I remember feeling embarrassed when visiting the US in my 30s as a Brit and realising I'd never heard of the 1812 war, even though I thought I was fairly well-read in US history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_involving_the_Uni...
"The British expedition to Tibet, also known as the British invasion of Tibet"
https://www.humanosphere.org/basics/2013/08/map-of-the-day-w...
But certainly the whole grey area of exploration and invasion have been ironed out in today's times and not a grey area any more.
What I find interesting is how many wars did the UK have with France in some form or another - crazy times and historically the UK been at war with Russia in some form on it's side more times than with the French on the same side. That's kinda crazy, but perspectives of the time and perspectives today are different and much nuance to history that sadly does get lost or overlooked.
I suspect most of those were English wars with France, some parts of what is now the UK tended to side with France in these conflicts:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auld_Alliance
This tradition lives on in the "Anyone but England" rule at sporting events... ;-)
Yes, even in my youth as a child in the 70's/80's in football, nobody wanted to be England, so I get that. The panini football stickers and what was popular player/team wise showed this out nicely.
Quoting Palin [1]
- In 1903, however, on a trumped-up pretext, an army, under Colonel Francis Younghusband, crossed over from India, fought a bloody battle not far from Gyantse in which some 3000 Tibetans died, before storming the fort from which we're looking out and going on, unopposed, as far as Lhasa. The British left four years later, leaving behind in Gyantse a post office and a public school. All that remains now is the Anti-British Museum, housed in the dzong.
In the circumstances seems reasonable that British visitors (like me) should be made to feel more than a bit uncomfortable about this episode.
It's not really talked about much in the US either because it was ultimately much less significant than either the Revolutionary War or the Civil War--and, to the degree there was a winner at all, it wasn't the US.
And the part where the US agreed to help end slavery. And then ignored it.
1-0 for the good guys! Ca-na-da! Ca-na-da!
I'll show myself out.
I'm a Tecumseh fan, IRL.
There's even a Wikipedia article about it... which is rare because not much has happened down there except for one of my heroes Rick Danko.
(at the time of the raid, my family's respective sides were still to be in Ayrshire and Ulster for another hundred-and-fifty years or so—no historical connection to the event, or even the war excepting they probably had as much disdain for the British as Americans might have. Go figure.)
(doesn't matter if it happened after the war "ended". minor technicality.)
Aside from jingoistic comic book like tales, we as a people rarely talk about the past.
I’m not sure where you hang out, but for me, with a six year old child, I’m enjoying going through it all again.
In fact, having grown up in Tulsa, and seeing the race riots come to light last year, or living in the Bay Area and hiking out at Sir Francis Drake’s landing spot a week ago, or our family’s attempt to visit Maine for their 200 year anniversary last year...
Yeah, I don’t think “we” are notorious for this. And having studied in London, getting the chance to explore 10 other European countries, one of which I later worked out of, I don’t think they’re much different.
If you’d like to spend more time exposing yourself to our rich history, I’d actually suggest downloading the PBS app, visiting museums, or exploring the country side - where there are the Missions along El Camino Real in CA. Ghost towns in the middle of the country from old industries, and people who call themselves “coon-asses” (Cajuns in Louisiana) who from my experience have deep loyalty to their past.
You happen to be exceptionally educated. I know the history I was taught in high school was effectively anti communist propaganda.
The Brits fought the war with the units they didn't need for the much more important war with Napoleon.
That American don't remember their capital being taken and their most important government building burnt down by another nation is kind of funny however. And that's why nobody remember it, no movies about it.
Then the US spent the next 50 years fortifying their East coast to prevent it happening again those forts are where the Civil war eventually started.
In my experience, most people remember a few fragments like you do, and particularly famous events from the war (old ironsides, burning of the white house, carrying out the portrait of Washington to save it) might not even be associated with that war in people's minds. Most people seem to erroneously associate many of those events with the revolutionary war, similar to how they often associate the Constitution with the revolutionary war even though it came later.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House#Early_use,_the_181...
Going to beg to differ. We learned about this in elementary and then in more detail in middle and high school. Don’t know why so many commenters seem to think the 1812 war isn’t taught in US schools.
Conversely what I find odd is that the American revolution doesn’t seem to be taught in British schools at any length. I’ve talked to multiple British friends who have almost know knowledge of it and say it’s not taught. I get that the UK has a long history, but losing your biggest set of colonies in a revolution that go on to become the most powerful country in the world seems like a big deal. Something worth spending at least a little time on in public education.
I mean, its not the biggest, and they weren't anywhere near the most powerful country at the time (which is what matters geopolitically)
America is pretty obsesssed with the american revolution. Other countries aren't going to be. Why would they?