Featured 150 years since the Civil war.

Is the centenary of WW1 made much of in the USA?

 

Other than a couple of good Irving Berlin songs, I don't think most people even know there was a World War 1.

The War of Yankee Aggression (that's the "Civil War" to the rest of the world), on the other hand, and the evil policies of Reconstruction that followed it, fundamentally shaped our culture and caused damage that took generations to overcome.

Having been born and raised in Alabama, I can tell you first hand that a lot of our culture and our mindset come from that.

 

Thanks for the information. Most of the American civil war knowledge that I have is directly from "Gone with the Wind".... So this war shaped the minds and culture of the USA. For Australia and New Zealand it was the disastrous Gallipoli campaign that welded these British colonies into national identities for both counties. I find it sad that great calamities achieved a shared nation hood or cultural maturation don't you think. We see this in the aftermath of natural calamities as well. No doubt those who study anthropology etc can speak upon a shared " thing" in cementing a basic tribal or familial identity...does that make sense?

 

A thoughtful reply rsr, thank you. Certainly, Australia never allowed total control of their forces by foreign leadership after the Turkish fiasco, although that may not have occurred until after the war. I am uncertain about the European front in relation to leadership.


In WW2, Britain wanted direct control over Australian and no doubt other colonial forces for their immediate need, to the point where Australia was forced to insist on its forces to go to Singapore rather than off to Europe as the Japanese were on the offence with the Asian countries. FAustralia was very fearful and with good reason that the Japanese would attack and invade Australia. It was Australia's good fortune that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour and thus the American response. Without the American response, Australia probably would have been invaded....New Zealand would have suffered in turn.

Why Japan attacked Pearl Harbour has always intrigued me, a colossal blunder in hind sight. In a sense, this calamity has also inspired the rise of the USA in it's being the world's policeman since then.

 

World War II is the time in which the US would've really liked to have established an empire, but the age of empires was ending. Britain, France, etc. were all giving up their imperial territories. Since the US could not annex land to establish an empire, they began establishing military bases across the globe. What better way to establish an empire in an age in which empires were suddenly passe...

See my response above.
I've always wondered why, after the sneak attack at Pearl Harbor, Japanese Admiral Yamamoto did not press his advantage and launch attack on the West Coast. The US Pacific Fleet was so heavily damaged that the Japanese could have wreaked havoc on the west coast before the US could offer up a stout response. But Japan withdrew, I assume thinking they had forever gained advantage in the Pacific.

 

Preach Tony......the supply train may have been a factor as well, don't know much about military tactics.

 

Gods and Generals never makes the list of the better Civil War movies, but it's one of my favorites, because it shows the conflict Lee had in choosing to go with Virginia. Lee's preference was to stay with the Union, but he felt that the federal government had abused and violated its covenant with the Southern states, particularly, his beloved Virginia. Because of this, he felt he had no choice but to fight for the South, as by doing so, he believed he was defending Virginia.

Lee's decision is often glossed over, but I feel that Robert Duval, as Lee, captures it very well.

Robert E. Lee was always a person of great interest to me, as my maternal grandmother was a Lee and traces her line back to the Lees of Virginia.

 

Not direct, but close.

In all fairness, EVERYBODY in the South says they're related to Robert E. Lee, so...

But I grew up next door to Bobby Allison and Pat Buttram went to our church when I was a kid, so that makes up for it.

 

Even though the breaking up of the British Empire was rather messy and one can be endlessly picky about it, I don't think any breakdown of empires is a smooth transition.

I must read up on the PNG history, Britain got Papua and New Guinea due to Germany losing territory in the aftermath of WW1. Australia had a lot of influence until independence. West Papua or Irian Jaya is under Indonesian control still.

 

I agree. I was speaking in a more Eddie-Izzard-tone about the end of European imperialism. You might not agree with him (and he certainly doesn't work clean) but his bit about Europe ending imperialism is quite funny to anyone who knows the history and understands that he's telling a joke and not teaching a class.