How well do you know your country's history?

Bretrick

Bretrick

Well-known Member
Location
Perth Western Australia
History of Australia in 100 words

Aborigines arrive 60,000 years ago, had place to themselves until 1770, Captain Cook lands, claims it for Britain.
Britain's unwanted arrive in Van Dieman's Land, 1833, eventually become the stock from which most Original Aussies stem.
Things bugger up, Gold discovered at Bathurst 1851, world comes here. Bugger
Commonwealth of Australia comes into being in 1901. Off to war in 1914 and 1939.
Our National Treasure, Vegemite produced in 1923. The Coat Hanger open to traffic in 1932.
Holden Car makes appearance in 1948. Opera House opens, 1973
America's cup, ours in 1983. 200 years old in 1988.
Nothing more worth mentioning.
 

I had a mandatory two years of American history in high school, and so became rather familiar with that. Loved the subject, but wished that it had focused more on modern times. There never seemed to be much time for things beyond the 19th century.

I decided to do something different in college, and so took Asian history for electives, about which I had up to then known nothing. I can remember thereafter eating cafeteria meals with Japanese students who were delighted to find an American familiar with their history!
 
Very well, thanks to a great elementary school education. I know more than that of course, but elementary school set the interest & knowledge.
 

Bretrick said:
History of Australia in 100 words

Aborigines arrive 60,000 years ago, had place to themselves until 1770, Captain Cook lands, claims it for Britain.
Britain's unwanted arrive in Van Dieman's Land, 1833, eventually become the stock from which most Original Aussies stem.
Things bugger up, Gold discovered at Bathurst 1851, world comes here. Bugger
Commonwealth of Australia comes into being in 1901. Off to war in 1914 and 1939.
Our National Treasure, Vegemite produced in 1923. The Coat Hanger open to traffic in 1932.
Holden Car makes appearance in 1948. Opera House opens, 1973
America's cup, ours in 1983. 200 years old in 1988.
Nothing more worth mentioning.
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Deleted. Duplicate post.
 
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I like you Bretrick, but that is the worst summary of Australian History that has ever been written.

You completely left out the arrival of John Hodge, together with his wife Maryanne and children William, Jack, Fred and Lucy, in New South Wales in 1863. If they had not left Tiverton in Devon seeking new opportunities I would most likely not not been born an Australian. :)
 
I learned what was then the conventional history of the U.S. Currently, the young are being taught woke history highlighting our country's evils. There is probably money from our enemies fueling it. That's all it takes.
 
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The Scots, and doubtless other nations, have the habit of believing in a glorious past that was at best exaggerated, or at worst, imagined.
This was captured nicely in the lyrics of the song "No gods and precious few heroes"..

First verse & chorus...

I was listening to the news the other day
I heard a fat politician who had the nerve to say
He was proud to be Scottish, by the way
With the glories of our past to remember
"Here's tae us, wha's like us", listen to the cry
No surrender to the truth and here's the reason why
The power and the glory's just another bloody lie
They use to keep us all in line

For there's no gods and there's precious few heroes
But there's plenty on the dole in the land o the leal
And it's time now to sweep the future clear
Of the lies of a past that we know was never real
 
ohioboy said:
What famous Poet's Son was a Supreme Court Justice?
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Through my mother, then my school, I learned to love the library. It was around the corner but if it were around 10+ blocks I would have gone to pick up a book, look something up, etc. So, trained in learning what I do not know I looked it up in my around the house Google and
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Holmes was one of the great poets of his age, but he is also remembered as the father of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1902 to 1932. Holmes was the third-most cited American legal scholar of the 20th century.
Oliver Wendell Holmes Signed Letter to his Son
https://www.raabcollection.com ā€ŗ Documents
 
We learned Canadian history in school, of course, but it seemed to be just a few highlights:

1. Cartier kind of discovered it.
2. Champlain fought against somebody. Probably the Indians, although it might have been the English.
3. Coureurs de bois went ever westward in search of furs. Why fur was important was never explained.
4. Wolfe had something to do with the British taking over.
5. War of 1812, not sure why. Something about Americans.
6. Something happened in 1867. Not independence, but something. šŸ¤·ā€ā™€ļø
7. Sir John A. Macdonald, the first prime minister, was a drunk.

Unlike citizens in many countries, we are in no way steeped in our national history. I probably know more about certain other countries' history, simply because they mention it more often.
 
Warrigal said:
I like you Bretrick, but that is the worst summary of Australian History that has ever been written.

You completely left out the arrival of John Hodge, together with his wife Maryanne and children William, Jack, Fred and Lucy, in New South Wales in 1863. If they had not left Tiverton in Devon seeking new opportunities I would most likely not not been born an Australian. :)
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And nothing about Crocodile Dundee!!
 
NorthernLight said:
Unlike citizens in many countries, we are in no way steeped in our national history.
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Why is that? From what little I know of it Canada seems to have an interesting history.
NorthernLight said:
5. War of 1812, not sure why. Something about Americans.
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LOL, here is something I found online:

The United States had many reasons for going to war in 1812: Britainā€™s interference with its trade and impressment of its seamen; Americansā€™ desire to expand settlement into Indian, British, and Spanish territories; aspirations to conquer Canada and end British influence in North America; and upholding the nationā€™s sovereignty and vindicating its honor. https://npg.si.edu/exhibit/1812/causes.html#:~:text=The United States had many,America; and upholding the nation's

I suspect it had a lot to do with the US wanting Canada, maybe even believing it should have been a part of the US from the Revolutionary War. However I think a lot of Canadians were British loyalists who left the US, not folks who wanted to join us.

Most of us have given up the idea of invading Canada, though I seem to remember the National Lampoon calling for invasion in the 70s.
 
Alligatorob said:
Why is that? From what little I know of it Canada seems to have an interesting history.
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Dunno. That's just the way it is.

When I taught school in Mexico, it came my turn to lead the weekly patriotic activities. I was at a loss.

The vice-principal said, "It's like in your country, when you celebrate your national heroes and talk about your history." I said, "We don't do that." He said, "The Americans sure do." I said, "Canada and the US are not the same."

A Mexican teacher kindly took over my ceremonial duties that week.
 
I always thought that too much emphasis was put on memorizing dates for important events back when I was in school. I mean, if you need to know exactly what day the Civil War started, you could always look it up. I thought more emphasis should have been put on WHY it started, so that we don't ever get ourselves in that situation again. But, we did also get overviews of the important stuff, in between memorizing dates in case they came up on tests.

These days, when I talk to the generations who came after me, too many of them have absolutely no idea what were the causes of events that shaped the world we live in today. I'm astounded at what my daughter and granddaughter don't know about history. They have advanced college degrees but I still get the "deer in the headlights" look when I talk about historical events. They're a lot better at math and science than I ever was, though, so I guess they're better equipped for life in today's world than I am.
 
jujube said:
I mean, if you need to know exactly what day the Civil War started, you could always look it up. I thought more emphasis should have been put on WHY it started, so that we don't ever get ourselves in that situation again
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Growing up in the South when I did little was more important in our history lessons than the Civil War, and I still remember lots of the details. As to why, that was clear, naked Yankee aggression!

Maybe that last point needs some reconsideration...
 
I learned quite a bit of American History in school, and then read many books covering different aspects of it. I have to ask WHAT history are you referring to. Chronological events, military, agricultural, religious, and so on....there are hundreds of categories, and they are still being revised. So, I would say I don't know it very well at all.
 
Don't mention the Treason of the Blue Books or all the other trouble we've had with England!
Much of Western and Northern England used to be WelshšŸ˜€

oh....I have a History degree.
 
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I've learned more history as an adult, back in the day all we got was myths...the truth is more fun[ some of it] I don't think that the teachers back then knew too much[History that is]!!!
 
Tempsontime65 said:
I've learned more history as an adult, back in the day all we got was myths...the truth is more fun[ some of it] I don't think that the teachers back then knew too much[History that is]!!!
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Me too! What I learned mostly in school was celebratory history. Whitewashed history is basically a means to assuage snowflakes who can't handle what happened.
 
One of the facts that most modern Americans won't believe.........In all the years that Canada has been a independent nation ( 155 years ) we have just ONE political murder. A member of Parliament who was a strong advocate against the Fenian Brotherhood was shot and killed in front of his home in Ottawa, after a late night session of Parliament, in 1871. D'Arcy McGee was his name. In 155 years Canada has never had a leader killed, at any level of Government.

About the Fenian Brotherhood. They were Irishmen, who had served in the Union Army during the US civil war. After the war ended, the Fenians armed themselves, and made plans to invade Canada, in order to FORCE Britain to grant freedom to Ireland. Within a couple of years their membership was over 100,000 men, mostly in the northeast States. Large meetings were held in cities like Boston New York, Buffalo, and Chicago to raise money and sign up more members. The Canadian Government was aware of them, and managed to plant spies in their group, who reported the planning. For a period of about ten years, the Fenians crossed the border into Canada each summer , attacking various towns and cities. Each time their plans were known ahead of time because the leaders were prone to getting drunk and spilling the beans to those who were listening. The Canadian militia groups and units of the British Army defeated the Fenians each time, and those who were not killed were captured and eventually sent by ship to penal colonies in Australia, for life. Eventually the Fenians gave up and faded away into obscurity.

link to the Fenian Brotherhood. Fenian Raids | The Canadian Encyclopedia

I wonder how many Americans know about this group, or were taught anything about them in school ? Canadians know. JimB.
 
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