g1ant

Shit.... when did that happen????

hungryhorace

That statement is not 100% accurate, as you are full well aware. John Bull is _sometimes_ cited as the author of God Save The (King|Queen), he is _not_ universally, nor widely, acknowledged as the author.

hungryhorace

FWIW, I would probably agree with you.

At the (public) school I attended, America was only mention with regards to WW2. There was no interest in teaching American history. America, on the other hand, (at least here on the east coast) appears far more engaged in teaching the history of Britain given our countries involvement in the creation of the United States and the 13 colonies prior to it.

Michael

When I was in high school, other than the revolutionary war, war of 1812, and the civil war and only briefly, world history was primarily taught with mostly about Britain and France.

rpjs

That's because the War of 1812 was something of a sideshow compared to the main event which was putting Boney and the French back into their box. The local British and colonial Canadian forces did a good job of keeping the Americans at bay to the extent of burning down their capital. I learnt the other day that we retook Maine during the War of 1812. If it hadn't been the Americans winning the Battle of New Orleans, making the overall war a draw, it might today be the Canadian province of New Ireland.

HDWill

The Battle of New Orleans was fought two weeks after the peace treaty was signed in Belgium!

hungryhorace

Well, indeed. Is food for thought though, isn't it? Wellington was sounded out by courtiers to King George IV whether he would lead the British efforts, but he wasn't interested. How different that world would be today had Wellington led them.

Owen778

Yes. Maybe we'd all be speaking French?

Pulaski

The French governmental interest in Canada had been gone for almost 50 years by the time of the War of 1812.

robin1234

French still have a foothold, though, St. Pierre and Miquelon.

hungryhorace

Wellington would have been back in time for Waterloo I strongly suspect

kins

I am now a US citizen and I stand but just keep my hands by my side. I'd just feel silly putting my hand on my heart. I do take off my hat (if my hair's not too greasy).

robin1234

Yup, I don't think New Orleans had much to do with the outcome of the border discussions which were very favorable to the US, even though the war was a "draw." Canada really lost out in the border discussions because the Americans obviously cared more about the outcome than the British. I believe I read that the British commissioners were bribed by American interests to give Maine to the US, but not sure if that's true.

Pulaski

Interesting. That was not mentioned in the book I am currently reading on Anglo-French relations, at least not yet, and I am already in the section about the French Revolution.

Owen778

Sure. When I said, "we", I mean the British expats. I made the mistake of assuming that was obvious.

Who knows how the war in Europe would have progressed without Wellington to prosecute the Peninsula War or the Waterloo Campaign? It's pretty easy to argue that with fewer troops occupied in the Iberian Peninsula, Napoleon might have successfully invaded Russia.