Non-Americans:

[Guiscard]

Hitler NEVER wanted to invade Britain....

"english blood is too precious to drop" - Adolph Htler

He had always invisaged that we would 'come to our senses' and form a coalition with him, as written in his memoirs, he thought that germany and their anglo-saxon brothers would then go on to rule europe.

Now what do I know, after all
1) I'm not British ........ and
2) I wasn't there ......... but

I would guess those who survived the relentless bombing of London by the Germans would say different. He apparently thought those Londoners' blood wasn't too precious.
Just a thought.

Wow, Iz, I actually agree wholeheartedly.

Norse has an even greater lack of any meaningful or realistic knowledge than you, mate!

[muy_thaiguy]

You ass-biscuit.

I wish you idiots would learn a little bit about history before spouting off your opinions.

Hitler NEVER wanted to invade Britain....

"english blood is too precious to drop" - Adolph Htler

He had always invisaged that we would 'come to our senses' and form a coalition with him, as written in his memoirs, he thought that germany and their anglo-saxon brothers would then go on to rule europe.

But, then again, if you are reading out of the history book that your state wishes you to, I cannot blame you for your ignorance.

I just hate it when people get their facts wrong.

thats sounds so great, did u really think hitler would have been satisfied with just taking all mainland europe and leaving lil ol britain alone? he would have controlled half of europe alone and would have taken russia too, then he could just sit back, mass up power and soon, britain/spain/swiss/italy would have been assimilated into the german empire either through commerce or force, either way, its too much of a naive attitude to think hitler would have left britain alone once he conquered europe.

Hitler could not invade Britain. He tried, and failed. He needed air supremacy to cross the channel, but the RAF beat the full force of the Luftwaffe.

The only real advantage the RAF actually had in the Battle of Britain (other then radar) was that the Luftwafte had to cross the channel, and could only fight for a few minutes before they had to turn back. I'm not saying the RAF was crap or anything like that, just that the planes themselves were not on the same level as the Luftwafte planes.

[lduke1990]

hmmm what do I know about American History...

1. George Washington was the first American President (13 Colonies idk the date)
2. He had wooden teeth
3. He cannot tell a lie, he chopped down that cherry tree
4. The painting of him crossing the Delaware is fake, if he had stood up in one of those boats, it would have capsized, LOL
5. The Civil war was a farce, the north won cuz slavery was becoming a PR nightmare
6. Lincoln was shot at the theatre by some guy named John Wilkes(sp) Boothe
7. You lost the war of 1812, deal with it
8. We burnt the white house to the ground in december of 1814
9. Detroit got owned by Indians
10. Alaska was bought fairly, the panhandle was in effect stolen.
11. most of your presidents can't stay on the straight and narrow
12. Pearl Harbour got owned by a japanese barber
13. you have states.
14. most american children are more wordly than their parent's generation
15. you can get a free gun if you open a bank account in some state or another
16. you and your crazy fast food companies are killing shot-loads of people
17. you haven't won a war lately.
18. Bush sucks

and that is about it.

[FlyinHi]

I've done some travelling around in my day. Seen some really great places, met some really great people. But something always brings me back to the US, and my state especially.

The world's problem is pride. Everyone is born with it, whether its a shithole or a world power. You will defend your home to the death, and try to bring down other's. The sooner we realize this the better off we'll all be.

PS -- All great empires rise and fall. Just like we all are born and die. Rome anyone?

[FlyinHi]

And on another note, somewhat related based on how you look at it. But you English, Germans, or World History experts can help me out on this one.

I heard awhile back in one of my classes that during either WWI or WWII there was a stiff battle going on. I think between the English and Germans, hence directing the question towards them. That was stopped on Christmas day, and the soldiers played a match of soccer. Then returned to their trenches and resumed fighting the next day.

Any truth in this one?

[muy_thaiguy]

hmmm what do I know about American History...

1. George Washington was the first American President (13 Colonies idk the date)
2. He had wooden teeth
3. He cannot tell a lie, he chopped down that cherry tree
4. The painting of him crossing the Delaware is fake, if he had stood up in one of those boats, it would have capsized, LOL
5. The Civil war was a farce, the north won cuz slavery was becoming a PR nightmare
6. Lincoln was shot at the theatre by some guy named John Wilkes(sp) Boothe
7. You lost the war of 1812, deal with it
8. We burnt the white house to the ground in december of 1814
9. Detroit got owned by Indians
10. Alaska was bought fairly, the panhandle was in effect stolen.
11. most of your presidents can't stay on the straight and narrow
12. Pearl Harbour got owned by a japanese barber
13. you have states.
14. most american children are more wordly than their parent's generation
15. you can get a free gun if you open a bank account in some state or another
16. you and your crazy fast food companies are killing shot-loads of people
17. you haven't won a war lately.
18. Bush sucks

and that is about it.

Mis-conceptions abound!
1. Is true
2. true
3. a myth
4. true.
5. How in the blue hell was it a farce?
6. true
7. We actually won. I don't consider losing all of your commanding officers in a single battle a victory.
8. We rebuilt it
9. Who cares?
10. Okay.
11. much of the same can be said of many leaders of many countries.
12. A barber!? Where did you here that one?
13. 50 of them
14. depends on which children they are.
15. stereotype
16. cars are killing shot loads of people
17.No comment.

[Titanic]

You lost the war of 1812. You set out to conquer British North America, whilst Britains aims were to hold onto British North America. The war ended with Britain holding onto all of the British North America they held before the war. It dusn really take a genius to work out who failed in their war objectives, and who succeeded in theirs.

[Arbustos]

1. George Washington was the first American President (13 Colonies idk the date)

WRONG! George Washington was the first president of the U.S. under the Constitution. There were seven presidents before him under the Articles of Confederation -- including our real first, John Hanson.

Read: http://www.marshallhall.org/hanson.html

[nagerous]

Hitler NEVER wanted to invade Britain....

"english blood is too precious to drop" - Adolph Htler

He had always invisaged that we would 'come to our senses' and form a coalition with him, as written in his memoirs, he thought that germany and their anglo-saxon brothers would then go on to rule europe.

Now what do I know, after all
1) I'm not British ........ and
2) I wasn't there ......... but

I would guess those who survived the relentless bombing of London by the Germans would say different. He apparently thought those Londoners' blood wasn't too precious.
Just a thought.

Wow, Iz, I actually agree wholeheartedly.

Norse has an even greater lack of any meaningful or realistic knowledge than you, mate!

Hitler offered Churchill a peace treaty and when Churchill out and out rejected he had to bomb Britain to weaken them because they became a danger to him. This was against his wishes as he would have preferred to carve an empire in Russia where there were "inferior slavs" and plenty of "lebensraum." Of course Hitler was a psychopathic nutter whos speaches were laced with contradictions.

[vtmarik]

Actually, didn't we burn the White House in the war of 1812 to prevent the British from claiming it?

[Arbustos]

Actually, didn't we burn the White House in the war of 1812 to prevent the British from claiming it?

I don't think so. Wasn't it burned in retaliation of our burning of some Parliament buildings in Toronto?

[jako]

hmmm what do I know about American History...

1. George Washington was the first American President (13 Colonies idk the date)
2. He had wooden teeth
3. He cannot tell a lie, he chopped down that cherry tree
4. The painting of him crossing the Delaware is fake, if he had stood up in one of those boats, it would have capsized, LOL
5. The Civil war was a farce, the north won cuz slavery was becoming a PR nightmare
6. Lincoln was shot at the theatre by some guy named John Wilkes(sp) Boothe
7. You lost the war of 1812, deal with it
8. We burnt the white house to the ground in december of 1814
9. Detroit got owned by Indians
10. Alaska was bought fairly, the panhandle was in effect stolen.
11. most of your presidents can't stay on the straight and narrow
12. Pearl Harbour got owned by a japanese barber
13. you have states.
14. most american children are more wordly than their parent's generation
15. you can get a free gun if you open a bank account in some state or another
16. you and your crazy fast food companies are killing shot-loads of people
17. you haven't won a war lately.
18. Bush sucks

and that is about it.

Mis-conceptions abound!
1. Is true
2. true
3. a myth
4. true.
5. How in the blue hell was it a farce?
6. true
7. We actually won. I don't consider losing all of your commanding officers in a single battle a victory.
8. We rebuilt it
9. Who cares?
10. Okay.
11. much of the same can be said of many leaders of many countries.
12. A barber!? Where did you here that one?
13. 50 of them
14. depends on which children they are.
15. stereotype
16. cars are killing shot loads of people
17.No comment.

u lost in 1812, u tried several times to capture what is now canada but failed miserably, adn doesnt the US have 51 states?

[Arbustos]

hmmm what do I know about American History...

1. George Washington was the first American President (13 Colonies idk the date)
2. He had wooden teeth
3. He cannot tell a lie, he chopped down that cherry tree
4. The painting of him crossing the Delaware is fake, if he had stood up in one of those boats, it would have capsized, LOL
5. The Civil war was a farce, the north won cuz slavery was becoming a PR nightmare
6. Lincoln was shot at the theatre by some guy named John Wilkes(sp) Boothe
7. You lost the war of 1812, deal with it
8. We burnt the white house to the ground in december of 1814
9. Detroit got owned by Indians
10. Alaska was bought fairly, the panhandle was in effect stolen.
11. most of your presidents can't stay on the straight and narrow
12. Pearl Harbour got owned by a japanese barber
13. you have states.
14. most american children are more wordly than their parent's generation
15. you can get a free gun if you open a bank account in some state or another
16. you and your crazy fast food companies are killing shot-loads of people
17. you haven't won a war lately.
18. Bush sucks

and that is about it.

Mis-conceptions abound!
1. Is true
2. true
3. a myth
4. true.
5. How in the blue hell was it a farce?
6. true
7. We actually won. I don't consider losing all of your commanding officers in a single battle a victory.
8. We rebuilt it
9. Who cares?
10. Okay.
11. much of the same can be said of many leaders of many countries.
12. A barber!? Where did you here that one?
13. 50 of them
14. depends on which children they are.
15. stereotype
16. cars are killing shot loads of people
17.No comment.

u lost in 1812, u tried several times to capture what is now canada but failed miserably, adn doesnt the US have 51 states?

No, it doesn't.

[Karl the Master]

[quote="Titanic"] America set out to conquer British North America,

Wrong! America declared war because of outrage at british restraints on neutral trade, anger at british support for american indians defending their land and anger at the british navy for capturing american sailors and forcing them to serve in the british navy.

some members of the house of representatives wanted territorial expansion ie to drive the brits out of north america and the spanish out of florida. but they were in the minority the majority just wanted to end what i've stated above.

they achieved that in 1813 in the naval battle of lake erie where britain's entire squadron was captured and the british were driven from detroit. the following battle of the thames was another us victory in which the native american leader tecumseh was killed, effectively ending the alliance between britain and the natives. That secured a major war goal for the americans and the british seizure of american sailors ended soon after this.

lets not forget that britain wasn't even fighting all of the U.S. new england staunchly opposed the war and refused to provide militia or resources to the american war effort. you could say that the americans fought this war with one arm behind there backs. many people in america at the time viewed the war as a 2nd war of independence.

[quote=''Titanic'']whilst Britains aims were to hold onto British North America.

this may have been true at the start of the war but when napoleon was defeated in 1814, britain decided that they wanted to invade and conquer america this of course was a complete failure, comprehensive defeats in the battles of baltimore, plattsburgh and new orleans, all battles in which the british outnumbered the americans by at least two to one, ensured that there would be no succesful invasion by the brits.

Another result of the war was the us gained fishing rights to the gulf of lawrence and britain had to pay for captured slaves whereas before they took them for free.

so titanic, you said it doesn't take a genius to see who succeeded in accomplishing their objectives, your right, it doesn't, its pretty clear that the americans came out of the war much better then when they came in and that the british came out of the war not worse off but certainly not better.

it also doesn't take a genius to see i have proved you wrong and that you no nothing about history.

[Stopper]

This could have gone in a number of the other threads, but why, when talking about what countries have done 150, or even 50, years in the past, do some people always use "we" and "our", and "you" and "yours"?

Like, for instance, to pick someone at random,

u lost in 1812, u tried several times to capture what is now canada but failed miserably, adn doesnt the US have 51 states?

muy_thaiguy probably wasn't born in 1812, and therefore had no influence or involvement in these events, so why accuse him of "failing miserably"?

[duday53]

I wuold think that canadians know more american history than an american knows canadian...but some people obviously do.

Also our history is usually intertwined with americans trying to take over parts of canada(1812-1814)and stuff like that.

But i know more about past presidents of the U.S. than past prime ministers of canada.

I just thought that maybe someone wanted to make a thread like this for their country and test americans to see how much they know.

[Jenos Ridan]

I'm curious about how much the average non-American (on CC) knows about American history.

I'm begging you not to ask the same thing of Americans. I think Jay Leno has already exposed how weak knowledge of our own history is.

Please speaketh only for those who hath not understanding (Having fun with Olde English, correct me if I'm in error).

[Titanic]

Wrong! America declared war because of outrage at british restraints on neutral trade, anger at british support for american indians defending their land and anger at the british navy for capturing american sailors and forcing them to serve in the british navy.

But then why was the majority of the American war effort and resources used to attempt to invade British North America? If it was about the Indian you would have massacred them like you did to millions of other of American Indians. If it was about the sailors being captures in the Atlantic, you would have faught our navy in the Atlantic. None of the reasons above would justify why America invaded British North America because if you succeeded in the invasion, all of the things above would have continued to happen nevertheless.

they achieved that in 1813 in the naval battle of lake erie where britain's entire squadron was captured and the british were driven from detroit. the following battle of the thames was another us victory in which the native american leader tecumseh was killed, effectively ending the alliance between britain and the natives. That secured a major war goal for the americans and the british seizure of american sailors ended soon after this.

I dunno about the navy battles in the great lakes, but in the open ocean and on the east coast, the Royal Navy was still in charge, no doubt about that.

lets not forget that britain wasn't even fighting all of the U.S. new england staunchly opposed the war and refused to provide militia or resources to the american war effort. you could say that the americans fought this war with one arm behind there backs. many people in america at the time viewed the war as a 2nd war of independence.

1 state refused to fight? So what. You still had 12/13 of your states, unless you had even more states by 1812. Britain was using all its best generals, soldiers and equipment in fighting Napolean and the Peninsular Wars, which involved tougher opposition and more resources. The War of 1812 was just a puppet war compared to them. I never heard of War of 1812 until about a year ago, which shows how important it is in world history.

this may have been true at the start of the war but when napoleon was defeated in 1814, britain decided that they wanted to invade and conquer america

That is false. Britain wanted to defeat USA, which they did. All Britain had to do to win was hold on, and not let USA gain land. By attacking in certain places they distracted the resources and plans of the American army. Btw, New Orleans, that was after the war ended.

its pretty clear that the americans came out of the war much better then when they came in and that the british came out of the war not worse off but certainly not better.

The British came out indifferent, because they had already won the war which mattered (Napolean) and they managed to hold their line in this war so it was a win-win situation.

[MeDeFe]

Let's see... Christofer Columbus, a famous viking, discovered India in 1492 when he accidentally arrived in America and brought many great gifts to the Maharadjas, like glass pearls and syphilis. He went back soon after and the place was practically forgotten about until Spain, Portugal, France and England went there in a joint effort and founded several countries, the US and A being one of them. After that it was pretty much the usual stuff, some wars, a few massacres every now and then until the Martians arrived in their three-legged war-machines and nearly overran the continent before they caught a cold and had to go back home and get to bed. Then there was a scandal about President Ryan shaving his privates and a constitution was drafted that stated that there shouldn't be any more kinky stuff like that. At least not where the press can see it.

Yeah, that should cover it.

[Carebian Knight]

"But wait there are others still. Without a doubt, a key player in the cause of World War 2 was the powerful Adolf Hitler .But the major source of Hitler's power came from a chemical cartel called I.G. Farben, (the name is an abbreviation of the complete name: Interssen Gemeinschaft Farben.) The importance of I.G. Farben's support for the Socialist movement was pointed out in a book about the cartel, in which it is stated: "without I.G.'s immense production facilities, its far reaching research, varied technical experience and overall concentration of economic power, Germany would not have been in a position to start its aggressive war in September, 1939. But I.G. Farben had a little-known source of its enormous economic power: Wall Street, U.S.A. "Without the capital supplied by Wall Street, there would have been no I.G. Farben in the first place, and almost certainly no Adolf Hitler and World War II."

Hitler was quite dumb. I remember a book I once read which said that a few years before the outbreak of WWII, but when it was obvious a war was coming, some major German businessmen met Hitler and told him not to go to war, but to concentrate on the economy because they would become the largest power in Europe easily by economic strength. If Hitler followed their advice, and waited a few more years for the war, he would have overrun Europe easier, and probably taken Britain as well, and could have won at Moscow and Stalingrad possibly.

To the people who have the "USA did it all" attitude, where were you for the first 3 fckin years, the RAF beat the Luftwaffe without any help from USA, the Russians pretty much single-handedly beat the Germans, the British Empire and USA and China and many other nations fought in the Pacific, we never fought Stalin in WWII, Eisenhower was just head of command for d-day he never planned the whole thing, and Canada did the best work on d-day they actually had to wait for Britain and USA because they advanced so far inland so quickly.

Just cause the Canadians went the farthest inland doesn't mean they did the best fighting, maybe they just had the least amount of defenses to go through. Or did you forget the fact that on Omaha the Americans had to fight a fully experienced Division while the other beaches were fighting Divisions made up of old men and other people seen unfit to be in a real division.

[Carebian Knight]

1 state refused to fight? So what. You still had 12/13 of your states, unless you had even more states by 1812.

Well obviously you don't know much about American Geography either. New England isn't a state, it's the entire NorthEastern Region of the US. That's around 5 states not 1.

[CrazyAnglican]

Let's see... Christofer Columbus, a famous viking, discovered India in 1492 when he accidentally arrived in America and brought many great gifts to the Maharadjas, like glass pearls and syphilis. He went back soon after and the place was practically forgotten about until Spain, Portugal, France and England went there in a joint effort and founded several countries, the US and A being one of them. After that it was pretty much the usual stuff, some wars, a few massacres every now and then until the Martians arrived in their three-legged war-machines and nearly overran the continent before they caught a cold and had to go back home and get to bed. Then there was a scandal about President Ryan shaving his privates and a constitution was drafted that stated that there shouldn't be any more kinky stuff like that. At least not where the press can see it.

Yeah, that should cover it.

lol
Martians! We've been invaded by Martians?

btw you forgot the German connection. Martin Luther King Jr., the great grandson of Martin Luther, nailing the civil rights ammendment to the front door of Congress. Which forced John F. Kennedy to enlist Marilyn Monroe in the Segregation Reformation that utterly crippled the Ku Klux Klan in the Bible belt.

[Titanic]

Just cause the Canadians went the farthest inland doesn't mean they did the best fighting, maybe they just had the least amount of defenses to go through. Or did you forget the fact that on Omaha the Americans had to fight a fully experienced Division while the other beaches were fighting Divisions made up of old men and other people seen unfit to be in a real division.

Yer, thats right. USA fought fully trained divisions on D-Day, whilst every else fought the reject divisions. Btw, get your arses of Omaha, you didn even lose that many soldiers.

Well obviously you don't know much about American Geography either. New England isn't a state, it's the entire NorthEastern Region of the US. That's around 5 states not 1.

Well I just checked it, there were 18 states in USA by 1812. So that still 13 states fighting against what can hardly be called an army. The British were concentrating on fight Napolean as they had been doing for years, and the best commanders, equipment, troops and resources were all on the continent fighting, whilst in Canada there was probably just a supply of stuff. I mean, if 13 states cant even gain land, never mind winning the war with those kinds of odds, it kinda shows how weak and overoptimistic you were.

[lduke1990]

as to the japanese barber, the japs couldn't get their planes over there an back for surveillance, so they called up some barber who could see the harbour and asked him if he could see the ships, when he said yes, they hung up and launched the attack