English Histree

[Rascal]

During the summer of 1940 Britain stood alone

No it did not, that is historical revisionism. It was certainly not alone in 1939. When Britain first went to war, it was as the ally of both Poland and France. Australia and New Zealand declared war on the same day as Britain did. They were joined by South Africa three days later, and Canada four days after that. In the following months British troops also fought alongside the Norwegians, the Belgians and the Dutch. In other words Britain was just one part of an international effort.

 

[PannickAtTheDisco]

No it did not, that is historical revisionism. It was certainly not alone in 1939. When Britain first went to war, it was as the ally of both Poland and France. Australia and New Zealand declared war on the same day as Britain did. They were joined by South Africa three days later, and Canada four days after that. In the following months British troops also fought alongside the Norwegians, the Belgians and the Dutch. In other words Britain was just one part of an international effort.

poster talks about the summer of 1940, you talk about 1939, bringing in several countries who were conquered by the summer of 1940 and the rest who joined in and supported us because of their commonwealth association.

 

[Two Gun Bob]

Why are you bothered about street names? Are they really important in the grand scheme of things. Would changing the M6 to Cunty bolloxs lane really mean you cant get the same road from Knutsford to London.

Then pray tell why are they all bothered about tearing them down, because it's a two way street is it not? Would their time not be better spent knocking out a few dissertations on Carl Marx, or maybe just cracking on with some colouring in. The Luddites didn't achieve an awful lot, although I feel sure it was lots of fun at the time.

 

[Chris in London]

So why engage in criminality by tearing them down in the first place. Statues, buildings, monuments are all intrinsic parts of our past. Might as well burn all the literature on Churchill because books will not cease to make him a figure of the past, they will however suppress his memory for future generations to come which I guess was the desired effect. Same with our street names and tearing them down is just silly. Do you think you can nurture and educate a populace by carrying out acts of criminality or is it best to move forward by educating ,informing and learning from the past.

This conflates two separate issues, though. Not only are Statues, street names, and so on part of our history, but so are the decisions made by past generations to venerate the people they were named after. A statue of Cecil Rhodes stands in Oxford not because of what he did and what he achieved, but because other people thought what he did and what he achieved was worth celebrating.

What Rhodes did is a matter of historical fact. Nothing that the rampaging residents of Oxford or their elected representatives might do or decide will change that. What is being revisited is not the life of Cecil Rhodes as a body of work, as it were, but the decisions of subsequent generations to revere what he did.

In modern times, we can legitimately acknowledge that by modern standards colonialism is wrong without losing sight of the facts that by the standards of the time colonialism was not wrong and was not completely without its compensations. Criminal action is always wrong, but the decision of whether that means that the statue of Cecil Rhodes should be left in place in public, removed to a college or museum, or torn down and thrown into the Cherwell is a matter for the people of Oxford and their elected representatives. What they would be doing is not rewriting history, but revisiting a decision to celebrate it.

 

[Two Gun Bob]

No it did not, that is historical revisionism. It was certainly not alone in 1939. When Britain first went to war, it was as the ally of both Poland and France. Australia and New Zealand declared war on the same day as Britain did. They were joined by South Africa three days later, and Canada four days after that. In the following months British troops also fought alongside the Norwegians, the Belgians and the Dutch. In other words Britain was just one part of an international effort.

Your wrong and as @PannickAtTheDisco mentioned changed the year back to 1939 to suit your own narrative. There is no stopping you when you on a roll : / In the summer of 1940 Britain stood alone against the might of the Wehrmachts Luftwaffe.

 

[Saddleworth2]

poster talks about the summer of 1940, you talk about 1939, bringing in several countries who were conquered by the summer of 1940 and the rest who joined in and supported us because of their commonwealth association.

From Wiki.

At the start of the war on 1 September 1939, the Allies consisted of Poland, the United Kingdom, and France as well as their dependent states, such as British India. They were joined by the independent Dominions of the British Commonwealth: Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.[1] After the start of the German invasion of North Europe until the Balkan Campaign, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, and Yugoslavia joined the Allies.

 

[Saddleworth2]

Your wrong and as Ban has mentioned changed the year back to 1939 to suit your own narrative. There is no stopping you when you on a roll : / In the summer of 1940 Britain stood alone against the might of the Wehrmachts Luftwaffe.

Sorry mate, what about NZ, SA, Canada.....?

 

[Corky]

Your wrong and as Ban mentioned changed the year back to 1939 to suit your own narrative. There is no stopping you when you on a roll : / In the summer of 1940 Britain stood alone against the might of the Wehrmachts Luftwaffe.

It was Poland being attacked by both sides who were really alone, and when the USSR won the war it didn't mean freedom for them.

 

[Two Gun Bob]

Sorry mate, what about NZ, SA, Canada.....?

The war in 1940 was centered around the European theater and whilst NZ SA and Canada were our allies it was Britain that stood resolute in this hour of need engaging the Hun in mortal combat over the skies of England for the freedom of the known world. We are talking about a battle and a moment in time in a WW2 theater were we stood fast.

As mentioned earlier, we did not stand alone on the field of battle during the remainder of the campaign. Hitlers downfall was taking the fight on too many fronts at the same time and of course the harsh Russian winter. The bombing by the Japanese of pearl harbour didn't exactly help their cause either. If Russia and America had not being sucked into the maelstrom then I fear this sceptered isle of ours would have been lost unto hands of tyranny and the world a very different place that we see before us today.

 

[KPXBLN]

Your wrong and as Ban mentioned changed the year back to 1939 to suit your own narrative. There is no stopping you when you on a roll : / In the summer of 1940 Britain stood alone against the might of the Wehrmachts Luftwaffe.

in the summer of 1940 my granddad - who wasn’t British - was fighting against the German in North Africa. Britain was not “alone” at any time in the war. It’s not an insult to Britain to say this, it doesn’t undermine anyone’s pride if they want to feel proud, it’s just a simple matter of fact.