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Battle of Britain
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in General Chat
We are currently in the middle of the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain - but apparently few young people these days know what it is all about - so i just wondered out of curiosity how many of you knew what it was all about.
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Really? - surely its the sort of thing ones grandparents went on about
If anything it's those insights which make me realise just how lucky we really are to live in these times.
As an aside, I just as worried about the fact that VJ day goes past every year without the same fanfare as VE/D-Day etc. But the maybe that's because my Dad's uncle died in that part of the conflict.
Like MoK, my grandparents lived through the war, and I heard all their stories first hand, so for me it's a lot closer than stories in history books.
It's a dodgy pub down the road where my mate had her 14th birthday party.
Slightly off topic - I don't think we get taught enough British history at school these days. I have no clue when it comes to Kings, Queens, Prime ministers and I think that is a shame. I know a bit about Britain involved in wars, but only the same amount as the other powers involved.
I studied Hitler mostly for GCSE. Did do medicine through time as well which covered some British discoveries oh and I also did a bit of coursework on Jack the Ripper :d . But that really isn't much :rolleyes:
Before that I remember learning about how the government works/worked. Along with the tudors when I was in primary school. Oh and I did some stuff on the Black Death and the Plague.
Hmmm.
So you're what................26 now?
that battle of britain yeah? :chin:
:d
I know quite a lot about WW2, cause I've heard the stories, but knew chuff all about the First World War until I googled it. All I knew before was that there were trenches and we won
:d
There was also a load of guff about how all white people should feel guilty about slavery, drilled into us by a teacher who could barely conceal her views on the subject.
Strangely enough, the Battle of Britain never mentioned. And because it was never mentioned, one can only conclude it never happened.
Well, that's how education seems to work in this country...
We also did world war 1 and 2 extensively going into all the politics and world arena, and stuff like bloody sunday / northern ireland and other mini topics like that that had less of a global context but were looked at in a case study kind of way.
Don't know much about ww1, mainly because history bore the crap out of me and was always my worst grade.
*sigh*
The problem with history is that there is so much to cover and only a finite amount of time in which to cover it. And that's just the history of the UK. Some people have dedicated their whole lives to periods of just a few years, or a single event or monarch so how can we possibly hope to do the entirety of UK history justice in a few hours a week over the course of a few years?
So we're faced with a choice:
- do a whistlestop tour of UK history starting with the Romans / the Icenae (sp?) and ending in the present day, meaning you'll get a rough idea of the past 3,000 or so years of British history but will be hard pressed for details
- cover a few key areas in depth, most likely focussing in on the areas that had major influence on the UK. As a bit of an armchair history buff, I'd say (and this is far from exhaustive): Norman Conquest, Magna Carta, Wars of the Roses, Dissolution of the Monasteries, Civil War, Empire & Expansion, Battle of Britain - and that's before you get into anything relevant that happened outside of the British Isles that had a bearing on it - American War of Independence, Napoleonic Wars, Indian Mutiny, Crimea, The Afghan Wars, Opium Wars, WW1, WW2, colonial independece (bit of a war theme I know)
Basically, there's shitloads of it. So no school course could possibly hope to do the whole of British history justice. I'd personally favour the second option - a few topics in depth, but can see both sides of the argument.
The Battle of Britain was the first aerial battle in history, and Hitler wanted to destroy the UK's air force prior to invading. Germany lost the Battle of Britain and did not invade, and invaded the USSR and Stalin instead.
I guess the English Civil War, Seven Years War, the American Revolution, Napoleonic Wars. Corn Laws, Reform Acts and the Boer War were nothing.
I sound like a history geek, so i'll shut up now.
We learnt loads about the lead up to WWII, and a little about britain after, but nowt about the actual conflict, and that was only if you took the standard grade. First and second year seemed to be nothing but the highland clearances and the american civil libertys movement
But the war of 1812 was a pretty major event for the US, for the UK its a side campaign to the Napoleonic.
When i was in school they said that WWII was too complicated to learn so we missed it out - i am also a world war 2 geek though as well - but i'm pretty sure that children still played dogfights in the playground when i was at school so i thought it was just part of the national conscience as it were.
First aerial campaign, im sure there had been aerial battles before this.