Possibly apocraphal story about Enola Gay display

I'm still bewildered at how many USian adults don't know that the US
tried to invade Canada during the Revolutionary War, and lost, and tried
to invade Canada again during the the War of 1812 and lost,


What is the significance of that? Canada was not an independent nation at
those times, it was part of the British empire and the US was at war with
Britain.

Steven P. McNicoll wrote:

What is the significance of that? Canada was not an independent nation at
those times, it was part of the British empire and the US was at war with
Britain.

Right and wrong: the war was against Britain, not Canada, but Britain and
the U.S. were *not* in a continual state of war from 1776 to 1815. The
Paris Peace Treaty ended the American Revolution in 1783, and Congress
declared war against Britain again 29 years later to start the War of 1812
(I think that's where the terms "hawks" and "doves" originated, describing
the pro- and anti-war factions in Congress leading up to the declaration).
The two wars get quite muddled in U.S. pop history, but they were futher
apart than World War I and World War II: the young lieutenants on both sides
in the American Revolution were the old, grey-haired generals of the War of
1812.

The Treaty of Ghent ended the second war in 1815, so as far as I remember,
there have been only two relatively short periods in history that Britain
and the U.S. were actually at war:

1776-1783
1812-1815

(Apologies if I missed something in-between -- this is all from memory.)

We suffer from just as much propaganda about the War of 1812 here in Canada
as you do in the U.S. I wouldn't suggest turning to the schoolbooks of
either Canada or the U.S. for an honest evaluation.


All the best,


David

"David Megginson" wrote in message
news

Right and wrong: the war was against Britain, not Canada,


Canada was British at that time.

"Paul Tomblin" wrote in message
...
In a previous article, David Megginson said:
Paul Tomblin wrote:
I'm still bewildered at how many USian adults don't know that the US
tried to invade Canada during the Revolutionary War, and lost, and
tried
to invade Canada again during the the War of 1812 and lost, or that
And Canadian kids don't learn about the Battle of New Orleans at the end
of
the War of 1812 and other campaigns late in the war when smaller American

Yeah, we learn about the Battle of New Orleans. We learn that the US
finally managed to win a battle AFTER THE WAR HAD ENDED! :-)

Or in other words; Leave it to the British to lose the most major battle of
the war after the war ended. :~)

"Orval Fairbairn" wrote in message
news

Slight mistake here -- the White House is limestone, not marble.

Limestone? Then why isn't it green?

In article , "Ash Wyllie"
wrote:

Paul Tomblin opined

In a previous article, "Bill Denton" said:
The problem is, that's the same sort of revisionism being taught to American
school children.

I'm still bewildered at how many USian adults don't know that the US
tried to invade Canada during the Revolutionary War, and lost, and tried
to invade Canada again during the the War of 1812 and lost, or that
during the Wo1812, British and Canadian troops actually burned the White
House, and that's why it's white - to hide the smoke stains on the marble.

Could you guys come back and finish the job? And get the Capital building this
time too.


That's what the hijackers on UA 93 were trying to do!

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
hlink.net...


I'm still bewildered at how many USian adults don't know that the US
tried to invade Canada during the Revolutionary War, and lost, and
tried
to invade Canada again during the the War of 1812 and lost,


What is the significance of that? Canada was not an independent nation at
those times,

Is it even completely independant today? I notice stuff I have from Canada
(maps, etc) have some gibbersih about "Her Majesty the Queen"...

it was part of the British empire and the US was at war with
Britain.

Quite. That's called "attacking the enemies rear".

"David Megginson" wrote in message
news
Steven P. McNicoll wrote:

What is the significance of that? Canada was not an independent nation
at
those times, it was part of the British empire and the US was at war
with
Britain.

Right and wrong: the war was against Britain, not Canada,

And what was the status of Canada, regarding Britain, in 1774-1781 and
1812-1815?

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news3Ntc.6254$4A6.731@attbi_s52...
Amazing, if true, although it isn't the first time I've heard of the
Japanese style of blindered teaching of this period of their history.

I don't necessarily blame the Japanese for glossing over their own sordid
history. They have to shave every morning, too.

I think the psychologists call that "evasion".


My only worry is that *their* warped perception somehow becomes *our*
view,
rather than the other way around. If we ever allow this to happen, and
we -- for instance -- "tone down" the Enola Gay display, we dishonor our
veterans and lose the moral high ground.

It's worse to evade what you did well and proper than to try to forget.put
past you, what you did wrong. I'd imagine a rather bad psychosis could
develop, but imagine that psychosis on a national scale.

"G Farris" wrote in message
...
I agree that Germany has done an excellent job of what must be a very
painful
exercise - ploughing through modern history to try to pull the lessons out
of
what would be so much easier to simply try to forget!

Something has amazed me in traveling in Germany - Turn on your hotel TV
at
night, and you're very likely to fall upon an episode of Hogan's Heros!
The
series seems to be popular there. I'm not sure what that really tells us,
but
it could be that they have come to terms with their own past to such an
extent
that they can share the ridicule their former adversaries made of them.

Germany is an example to the rest of us in how they have dealt with an
extremely painful (and recent) past.

It's been thirty years since I was there; do they show "Sophie's Choice" or
"Schindler's List"?