interestrateripoff Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 ROBERT HARDMAN: You don't have to be a historian to know 1815 is an almighty milestone The removal of Napoleon helped to redraw the map of Europe and the world. So why is our educational establishment ignoring the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo? asks ROBERT HARDMAN The First World War is being commemorated but the battle which quite possible set in motion a chain of events that led to the First World War is just ignored. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erat_forte Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Waterloo doen't offer the same 'nation-building' and establishment-validating political opportunities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bossybabe Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 But we celebrated Trafalgar 200 in 2005 in some style. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geezer466 Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Waterloo is out of living memory and has been for quite a number of years. WW1 is also but for a much shorter time. In 2114 I doubt the same 'attention' will be given to WW1. Waterloo is an important day in the history of the European continent. We should do a few educational items on the TV to outline it and include bits of it in the schools curriculum but maybe not parade troops up and down through town centres or be laying wreaths in remembrance. Besides we don't want to upset the French do we!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest eight Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Apparently the 18:15 from Waterloo goes to North Sheen. Wherever the hell that is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The XYY Man Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 I had a dream last night where I shagged the blonde one from ABBA, and it was a truly awful experience. God knows why I didn't bang his hot wife Agnetha instead... XYY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinker Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 I had a dream last night where I shagged the blonde one from ABBA, and it was a truly awful experience. God knows why I didn't bang his hot wife Agnetha instead... XYY Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crashmonitor Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Always a bit puzzled that Wellington is seen as tiny in contrast to Nelson. Is this some class snobbery thing to do with the navy. No expert, but it seems to me that Wellington's efforts dwarfed Nelsons and he finished the job too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geezer466 Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Always a bit puzzled that Wellington is seen as tiny in contrast to Nelson. Is this some class snobbery thing to do with the navy. No expert, but it seems to me that Wellington's efforts dwarfed Nelsons and he finished the job too. Nelson was outnumbered in terms of French/Spanish ships but had a brilliant tactical brain in the way he fought the battle. Wellington (and the allies) had significant troop numbers advantage over the French armies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Waterloo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Trafalgar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccc Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 There was one person (known) who fought on either side first at Trafalgar then at Waterloo. I found it interesting anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riedquat Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Always a bit puzzled that Wellington is seen as tiny in contrast to Nelson. Is this some class snobbery thing to do with the navy. No expert, but it seems to me that Wellington's efforts dwarfed Nelsons and he finished the job too.Trafalgar pretty much put an end to any attempt to invade Britain, so hardly an effort to be dwarfed. There was more class snobbery in the army at the time as far as I'm aware. It was growing in the navy but there wasn't any getting around the fact that sailing big sailing ships is very technically complex and needed to be mastered if you weren't going to come to grief even in peacetime, so a respect for someone good at that was always present whatever their background.It sounds like Nelson was much more likable than Wellington so it may be as simple as that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy_renting Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 There was one person (known) who fought on either side first at Trafalgar then at Waterloo. I found it interesting anyway Oldham cloth-worker and ex-soldier John Lees, who died after being attacked by Cavalry at 'Peterloo' in 1819, had been present at the Battle of Waterloo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccc Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 This was a Spanish one I was thinking of. A sailor on the French side in 1805 - and a soldier on the British side in 1815. Spanish switched sides in between iirc. (I think I have the above correct !!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bossybabe Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 There was one person (known) who fought on either side first at Trafalgar then at Waterloo. I found it interesting anyway I heard about him, too. There was a female doctor - well, Wikipedia says she was assigned female gender at birth and who posed as a man, James Miranda Stuart Barry, in order to read medicine at Edinburgh Uni, then enlisted in the Army as a surgeon. S/he might have served at Waterloo. Funny what you learn from reading the BMJ! Wikipedia link: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Barry_%28surgeon%29 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuG III Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Always a bit puzzled that Wellington is seen as tiny in contrast to Nelson. Is this some class snobbery thing to do with the navy. No expert, but it seems to me that Wellington's efforts dwarfed Nelsons and he finished the job too. You mean physically tiny? I don't know how it could be a "class snobbery thing" as Wellesley came from an aristocratic Anglo-Irish family while Nelson was a Clergyman's son. Bloody Guardian reader! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happy_renting Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 You can get a 'free' campaign medal, that's actually £2.95 from: http://www.200waterloo.co.uk/?utm_source=freemedal.co.uk0&utm_medium=DRTV0&utm_campaign=92008450 We should buy them and send them to random French households. UKIP members should get a free one when when they join UKIP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Errol Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 The defeat of the Roman Legions by Arminius' Germanic tribesmen in 9AD actually had a much more important impact on the shape of Europe as we know it today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidg Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 The defeat of the Roman Legions by Arminius' Germanic tribesmen in 9AD actually had a much more important impact on the shape of Europe as we know it today. +1 Or the victory of a small Norman/Brittany/Flemish expeditionary force against the battle hardened troups of Harold Godwinson in 1066. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hail the Tripod Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 +1 Or the victory of a small Norman/Brittany/Flemish expeditionary force against the battle hardened troups of Harold Godwinson in 1066. Or if the Trojans had won! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidg Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Or if the Trojans had won! True, true. Or if Charles Martel hadn't turned the Muslim tied at Poitiers in 732 we'd all be driving Toyota Hilux with anti aircraft guns mounted on the back and Mohammed would be the most popular boy's name in England. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erat_forte Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 True, true. Or if Charles Martel hadn't turned the Muslim tied at Poitiers in 732 we'd all be driving Toyota Hilux with anti aircraft guns mounted on the back and Mohammed would be the most popular boy's name in England. You mean it isn't already? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bossybabe Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 True, true. Or if Charles Martel hadn't turned the Muslim tied at Poitiers in 732 we'd all be driving Toyota Hilux with anti aircraft guns mounted on the back and Mohammed would be the most popular boy's name in England. I thought Mohammed was the most popular boy's name in England. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bossybabe Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 You mean it isn't already? Great minds... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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