Passchendaele

[sp1814]

I don't want to offend anyone, and I am not being flippant - but I've literally never heard of this before.

There are rememberance ceremonies going on today - but the Battle of Passchendaele isn't something that (I suspect) my generation really know about.

Is this a notable event in WW1? Am I just uneducated in this, or have others been taken by surprise?

[anotheoldgit]

Zacs-Master

/// It's all about level of detail tho AOG. ///

Enough to give an all round knowledge of our history Zacs, rather than to just focus on one particular period.

[Mamyalynne]

I agree a good all round knowledge is the ideal but this will still lead to gaps, there's no way any curriculum can be a catch all.

[anotheoldgit]

Mamyalynne

If there were gaps, and I not suggesting that there wasn't, they would have been unimportant gaps.

[jim360]

How could you know, unless you knew what the gaps were, if they were important or not? :P

[Peter Pedant]

// we were taught history from early man to what was then the present time.//

erm no by the sixties - history began 1066 and ended 1914 and most people concentrated 1760-1914

My brother did European History and ended up knowing very little about anything

I quite liked the idea of 'we were only taught important events in History'
OK who was the wife of Edward the Confessor ? Nope not important (Emma I think)
OK what was the... Sykes Picot LIne ? Nope not important again
( agreement 1916 between France and Britain to partition the Levant)
OK 1st battle of Alamein - - yeah know about the 2nd Battle so this must have been.... the one before that !

Good one - I will remember that.....

[Khandro]

//Perhaps it depends on how old you are.//
Or how interested you are in the history of your country and what your forefathers have fought and died for.
Does anyone 'remember' the battle of Waterloo?

[Old_Geezer]

My school history lessons included ancient Greeks & Romans. However both world wars were too recent to be covered. Any info from those times has been gleaned outside of school.

[anotheoldgit]

jim360

I put my faith in the expertise of my History master.

[anotheoldgit]

Peter Pedant

I wasn't taught in the sixties, thank goodness.

[anotheoldgit]

Khandro

/// Does anyone 'remember' the battle of Waterloo? ///

Just like Passchendaele it was fought in Belgium and mud was also a very big problem for the troops who fought there.

[bhg481]

If anyone has visited the site of the Battle of Waterloo they could be forgiven for thinking that Napoleon won. There he was walking around so that you could take his photo and the place was full of souvenirs with him on it. I only saw one Wellington souvenir.

[Togo]

Nothing changes BHG. You would be forgiven if you got the impression that Germany "won" WW2 if you were a visitor from outer space and saw how Europe is again dominated by them.

[Khandro]

bhg. Well that's Belgium for you, nothing changes, still lying to us! :0)

[New Judge]

"Does anyone 'remember' the battle of Waterloo?"

Yes I do. There I was, last Friday, trying to get on the 18:15 (Geddit?) to Surbiton when all hell broke lose. :-)

[youngmafbog]

I was working in Braine-l'Alleud a few years back with some Belgium's and some French colleges. Our Belgium colleagues took us all into the car park where you can see the Lion on the mound and then asked the French if they would like to re enact it. Needless to say the French were not amused!

[youngmafbog]

Yes but yours was probably caused by a jumper or leaves on the line not a Wellington NJ.

[albaqwerty]

NJ, the 'all hell that broke loose' wasn't the gay pride parade was it ? ;-)

[jim360]

How touchingly naive, AOG.

No, but, seriously, what counts as "important" in history is surely rather subjective anyway.

[albaqwerty]

isn't History written by the 'winners' and not the 'losers' ?

[youngmafbog]

And then re-written by left wingers.