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I go for the Napoleonic Wars going back to their beginnings in the French Revolution, major shift in the way people thought about themselves, their nation, the way we fight wars, etc. It is also the one past conflict that set the stage for eveything that happened right up to the beginning of WW2; which would be the second on my list, because that marks the next great shift.
This.
I personally feel I've been overexposed to teaching on WW II having spent most of high school studying it, so I am at this point looking to other wars...
I personally feel I've been overexposed to teaching on WW II having spent most of high school studying it, so I am at this point looking to other wars...
Great...we are assigning you the The Russo-Japanese War of '04-'05. Please get back to us with your report.
The American Civil War aka the War Between the States. Being from Louisiana, this is always important, and its important this war is continuously studied to give some justice to the descendants of many who fought in it. In many parts of the country, lies are told in history classrooms and books about how the South was evil and the war was completely about slavery, and how all Southerners were racist and fought the war to keep blacks in chains. They never learn about the high ranking Jews in the Confederate army, or the blacks and Native Americans who fought for the Confederacy. In many places outside the South, and now even in some areas with a lot of transplants, the Confederate flag can sometimes have a stigma to it. Also the lessons from the war are still valid in America today, especially an overbearing government that does not respect states rights, especially since Obama became president. Both the Civil War and the American Revolution had a lot to do with taxation and tariffs also, and our tax loving federal government, and several tax loving state and local governments, should keep this in mind.
I'm surprsied the Mexican American War isn't given more attention since we did gain a quarter of our nation in that conflict. Also related to that conflict, i find the Texas Revolution very inspiring, especially the story of the Alamo and the heroes who sacrified themselves for freedom to same their compatriots as they held back Santa Anna's forces for a week so the other Texans could escape San Antonio and regroup and fight again. WW2 and Vietnam are knwon for both heroism and dishonor, WW2 obviously for what the Nazis and Japanese did, and Vietnam because of the government's conduct of the war. The US military did nOT lose the Vietnam War, in every battle where we fought the commies we kicked the crap out of them. While we lost over 55,000 Americans the communists losts millions dead, it was the federal government under pressure from traitorous liberals that betrayed our soldiers and the people of Vietnam who wanted freedom from communist oppression.
I think the wars with no glory or honor whatever and only shame include the Bosnian civil war, the Lebanese civil war, and the Iran-Iraq War.
Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Originally Posted by Tom Lennox 70
The American Civil War aka the War Between the States. Being from Louisiana, this is always important, and its important this war is continuously studied to give some justice to the descendants of many who fought in it. In many parts of the country, lies are told in history classrooms and books about how the South was evil and the war was completely about slavery, and how all Southerners were racist and fought the war to keep blacks in chains. They never learn about the high ranking Jews in the Confederate army, or the blacks and Native Americans who fought for the Confederacy. In many places outside the South, and now even in some areas with a lot of transplants, the Confederate flag can sometimes have a stigma to it. Also the lessons from the war are still valid in America today, especially an overbearing government that does not respect states rights, especially since Obama became president. Both the Civil War and the American Revolution had a lot to do with taxation and tariffs also, and our tax loving federal government, and several tax loving state and local governments, should keep this in mind.
I'm surprsied the Mexican American War isn't given more attention since we did gain a quarter of our nation in that conflict. Also related to that conflict, i find the Texas Revolution very inspiring, especially the story of the Alamo and the heroes who sacrified themselves for freedom to same their compatriots as they held back Santa Anna's forces for a week so the other Texans could escape San Antonio and regroup and fight again. WW2 and Vietnam are knwon for both heroism and dishonor, WW2 obviously for what the Nazis and Japanese did, and Vietnam because of the government's conduct of the war. The US military did nOT lose the Vietnam War, in every battle where we fought the commies we kicked the crap out of them. While we lost over 55,000 Americans the communists losts millions dead, it was the federal government under pressure from traitorous liberals that betrayed our soldiers and the people of Vietnam who wanted freedom from communist oppression.
I think the wars with no glory or honor whatever and only shame include the Bosnian civil war, the Lebanese civil war, and the Iran-Iraq War.
I read that blacks weren't allowed to fight for the Conferederacy? Or is that false? I know the War was more complex than just a conflict over slavery.
Among those millions of dead communists were many civilians, innocent men, women and children who just wanted freedom from foreign interference. Certainly nothing to be proud of. But I won't get into that.
Which war do you spend most time reading about/researching/watching documentaries etc about?
Perhaps the War of 1812. A large part of my family on both sides are Canadians, or 1st or 2nd generation Americans of Canadian background. Thus, while educated in the U.S. I became aware of how different this war was to my Canadian cousins. Sometimes it almost sounded like two different events.
What really pricked my interest was that while Loyalist ancestors who had left the U.S. after the revolution were active in the Canadian militias during this war (as would be expected), so were another part of the family who immigrated to Canada from the U.S. only a year or two before the war started. It also fascinates me that the majority of the population of Ontario at this time was made up of recent emigrants from the U.S., and not Loyalists and their children who arrived right after the revolution. Their loyalty was a big worry to the British, and a big hope for the Americans, but they remained loyal to their new country.
I read that blacks weren't allowed to fight for the Conferederacy? Or is that false? I know the War was more complex than just a conflict over slavery.
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The Confederate government did not recruit or permit black soldiers for any position save musician, but there were many blacks who fought despite this policy. Regional commanders would list these volunteers on the regimental rolls as "body servants" or "camp workers", but they were combat soldiers nonetheless.
Nathan Bedford Forrest for example, invited his own slaves to join his cavalry under the above "wink wink" status. He told them that if they fought well and didn't get killed, after the war they would be freed. There was also an entire regiment of free blacks in Louisiana called the Corps d’Afrique, who were organized right away at the war's start.
There were advocates of arming the slaves, but they were considered dangerous radicals by the Confederate government. Patrick Cleburne started calling for such a measure in late 1863 and this probably harmed his chances for promotion. As States Rights Gist observed "If slaves make good soldiers, then our entire theory of slavery is wrong."
It wasn't until early in 1865, when General Lee informed President Davis that it might be necessary to start arming the slaves in order to ward off defeat via attrition, that the Confederate government finally changed the policy and agreed to recruit slave regiments. This work was just getting underway when the war ended.
world war two is the most interesting war for me by far. consider that virtually every technology used in warfare today was used in world war two. that war saw the development of;
ballistic missiles
nuclear warheads
jet engines
air to surface missiles
surface to air missiles
guided missiles
digital computers
fire control computers
assault weapons(the germans sturmgewehr)
cruise missiles
Being from the area where it started, I would vote for the French & Indian War, a.k.a. the Seven Years War, except it wasn't included in the poll. (Seriously, the Crimean gets in but not F&I??!)
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