4 ms·

1776 was a long time before the 1930s.

• bryanrasmussen 6y ago
  The revolutionary war ended in 1783, the war of 1812 actually ended in 1815 (Washington DC was burned in 1814). And of course there were many conflicts between Britain and America in the intervening years, at the time there was no special relationship (more like a special enmity), whereas Germany was a fairly new country and thus did not have this history of enmity in the U.S where people hearing about something Germany did could call on old prejudices. on edit: should also note that for many countries a long time ago is not 147 years (1783 to 1930)
  • bryanrasmussen 6y ago
    Of course my reading of the relative position of Germany in public perception after WWI might be wrong, but my understanding from the record is that it was still relatively considered ok, and that there was lots of public sympathy for Germany due to the feeling that the Treaty of Versailles had been unfair. So my feeling in the 30s a German / British comparison in the American imagination would not have been so favorable to Britain and so antipathetic to Germany as it would be today.
• yodelshady 6y ago
  About the same timeframe as the US civil war -> now. You really think those wounds are gone? Pardon the cultural stereotypes but only in the US is 100 years considered a long time. Half the planet has tribal divisions dating back millennia. See, er, this article. Bit more on topic: certainly, most of the West was more concerned about Communism than they were a Hitler. Not exactly a methodology we've abandoned since... waves generally at Middle East. And who in 1900, 1910, even 1930, would have put money on Germany being the European country to engage in a genocide notorious even by 20th century standards? Not me. Which I guess is the point of the article.