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Maybe I am slightly prejudiced on this (being a woman myself), but I never see anything about the Women's Suffrage movement. I mean, women in this country didn't get the vote until, what? 1920?
Maybe I am slightly prejudiced on this (being a woman myself), but I never see anything about the Women's Suffrage movement. I mean, women in this country didn't get the vote until, what? 1920?
Women did not get the vote in Switzerland until 1971.. so maybe we're not so far behind
Is the Moro War on the island of Mindanao considered to be a part of the Philippine Insurrection or a seperate conflict that overlapped?
The official war against organized Philipino forces was 1899-1902.However,guerilla war continued until 1913.The Moros were just one of several groups that continued to fight.This little known war was quite nasty,with atrocities committed by both sides.For every American lost in combat at least 3 or 4 more died from diseases.
The official war against organized Philipino forces was 1899-1902.However,guerilla war continued until 1913.The Moros were just one of several groups that continued to fight.This little known war was quite nasty,with atrocities committed by both sides.For every American lost in combat at least 3 or 4 more died from diseases.
Thanks for the response. It's actually very intriguing and brings up alot of lessons for Iraq and Afghanistan. I wish more people would display an interest in US military history outside of WWII and the Civil War, we have been involved in dozens of other conflicts many of which are virtually unheard by the average American.
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I don't recall much being said about out Revolutionary War
The problem with the Revolution is that we think we know about it when we really don't. Their was alot more to it then brave Patriot militia picking off British troops marching through the forest as if on parade in London. In reality, the militia was next to useless and made little to no contribution to victory. Victory was achieved by the European trained Continental regulars who fought using European style tactics and of course the French and Spanish aid also played a major role. If it wasent for France sending us weapons and advisers like Lafayette, and later an expeditionary force to Yorktown we never would have won.
Popular culture and movies like The Patriot are embarrassing.
Popular culture and movies like The Patriot are embarrassing.
Concur.Have commented at length on earlier threads about how awful and inaccurate almost all so called historical films are.In The Patriot Mel Gibson was no Francis Marion,and they got Banastre Tarleton all wrong.
Concur.Have commented at length on earlier threads about how awful and inaccurate almost all so called historical films are.In The Patriot Mel Gibson was no Francis Marion,and they got Banastre Tarleton all wrong.
I think The Patriot was really a WWII movie set during the American Revolution; the patriot militia were the French resistance and the British/Loyalists were the Germans and the Vichy French Milice Francaise.
The British did not go around burning down churches with the entire village packed inside. They may have burned villages and destroyed crops but they did not wantonly massacre civilians.
I would like to learn more about the settling of Appalachia. Scots,Irish. What there interaction with the native tribes were. And what made them such independant people with an obvious aversion to the government. I think the making and selling of whiskey would be a good example of their F*** you attitude toward authority.
There could be two lists drawn, one taken from polling living Americans and asking them to name the most famous Americans in history. The other could be a list of those who were the most famous Americans while they were alive. Some names would appear on both lists, such as George Washington or Buffalo Bill, but there would be some names which would only show up on the second list, the one of Americans who were incredibly famous while alive, but for whatever reasons, have faded into secondary status in modern memories.
Two men who fit that last description are Stephen Decatur and William Walker. How well do you think they would score in a modern poll of American fame? How many of us can describe their careers as compared to the number which could identify Paul Revere or Billy the Kid, two people who really didn't do much of note?
Because of this relatively obscure modern status, there isn't much appreciation of the mega fame these men enjoyed while they lived. Decatur was Horatio Hornblower come to life. His naval exploits read like the script of an action adventure movie which you assume is gross exageration. He was already famed as a result of his James Bond style heroics in the war against the Barbary pirates, and he added greatly to it by his victories over the British during the war of 1812. Since America was doing so poorly in the land portion of that war, its successful sea captains became figures of immense renown. Decatur was the most colorful of them all. Further, since the method of his death was the sort of thing which attracts great attention (killed in a duel), one would think that he would have been an unforgettable icon.
If one reads the history of America in the 1850's, it is full of memorable characters.....John Brown, Dred Scott, Lincoln and Douglas, John Fremont, Kit Carsen, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Horace Greeley.....all well remembered.
But do you know who the most famous American alive during that time was? It was the fillibusterer William Walker. He was an extraordinary man and his was an extraordinary life. Intellectually gifted, Walker graduated summa cumlaude from the University of Nashville at the age of 14. He studied medicine at the most advanced schools in England and Germany, he returned to America and studied law...and of course wound up being a newspaper publisher.
This doctor/lawyer/journalist didn't gain his fame in any of those fields. It was his adventures in the conquest of foreign nations which vaulted him to mega stardom in the 1850's. After some failed attempts elsewhere, in 1856, he and a tiny handful of followers siezed control of Nicaragua and Walker became its president for a year. After a forced repatriazation back to the US, Walker immediately set about to do it all over again, this time aiming at Honduras. This time he incurred the wrath of the British who captured him and turned him over to local authorities who had him executed by firing squad in 1860.
I suspect that it was the outbreak of the Civil War the following year which caused people to shove Walker onto the backburner of memories and focus on the men who were being made famous by the war.
There was one attempt to put Walker's story on film....and it was a god awful, surrealistic piece of garbage. Walker deserves a good, narrative movie about his career.
Last edited by Thyra; 10-24-2009 at 11:53 AM..
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