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And they'd all be wrong. The Allies won the war. None of them did it on their own. Nor could they had they tried. The UK was going to fall. The USSR was going t

And they'd all be wrong. The Allies won the war. None of them did it on their own. Nor could they had they tried. The UK was going to fall. The USSR was going to fall. It took all of us to destroy the Axis.

yakshaving_jgt 5y ago
My point is that every country teaches their own narrative to its youth, and of course it’s always only the parts of history that don’t make them look bad. English kids aren’t taught that the UK did nothing when Westerplatte was under siege. Swedish kids aren’t taught that Sweden profited and aided the Nazis by selling them natural resources. Australian kids aren’t taught much about WWII relative to Europeans as far as I can gather, as the curriculum centres around the ANZACs and Gallipoli. I think people having pride (or indeed shame) in their own nation — whichever nation that may be — for historic military engagements is misplaced, and is really an example of exceptionalism. It’s not a small thing either; I think this sentiment significantly aided Vote Leave’s Brexit campaign. As another commenter pointed out — British people know that we won “two world wars and one World Cup”.
- bingbong70 5y ago
  ...and American kids aren't taught that the US was selling oil and equipment to the Japanese so they could attack China...the cabinet cutting off these supplies while the US President was away at a secret meeting with Churchill in Alaska triggered the attack on Pearl Harbor. Both Churchill and Roosevelt had planned to continue supplying Japan so they could destroy China, the supplies were cutoff without their knowledge. Once promised US oil was cutoff and the secret treaty signed in 1905 by Teddy and Japan was reneged on, the Japanese needed to invade the rest of Asia (starting with Indonesia) to keep their war machine fueled, bombing Pearl Harbor ensured they could do this with less US resistance in the Pacific.

yakshaving_jgt 5y ago

My point is that every country teaches their own narrative to its youth, and of course it’s always only the parts of history that don’t make them look bad. English kids aren’t taught that the UK did nothing when Westerplatte was under siege. Swedish kids aren’t taught that Sweden profited and aided the Nazis by selling them natural resources. Australian kids aren’t taught much about WWII relative to Europeans as far as I can gather, as the curriculum centres around the ANZACs and Gallipoli. I think people having pride (or indeed shame) in their own nation — whichever nation that may be — for historic military engagements is misplaced, and is really an example of exceptionalism. It’s not a small thing either; I think this sentiment significantly aided Vote Leave’s Brexit campaign. As another commenter pointed out — British people know that we won “two world wars and one World Cup”.

bingbong70 5y ago
...and American kids aren't taught that the US was selling oil and equipment to the Japanese so they could attack China...the cabinet cutting off these supplies while the US President was away at a secret meeting with Churchill in Alaska triggered the attack on Pearl Harbor. Both Churchill and Roosevelt had planned to continue supplying Japan so they could destroy China, the supplies were cutoff without their knowledge. Once promised US oil was cutoff and the secret treaty signed in 1905 by Teddy and Japan was reneged on, the Japanese needed to invade the rest of Asia (starting with Indonesia) to keep their war machine fueled, bombing Pearl Harbor ensured they could do this with less US resistance in the Pacific.