apart of the United kingdom. Although I do agree that the catholic population of Northern Ireland where treated really unfairly.

Highly doubtful as Home Rule was seen by many in Ireland as the first step on the road to full independence.The South would have pushed for full independence and the North would have fought to remain part of the UK.And we'd be in the exact same scenario as exists today

So my original point still stands

 

[7moreDead_v1legacy]

The English/Other invaders...

And er...

The industrial revolution raping our fair landscape for the greater good of the "British" Commonwealth - Leaving scarred landscapes, poor communities and creating a more or less 3rd world country...Wales would be one of the nicest places too live if we didn't have all these scummy relics...

...Another thing, if we were an independent nation from the outset, we'd possibly the wealthiest nation in the northsea!

.../rant

 

[Simonism451]

Well, I'm German.
Go figure...

On a lighter note though, adopt the GDR's hymn after the reunification. I know, I know: terrible regime that had to keep its own citizens inside its borders by threatening them with murder, but damn if they didn't have a good soundtrack while doing it

 

[Bvenged]

Hmm, I would have Wales, Scotland and Ireland sign up to England in a peaceful truce where they maintained their independence and royalties (Until James I), but shared military might, laws and economies as well.

That way, less bloodshed between those 3 would occur in the middle ages of 1100-1400CE and the UK would be even stronger at the time than it is today, due to less internal hostilities and mistrust.

Oh, and eradicate the crusades by disembarking medieval England from it - what a pathetic bunch of wars they were. Though I do have the uttermost respect for Richard I (King Richard The Lionheart).

He lead the third crusade to defeat just a few miles away from Jerusalem - though his Muslim counterpart and arch-nemesis, Saladin, is also an equally great man. After the crusade failed they negotiated a treaty that allowed Christians to pilgrimage to Jerusalem without conflict. That didn't last - because, you know, religion and such.