How is the American War for Independance taught in the UK?

[GeneralDefiance]

we dont. in scotland, all we do is scottish history, and either german or russian.

Being Scottish also i agree with this, we've had plenty to learn about right from roman expansion through europe and the british isles right up to the ending of the jacobite rebellion of the mid 1700's and more so anything taught on the american struggle for independance was almost on special request and things like the industrial and aggricultural revolution of russia were preferred.


How is the life and social structure of native american peoples (pre colonisation) taught in the US?, just out of curiosity...

 

[ElectroJosh]

I, not being from the US, went an international school based on US-ciriculum and learnt about it (I was taught by an Amercian teacher). No one called it a civil war in that class or the textbook.

I can see the rationale as to why you Americans think it was but I think you have to consider why the British don't: to them the Americas were not part of their country but part of their empire. This is the same reason they didn't consider Ghandi's rebellion to be a "passive-resistance-based civil war" - it wasn't their country.

I find it a funny coincidence that the English don't focus on it in their history classes now because they had a very similar attitude at the time. One of the is why the US is now its own country now is the British didn't take them seriously until it was too late.

 

[Codeman90]

Considering how brief my teaching on the American Revolution was in America, I would imagine not much in other countries. I live in the states and all I heard about in school was. Washington was god =p, then there was a Civil War, weeks long study of the civil war. HOLOCAUST. MOAR HOLOCAUST. MOAR HOLOCAUST. Maybe a little sentence about World War II (nobody gives a shit about World War I in America)Hitlerwasbadyouguys, MOAR HOLOCAUST.

I'm a History Major and everything I know about World/American history that isn't the Holocaust, the Civil War, or World War II I had to research myself.

 

[Loiterer]

So what nation were the colonies a part of if it were not England? According to the dictionary, it was a civil war. Is the dictionary wrong?

No, you are. Do you think the Hungarian Revolution was a civil war too?

A revolt is not a civil war. It's not a hard thing to understand.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

It should stay there considering it WAS a civil war, unless some Brit comes and takes it off.
How could they overthrow their government if it wasn't their government? That doesn't make any sense.

Overthrowing a government is not the same thing as a civil war.

civil war 
?noun
a war between political factions or regions within the same country

? n
war between parties, factions, or inhabitants of different regions within the same nation

What nation were the English colonies a part of? Oh yea, it was England. The civil war between the colonies and England resulted in them getting their own nation called the " United States of America". If they had lost, it would have just been another civl war in England.

by that reckoning every single war fought in an any part of the British Empire was a civil war.

they weren't.

nor have they ever been considered so.

So what nation were the colonies a part of if it were not England? According to the dictionary, it was a civil war. Is the dictionary wrong?

no you're wrong in prescribing "within the same country" and "within the same nation" to apply to colonies and dominions.

That just sounds like England doesn't want to own up to all of it's civil wars. If puerto rico raised an army and threw the US out. I would still call it a civil war. Though at least in that case it wouldn't be against their own relatives.

 

[ACman]

So what nation were the colonies a part of if it were not England? According to the dictionary, it was a civil war. Is the dictionary wrong?

You forget that the French were also involved. It was a world war.

 

[Loiterer]

Well I won't pretend I know more than your history professor, but if your European history professor didn't watch Braveheart, how did he know if it wasn't accurate?

Maybe he heard about it, or knew that Mel Gibson was involved. You know the princess that William Wallace is supposed to have slept with, the wife of Prince Edward, who then gets pregnant, thus making the Royal family the progeny of William Wallace? She was three when he died.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

So what nation were the colonies a part of if it were not England? According to the dictionary, it was a civil war. Is the dictionary wrong?

No, you are. Do you think the Hungarian Revolution was a civil war too?

A revolt is not a civil war. It's not a hard thing to understand.

So the Colonists had their relatives still living in England, came from England, were a part of England, had a war and took English property, but it wasn't a civl war?

What is the difference between a revolt and a war?

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

So what nation were the colonies a part of if it were not England? According to the dictionary, it was a civil war. Is the dictionary wrong?

You forget that the French were also involved. It was a world war.

Part of the reason the French didn't want to get involved was because they viewed it as an " English Civil war" but luckily Franklin convinced them to be bothered. The French escalated the war from " civil war status" to " international war status"

 

[Loiterer]

That just sounds like England doesn't want to own up to all of it's civil wars. If puerto rico raised an army and threw the US out. I would still call it a civil war. Though at least in that case it wouldn't be against their own relatives.

Own up to the 'civil war' that America started...? Never mind that.

A civil war has rival factions claiming to represent the civilians of the country. Each faction is vying for control of the country. This didn't happen in the American revolutionary war. The colonists (well, most of them) merely wanted independence. I really can't make this any simpler.

 

[y1fella]

For the record it's not really taught at all in Australia but Australia imports so much American tv show and movies and anything really that everybody knows anyway.

can't they just say they shipped off a bunch of fugitives like they did with Australia? or emptied out their insane asylums by shipping em off by boat? >)

Also We didn't get shipped off. We came here ourselves to escape the rain and your evil upper class. We crossed the sea by swimming and conquered this land from British occupation on kangaroo back with boomerangs. Much better than your pussy "war for independence. We didn't even need guns.

 

[LostAlone]

I tend to agree about wargaming. When you write a text book you are basically saying 'heres what happened' but when you write something to help people get into the mind of a nation, you tend to much more reflective of reality.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

That just sounds like England doesn't want to own up to all of it's civil wars. If puerto rico raised an army and threw the US out. I would still call it a civil war. Though at least in that case it wouldn't be against their own relatives.

Own up to the 'civil war' that America started...? Never mind that.

A civil war has rival factions claiming to represent the civilians of the country. Each faction is vying for control of the country. This didn't happen in the American revolutionary war. The colonists (well, most of them) merely wanted independence. I really can't make this any simpler.

They did fight for control over a portion of their nation. You see, If Southern England goes to war with Northern England and then separates and claims the land to the south, and the north is left only with the land to the north, it is still a civil war. The colonies belonged to England. They took them from England through war. That is a civil war.

 

[Loiterer]

So the Colonists had their relatives still living in England

I don't think that's true for most of them.

came from England

See above.

were a part of England

Really? Where is the USA on this map:

England owned America. That's not the same as America bing a part of England.

had a war and took English property

Taking English property doesn't make it a civil war. The USA took British property.

but it wasn't a civl war?

Now we're getting somewhere.

 

[damselgaming]

Nope, never got taught any of it. I managed to avoid doing anything about America until I covered the Cold War and Russian history. Never really found anything interesting about American history (no offence meant) or the World Wars mainly because no one shuts up about them! Luckily I go to do Italian history (very interesting) and Russian, but I am always gutted why they don't teach Ancient history (Greeks, Egyptians, Aztecs etc) passed age 9. Always seemed much more exciting than learning about Hitler for the umpteenth time.

 

[Loiterer]

Whether this is the fault of Gibson or the Director I do not know, but it sure makes the film sound less credible in general

Gibson was the director too... I hold him entirely responsible for that travesty. And all wars, pestilences, and natural disasters.