Jim D Burns
Posts: 4013
Joined: 2/25/2002
From: Salida, CA.
Status: offline
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quote:
It’s a funny old game isn’t it? Not for the first time England/Britain is on the receiving end in these forums and from people who really should know better…
Calm down I was/am not attacking the England of today, but the England that existed at the time of Trafalgar was not a force for good. They were very much a brutal dictatorship and were oppressing people the world over to grow and sustain their huge empire. While the naval battle was a large and impressive one it is stained with the fact the majority of the men onboard the ships involved were slave labor and were not there fighting for their country the way most men in the worlds militaries today are there because they believe in and love their countries.
quote:
I could be angry and suggest that the poster look at his own country’s record, but the problem with that is that I value America. She is an ally. A country that, growing up in the post-World War II cold war era, I can be thankful was there helping keep Europe safe. I recognise that America is a force for the good far more than not. So no, I have no intention of going down that route.
Right but America, the idea for America, was born out of revolting against British colonial oppression. Had Britain not treated non-British peoples so badly back then America would never have been. It takes a lot to get men to raise up in arms against their own nation and at the time we were very much a part of Britain. The fact so many Americans fought against the revolution proves it.
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Sadly, the British get no such consideration from people like the poster above. I could suggest that when it comes to the British Empire he actually reads a book, he actually tries to understand what happened, why, how values were different then, how Britain has been, on balance, a force for the good, how not all Empires were the same etc etc, but I suspect that would be a waste of time and energy.
As I mentioned the Britain of today is a far cry from what the Britain of yesterday was. I understand and actually empathize with the need to defend and find pride in your countries past, but the British have a tendency to forget the truth sometimes.
It’s easy and convenient to look at Napoleon and say he was a mad man set on world domination therefore Britain must have been the good guys. But the fact is they spent that entire period in history instigating conflict all in an attempt to destabilize mainland Europe to prevent France’s domination from competing with their colonial ambitions. They instigated a lot of the war that took place so they could continue oppressing the masses of the world and expanding their rule virtually unopposed, not a “good” guy thing to do by a far cry.
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“Glamourising” the practice of press gangs, where exactly did that come from? Who the hell said that? England expects… is one of the most famous signals in the history of warfare. It was an exaltation to the men about to win one of the most comprehensive naval victory’s in history. What was Nelson supposed to have said?
Glamorizing means to glorify or romanticize something. By picking out a quote, “England expects…” and highlighting it as a great moment in history, and then questioning someone’s logic who points out that most or a large percentage of the men present were not there voluntarily yet were expected to fight and die, definitely is an attempt to glamorize it.
Jim
< Message edited by Jim D Burns -- 8/2/2013 7:05:49 PM >
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RE: Historical accuracy in wargames - 
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