Re: [Epic] History after 1900,s (off topic)

From: Eugene Earnshaw-Whyte <eug_at_...>
Date: Mon, 08 Sep 1997 15:56:36 -0700

Francois Bruntz wrote:

> Eugene wrote :
>
> >Wow... in France they teach you about the World Wars?
>
> WWs are a big part of our school program as France has been badly
> involved in the two... Don't forget that we've been invaded twice, this
> can't be forgotten.
>
> Francois Bruntz
> Apprenti MIAGE (Universite Paris XII - IBM France)

No, I can't imagine it would be. I think that Canada, and Britain, (and the
United States) have a very odd view of history. None of these countries
have ever been successfully invaded, since 1066 anyway, and their
extroardinarily military successfulness allows them to percieve military
history, to a certain extent, as a succession of 'threats to the free
world' succesfully dealt with by the forces of goodness and truth. I
remember you commenting that you didn't like Waterloo; in the english
speaking world, Waterloo is seen with the same approval as is the battle of
the Marne, or Falaise Gap, for that matter. That the forces of Darkness are
sometimes the French and sometimes the Germans, is seen as fairly
unimportant (please note that I am referring to the opinions of these
events as presented by the secondary school system, and the semi-educated
public, not professional historians). I think Vietnam to a certain extent
shook up the dispoition to see military history as a succession of evils
overcome by good Joes (and Tommies), but perhaps not quite enough.

In France, is Napoleon presented as a hero, or a villain, or neither? I'm
quite curious.

Eugene
Received on Mon Sep 08 1997 - 22:56:36 UTC