Do most Brits feel this way?
Thursday, 13 Mar 2025
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Yeah, pretty much. It’s certainly less significant than our history with France.
Americans make a big deal out of beating the British, but to us you ARE the British. A bunch of us rebelled against another bunch of us overseas. Great.
Well Britain was fighting Napoleon during the war of 1812. It was a sideshow.
Also we achieved our aims in keeping the US out of Canada and the Carribbean in that war. The US didnt achieve any of its wargoals really.
Also only one side had their capital burn down and it wasnt ours
So who really “won” that war?
Generally, yeah. Most people in the UK really aren’t that interested in the American Revolution or the war of 1812.
Why?
Partially because we’re not taught it, a lot of focus in UK history in schools is focused mainly on the world wars, with a little bit of interest in the Tudors.
Also, Both times, the British Empire was fighting larger wars against the French, that made what was happening in the US very much a side issue.
Some American’s obsession with 1812 is weird, and I don’t see how it can be argued the US won. At best it’s a draw, at worst you lost. Generally, from the British side, we wanted to keep you out of Canada and the Caribbean. Both aims were achieved. I’ve heard it argued that the UK also wanted to reclaim parts of the US, and maybe and if so, we failed to do that. But that doesn’t mean the US won, you just didn’t lose. The US failed to achieve any of its war aims. You also had your capitol burnt to the ground.
Yes. America wasn’t even close to being the most important set of colonies for the British Empire. The Caribbean islands were far, far more profitable, A credible argument has been made to suggest that the loss of the 13 colonies was actually the catalyst for the British Empire becoming the biggest and most profitable in history – the subsequent refocus onto Asia and later Africa.
It’s also insane cope for Americans to suggest they won the War of 1812 – most Americans only think that because they just know the USA won the final battle (New Orleans) and assume that translates into a victory, but the result via the Treaty of Ghent was *Status Quo Ante Bellum*, and the reality of the situation was a draw *at the very best* for the USA. At worst, the entire eastern seaboard had been raided, the American economy was in tatters, and they’d failed to annexe Canada. The British Empire, on the other hand, achieved its lone war aim – to defend Canada. The only concession that the USA won was the formal end to pressganging, which the British had already stopped of their own volition well before the war ended.
The war of independence was a civil war. For Americans it’s a defining moment in the nation’s history. For us it was a Chewsday.
But seriously, we were busy fighting pretty much everyone else at the same time. As far as we were concerned our holdings in India and Africa were far more important.
We did get taught about Boston tea party, representation on taxation etc but only briefly because in the grand scheme of things to be taught it’s insignificant. I.e the slave trade, world wars, holocaust, kristalnacht, etc are more important
Pretty much. We’ve done this sort of thing all over the world, long before any of us were born. You’ve also got to remember that while we did own a lot of colonies, our ancestors were the ones who stayed here and unless you’re Native American, you’re the coloniser.
I played overwatch for years and always Americans on the server
So many are slathering to bring up the civil war and they can’t handle it when I tell them we don’t learn about that shit in school. If we do, it’s always as a ‘did you know’ and then we move on.
What did M.Bison say in the Street Fighter film when he talked about killing Chun Lis father?
*”For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me, it was Tuesday”*
For Britain, so much of what happened in empire was Tuesday, harsh but true.
The American colonies were never anything special to Britain.
India on the other hand, now that was an absolute Jewel!
Also, 1812 saw the USA try to annex Canada, and fail miserably as both Canada and her British allies soundly kicked America’s arse so badly we were able to cross the border and burn down the original White House. You don’t really get to do that to your enemy’s capital if you’ve failed at fighting them in a war they started.
Pretty much and I just don’t think about the history with the Yanks either. I respect and think about the French a lot more even though they beat us in a bunch of wars because that is what we were taught and because our history is more entwined too.
A few things here. America did not win the war of 1812, they invaded Canada and they were repelled. The White House which was actually green at the time got burnt to the ground and a peace treaty was signed. That’s an L for America.
I don’t rlly care about the war for independence but I have seen a lot of Americans claiming that they defeated the empire fare and square and that they were a comparable military might.
They were not, Britain at the time has bigger fish to fry and just let it slide but came back in 1812 to say that they could easily conquer them if they wanted to.
Yeh. It’s irrelevant. Many countries gained their independence but none of them bang on about it like the yanks.
Secretly I think most of us in modern times are glad. We exported a piss tonne of our undesirables – I’m not just talking transporting criminals, I’m talking the greedy, the corrupt and the religious zealots. It’s nowhere near paradise here but look at the shit state of the US. No end in sight to mass gun violence, religious stupidity, eugenics based approach to health, overturning women’s rights. It’s like white man taliban country
As an American who has also served in the US Army in Iraq I want to make something very clear. There has never been a braver more courageous folks than England during WWII. You guys literally were the only thing standing against pure evil taking over the globe. There was a moment in history where humanity was on the precipice and you guys came through!
Nothing but love and respect from this side of the pond, and I feel embarrassed as an American we had so many isolationists in the USA like Charles Lindbergh who tried to keep us out of the fight.
What you guys did the whole world owes you a level of gratitude that is impossible to repay. So as an American, thank you! sincerely.
The general vibe is that soooo many people emigrated to America that it’s more like, “oh, a colony of English people got independence from other English people”, and “makes sense, we didn’t like George 3rd either”. It’s not us vs. you.
Whereas Napolean is a HUGE deal, and when it comes to the empire, the Caribbean and India/Pakistan are much more relevant and important to us.
I would say even the Crimean War is more in the public consciousness, Charge of the Light Brigade, Florence Nightingale, etc. A lot of art and literature is about it.
Pretty much.
I think my ancestors were probably down a mine in Wales at the time and had nothing to do with colonisation or imperialism or overseas wars – if anything they were more likely to be victims of the system. Not much connection with the North American soon-to-be ex-colonies at the time (although a distant cousin later migrated to Ohio, I’ve since learned. 3 of his brothers moved to New Zealand).
There’s a quote from the under appreciated 90’s classic ‘Street fighter’ that sums up the British attitude to this:
Chun-Li: My father saved his village at the cost of his own life. You had him shot as you ran away. A hero at a thousand paces.
M. Bison: …I’m sorry. I don’t remember any of it.
Chun-Li: *You don’t remember?!*
Bison: For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me? It was Tuesday.
Yep, couldn’t give a shit about their history, there’s their usual whinge about the colonial past of Britain and our past behaviour towards other nations, but they always seem to forget their own treatment of the natives in North America, they are quite hypocritical.
I had this conversation last night on Twitter. An American saying ‘we kicked you out’ we did this and that etc..
I pointed out that ‘we’ is actually ‘us’. It was British people and their descendants that fought against the British army in retaliation for over taxation and unfair treatment from the crown.
It was Britain vs Britain. They won because France and Spain also saw this as an opportunity to grab some land back and got involved, leaving the UK to fight against 3 nations.
eh, technically the war of 1812 was a draw as both parties signed the treaty of Ghent. Or something and some such. However, one of the reasons for the war was the USA’s ambition to spread into Canada. To which all attempts were routinely defeated by the British. So technically the Brits won it.
But, yeah, typically we aren’t taught the intricacies of the minor wars we had in the past (There were so many). With so much History to cover in so little time. We are taught the important things and the war of 1812 was not important for us, as a nation. The war with Napoleon was in full swing and that was far more important to us militarily, culturally, and educationally.
US history overwrites the worlds so much but then they realise we actually don’t care so much about their history like they do to the rest of ours.
Bloody World series American football indeed, u 456…. .. lol
It’s not much of a thought to be fair, I mean I am indifferent towards a war that happened 250 years ago that led to a British colony becoming an independent state. I’ve got a history degree and American history is quite interesting on the political side. I just think it’s fascinating how similar yet utterly different our cultures are. Also I’ve always found Americans (to be fair I’ve visited 4 times, all on holiday) to be a lot more patriotic than the average Brit. I think it’s because USA is a relatively new nation so has been subjected to a lot more ‘nation-building’ than the UK in terms of the ‘story’ of the nation, so it matters a lot more to you than us.
Kinda yeah. Don’t forget, we were became one of the most powerful empires to ever exist, after the US gained independence.
Losing the 13 colonies was quite a trivial thing when compared to the other operations we had going on at the time (I.e. India, Australia, parts of Africa, and we still had Canada).
Both the US war of Independence and the war of 1812 were both effectively proxy wars against France and Spain. To try and describe it in terms that an American might relate to; our attitude towards wars against the US is likely similar to how the US views Vietnam or Korea. Those weren’t wars against those countries but rather wars of influence (Communism vs American free market capitalism).
Not only could we not give a shit but ask most Brits about 1776 and they will say “yeah, you won that fair and square, well played”
It’s funny seeing the disappointment in Americans eyes it’s like that meme.
“I think you are an asshole”
“I don’t think of you at all”