Non-Americans:

[Neutrino]

ok ever herd of blood beach aka Omaha beach 2000 American men died on that one section of the beach.

Ok, ever heard of the Battle of the Somme aka Battle the Somme 60 000 British men died on that one section of trenches [in one day]

and Eisenhower was the mastermind behind d day.

... and...?

we single handedly beat back japan and simultaneously fought Hitler and mousolini

You fought Japan, Germany and Italy with help from all sorts of nations. You didn't do any of them by yourself.

and stalin (at one piont).

Ummm, unless my knowledge of WW2 is really far off, even at the very worst, America and the USSR were merely reluctant allies; never actual enemies.

well it seems like without us you would be speaking german, or maybe that is how you prefer it

Huh? The Allies won the war and the Germany wasn't forced to speak English. What makes you think that Germany would have forced this on the Allies, had they won?

[Skittles!]

well it seems like without us you would be speaking german, or maybe that is how you prefer it

Huh? The Allies won the war and the Germany wasn't forced to speak English. What makes you think that Germany would have forced this on the Allies, had they won?

I know that one Tom! Cause the German's were evil Nazi's that killed and tortured people for pleasure!

[Avron]

Skittles raises an interesting point.

Did they ever teach you that?

I have to pass an american history course at some point to pass high school. I can see me being expelled for my maverick ideals, and actualy knowing the the US didn't single-handedly win WWII, they helped...but that's why we're called allies, not "America & Pals"

I hope they fail you for being an arrogant little prick. Jesus fucking Christ your an asshole.

And you guys are just not fucking allowed to even talk about WW2 how many times to I have to tell you, most of you don't even know the fucking causes of the war at all, you know oh Hitler did some shit and some war went down, what ever country I'm from was filled with heroes and kicked lots of ass. At least, at fucking least go to wiki and read a few things.

Yes, you prick, America didn't win the war single handily. Blah I don't even want to get into this, if you want to learn something all send you one of my coverages on the Start of WW2 or a topic of your desire if I wrote it.

[Skittles!]

Skittles raises an interesting point.

Did they ever teach you that?

I have to pass an american history course at some point to pass high school. I can see me being expelled for my maverick ideals, and actualy knowing the the US didn't single-handedly win WWII, they helped...but that's why we're called allies, not "America & Pals"

I hope they fail you for being an arrogant little prick. Jesus fucking Christ your an asshole.

And you guys are just not fucking allowed to even talk about WW2 how many times to I have to tell you, most of you don't even know the fucking causes of the war at all, you know oh Hitler did some shit and some war went down, what ever country I'm from was filled with heroes and kicked lots of ass. At least, at fucking least go to wiki and read a few things.

Why are we not allowed to talk about it? And sure we're don't, cause we don't learn about it at school or anything. We learn why it started, we learn the causes, we learn most things about WWII, you insolent fuckhead.

[Avron]

Skittles raises an interesting point.

Did they ever teach you that?

I have to pass an american history course at some point to pass high school. I can see me being expelled for my maverick ideals, and actualy knowing the the US didn't single-handedly win WWII, they helped...but that's why we're called allies, not "America & Pals"

I hope they fail you for being an arrogant little prick. Jesus fucking Christ your an asshole.

And you guys are just not fucking allowed to even talk about WW2 how many times to I have to tell you, most of you don't even know the fucking causes of the war at all, you know oh Hitler did some shit and some war went down, what ever country I'm from was filled with heroes and kicked lots of ass. At least, at fucking least go to wiki and read a few things.

Why are we not allowed to talk about it? And sure we're don't, cause we don't learn about it at school or anything. We learn why it started, we learn the causes, we learn most things about WWII, you insolent fuckhead.

No you fucking don't, I'm a senior this year, I'm going to major in history and teach history at a fucking college level. I just took those classes, so fucking much is wrong.

[Neutrino]

Skittles raises an interesting point.

Did they ever teach you that?

I have to pass an american history course at some point to pass high school. I can see me being expelled for my maverick ideals, and actualy knowing the the US didn't single-handedly win WWII, they helped...but that's why we're called allies, not "America & Pals"

I hope they fail you for being an arrogant little prick. Jesus fucking Christ your an asshole.

And you guys are just not fucking allowed to even talk about WW2 how many times to I have to tell you, most of you don't even know the fucking causes of the war at all, you know oh Hitler did some shit and some war went down, what ever country I'm from was filled with heroes and kicked lots of ass. At least, at fucking least go to wiki and read a few things.

Why are we not allowed to talk about it? And sure we're don't, cause we don't learn about it at school or anything. We learn why it started, we learn the causes, we learn most things about WWII, you insolent fuckhead.

No you fucking don't, I'm a senior this year, I'm going to major in history and teach history at a fucking college level. I just took those classes, so fucking much is wrong.

Then what are you yelling at Mc Snipe for? He said he was joining one of those classes, not that he was the person in charge of deciding their content.

Hell, your entire argument is disorganised and nonsensical. In your text you are arguing (or rather, yelling) against the "America did it all" theory, yet the majority of your expletives are directed to Mc Snipe, who was advocating the exact same theory.

Something is obviously wrong...

[Iliad]

Martin Luther King Jr was the guy who pressed against racism with that "I have a dream..." speech and all that

[Avron]

Skittles raises an interesting point.

Did they ever teach you that?

I have to pass an american history course at some point to pass high school. I can see me being expelled for my maverick ideals, and actualy knowing the the US didn't single-handedly win WWII, they helped...but that's why we're called allies, not "America & Pals"

I hope they fail you for being an arrogant little prick. Jesus fucking Christ your an asshole.

And you guys are just not fucking allowed to even talk about WW2 how many times to I have to tell you, most of you don't even know the fucking causes of the war at all, you know oh Hitler did some shit and some war went down, what ever country I'm from was filled with heroes and kicked lots of ass. At least, at fucking least go to wiki and read a few things.

Why are we not allowed to talk about it? And sure we're don't, cause we don't learn about it at school or anything. We learn why it started, we learn the causes, we learn most things about WWII, you insolent fuckhead.

No you fucking don't, I'm a senior this year, I'm going to major in history and teach history at a fucking college level. I just took those classes, so fucking much is wrong.

Then what are you yelling at Mc Snipe for? He said he was joining one of those classes, not that he was the person in charge of deciding their content.

Hell, your entire argument is disorganised and nonsensical. In your text you are arguing (or rather, yelling) against the "America did it all" theory, yet the majority of your expletives are directed to Mc Snipe, who was advocating the exact same theory.

Something is obviously wrong...

All of my arguments are fragmented and disorganized, all be the first to admit that. I'm also pissed about his earlier post that I didn't quote was all.

Here's a little snippet, This was something I wrote a while back its my info and also varied info from a few pages.

"But wait there are others still. Without a doubt, a key player in the cause of World War 2 was the powerful Adolf Hitler .But the major source of Hitler's power came from a chemical cartel called I.G. Farben, (the name is an abbreviation of the complete name: Interssen Gemeinschaft Farben.) The importance of I.G. Farben's support for the Socialist movement was pointed out in a book about the cartel, in which it is stated: "without I.G.'s immense production facilities, its far reaching research, varied technical experience and overall concentration of economic power, Germany would not have been in a position to start its aggressive war in September, 1939. But I.G. Farben had a little-known source of its enormous economic power: Wall Street, U.S.A. "Without the capital supplied by Wall Street, there would have been no I.G. Farben in the first place, and almost certainly no Adolf Hitler and World War II."

[Titanic]

"But wait there are others still. Without a doubt, a key player in the cause of World War 2 was the powerful Adolf Hitler .But the major source of Hitler's power came from a chemical cartel called I.G. Farben, (the name is an abbreviation of the complete name: Interssen Gemeinschaft Farben.) The importance of I.G. Farben's support for the Socialist movement was pointed out in a book about the cartel, in which it is stated: "without I.G.'s immense production facilities, its far reaching research, varied technical experience and overall concentration of economic power, Germany would not have been in a position to start its aggressive war in September, 1939. But I.G. Farben had a little-known source of its enormous economic power: Wall Street, U.S.A. "Without the capital supplied by Wall Street, there would have been no I.G. Farben in the first place, and almost certainly no Adolf Hitler and World War II."

Hitler was quite dumb. I remember a book I once read which said that a few years before the outbreak of WWII, but when it was obvious a war was coming, some major German businessmen met Hitler and told him not to go to war, but to concentrate on the economy because they would become the largest power in Europe easily by economic strength. If Hitler followed their advice, and waited a few more years for the war, he would have overrun Europe easier, and probably taken Britain as well, and could have won at Moscow and Stalingrad possibly.

To the people who have the "USA did it all" attitude, where were you for the first 3 fckin years, the RAF beat the Luftwaffe without any help from USA, the Russians pretty much single-handedly beat the Germans, the British Empire and USA and China and many other nations fought in the Pacific, we never fought Stalin in WWII, Eisenhower was just head of command for d-day he never planned the whole thing, and Canada did the best work on d-day they actually had to wait for Britain and USA because they advanced so far inland so quickly.

[unriggable]

Ah, the truth about WW2 is so much less glorious.

[Norse]

The general jist I get about the civil war:

The "Yankees" representing the northern US states disagreed with the direction the confederates wanted to take the USA.

The confederates, who were an alliance between southern land-owners, farmers, slave merchants and the spanish wanted the continuation of slavery, and for the USA to be split between the large principalities of mexico, England, France, Spain and others.From what I gather, they did not want these area's to be united, but however more like seperate nations.

The Yankees beat the confederates, which pissed the southerners off, who have since begrudged the 'yankees', but whome are also ultra patriotic.

The Yankees are like modern day liberals, and the confederates are like modern day nazi's, from what I gather..

Please put me right if i am mis-informed..

[unriggable]

The general jist I get about the civil war:

The "Yankees" representing the northern US states disagreed with the direction the confederates wanted to take the USA.

The confederates, who were an alliance between southern land-owners, farmers, slave merchants and the spanish wanted the continuation of slavery, and for the USA to be split between the large principalities of mexico, England, France, Spain and others.From what I gather, they did not want these area's to be united, but however more like seperate nations.

The Yankees beat the confederates, which pissed the southerners off, who have since begrudged the 'yankees', but whome are also ultra patriotic.

The Yankees are like modern day liberals, and the confederates are like modern day nazi's, from what I gather..

Please put me right if i am mis-informed..

That first part about splitting the country I think is wrong, never heard it.

Second part, true, don't know about the grudge though

Third part, I guess you could say that if you wanted to even though it really isn't true (I personally want it to be, adds effect)

[McSnipe]

Avron, I shall be kind this time, for I have no need to yell at someone so clearly unballanced. I am not doubting your intelligence, nor do I doubt that you know more than I do about this war. However, you cannot base what you think I know off of onme post. I was merley stating that my view of american education (after one year of study) is that america was the major contributing factor in winning WWII, and from whaA magneticgoop wrote, I'm right.

However, never call me a fuckhead agin. I really don't give a shit if you teach at college, but any ill-percieved slight against me is not grounds to yell to all and sundry that "I hope they fail you for being an arrogant little prick. Jesus fucking Christ your an asshole." Your expletives just detract from your percieved intelligence, not enhance it.

[btownmeggy]

Answer to original post:

Th very question you think no one outside the US would not know much of american history gets to the very essence of anti american sentiment.

I knew someone was going to interpret this question as imperialist, but it totally is not intended to be.

I meet people everyday who don't know what the US Civil War was, why it happened, and when it happened. I certainly don't think poorly of them for not knowing what happened 150 years ago in a country that is not even theirs. Most people I meet in this same context know quite a bit about 20th century US history.

I was wondering what the variables might be. Do people know things about the US because it's a large country? Let's compare Russia and Croatia. I know a fair bit about Russian history. I know NOTHING about Croatian history. However, I'm still not entirely sure what Russian serfs were, who freed them, and why.

Does language play a role? Brits I meet tend to have a better idea of American history. I know quite a bit about British history, but as I recently admitted, practically nothing about Canadian history.

Does hegemony play a role? Sure, I know a lot about Russia and Britain, but what about poor, little, non-hegemonic Croatia and Canada? The US was a backwater country at the time of the US Civil War, but was a world power by the time of Martin Luther King. Does that have a significance? Even in my own field of expertise, Latin America, I know a heck of a lot more about the histories of Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina than Ecuador, El Salvador, and Honduras.

I'm sorry if you feel that this question has oppressed you, as that's certainly the last thing I'd like to do.

EDIT: I DO know that Croatia was part of Yugoslavia. Jeez. What... wasn't it?

[btownmeggy]

"Without the capital supplied by Wall Street, there would have been no I.G. Farben in the first place, and almost certainly no Adolf Hitler and World War II."

This is very poor historical reasoning. Without Jesus, there would have been (lol, almost certainly) no Adolf Hitler and World War II.

[DAZMCFC]

f*ck me i`m glad i missed this argument. avvron take a chill pill and count to ten.

"American history" thats a joke in itself is it not. usa has no history compared to the rest of the world. compared to the loikes of china,japan and the middle east Britain has no history(just about 2500 years worth).

[littleM]

I was wondering what the variables might be. Do people know things about the US because it's a large country? Let's compare Russia and Croatia. I know a fair bit about Russian history. I know NOTHING about Croatian history. However, I'm still not entirely sure what Russian serfs were, who freed them, and why.

Does language play a role? Brits I meet tend to have a better idea of American history. I know quite a bit about British history, but as I recently admitted, practically nothing about Canadian history.

Does hegemony play a role? Sure, I know a lot about Russia and Britain, but what about poor, little, non-hegemonic Croatia and Canada? The US was a backwater country at the time of the US Civil War, but was a world power by the time of Martin Luther King. Does that have a significance? Even in my own field of expertise, Latin America, I know a heck of a lot more about the histories of Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina than Ecuador, El Salvador, and Honduras.

For this forum and most of the net it's mainly about how much info is available in English and what kind of reputation a country has for it's history.

[Pinkassassin]

I chose to write about the US civil war many years ago at college when given the title of my coursework as being 'is war a catalist for change?' i wrote about the slave trade. pretty nast stuff.

but other than that many ppl came from England to start colonies over there and ran the natives out/treted them badly (pretty harsh of them) and of course the story of thanksgiving (thanks to US shows shown over here) i do not know anymore nor particularly wish to know anymore as I'm English and im concentrating on my heritage.

[Pinkassassin]

id love to visit USA and see what all the fuss is about, but from what ive seen/heard many americans are arrogant - they want to Americanise everyone and have this self importance about them as they are a big land mass.

There is hardly and history of America, its a very new country.

[Guiscard]

The civil war was the one you guys lost, right?

[Pinkassassin]

Ah, the truth about WW2 is so much less glorious.

for the americans maybe


Im actually shocked by the rudeness and the bad language used on this thread, no need for it

[dcowboys055]

About all the WW2 arguments...I can sum most of them up by saying, "Take out any one of the allied powers, WW2 would have been lost." There, problem solved.

[Pinkassassin]

The civil war was the one you guys lost, right?

lol, i love it!

[Norse]

I think that the problem would have been solved if britain/usa didnt interlude at any point....there would be no such thing as France.

And isnt that what we all want?

[Arbustos]

id love to visit USA and see what all the fuss is about, but from what ive seen/heard many americans are arrogant - they want to Americanise everyone and have this self importance about them as they are a big land mass.

There is hardly and history of America, its a very new country.

Malarkey. The world has Americanized itself through its acceptance of our corporations and their products. The average American has nothing (and wants nothing) to do with that. The land mass issue is also pretty ridiculous. It's like a penis on a global scale -- are we going to admit China and Russia have bigger ones?

On arrogance, the opposite is true over here. The common consensus is that quite a few foreign nations are just full of America-bashing dickheads. What's sad is that no one can see we each have the same view about the other, and neither is true.