@kyledabearsfan
in the US, the War of 1812 is actually usually taught as a pretty needless war that ended in a draw but taught with pride that we still fought back against a superior power while still in our infancy. But not taught as a win by any means.
@SilverHeist
I asked a British friend living in America “Do you have the 4th of July in England?” “No we have the 3rd of July, and go straight to the 5th of July”.
@BaerTheBlader
I once asked a British person how the American Revolution was taught in British schools. He told me that it is much the same way that the Philippine war of independence is taught in American schools. It was on that day…as an adult…that I learned that the Philippines used to be an American colony and they fought a bloody war for their freedom. Apparently it’s kind of a big deal over there 🤷🏾♂️.
@neolexiousneolexian6079
United States: We took on the British Empire, and we didn't lose! Canada: We took on the United States, and we didn't lose! Britain: Ah yes, 1812, jolly spiffing time with that Napoleon frog chap…
@Mystic-marzipan
I recall having a Japanese student on exchange in the uk in the 90s. It was the first time I realised they don’t learn much at all about the war. We were studying it in history and she had never heard of Japan being involved at all. She had some hard lessons that year I think. She was lovely though
@Zacattack90
The burning of the white house is a big aspect of the war of 1812 in American schools because it’s paired with the fact that the First Lady Dolly Madison was able to save the portrait of George Washington which is considered very patriotic. It’s probably one of the few facts about the war I still remember. 5:15
@RichZFishes
I have a friend who is Japanese. The version of history he was taught in his youth (he is in his late 60s now) says that the Japanese offered to negotiate a peaceful end to the war, but the US did not want a peaceful, negotiated agreement, and dropped the first atomic bomb just two days later. On his last visit here, we were driving on I-95, and when we crossed the Quinnipiac River bridge in New Haven CT, before daybreak when the bridge was all lit up in blue, he asked if this bridge had a name. Although locals call it the Q Bridge, it's actually the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge.
@DC_Greed
If I remember correctly, the war of 1812 was taught in my school as a stalemate, but that a stalemate for the fledgling United States was a victory because it reaffirmed independence and brought us away from being seen as under the British umbrella for good. A situation where you don't have to win, you just can't lose.
@deborahjarecki3163
One of the best history classes I had in public middle school was a course on American history from other countries. Each chapter in the textbook was from a different perspective. I was surprised that the UK history books covered the American Revolution as a "brief skirmish" that became too expensive to maintain, so letting the colonies go was the better choice than to keep engaging in battles with the colonists
@Plaprad
Knew a guy in the Air Force who grew up in Japan and went to Japanese schools until High School. He was telling us in the 90's his history class basically spent a few weeks on the Meiji Revolution, another week going up to the late twenties, then it was basically "World War II started, the US dropped A-bombs on us, and on to the recovery." Apparently, when he asked his teacher about Pearl Harbor they said that was only discussed in college history classes.
@SkunkdMonk
I started school in Canada, and finished in America. I was blown away with how different the emphasis on 1812 was, especially how they completely ignore the fact they DID want to annex Canada. It was also fun in class talking about the American Revolution. The teachers would say "You're ancestors fought to make this country", but like, my family were British Officers.
@KatyaOrlova-jp1gy
I studied in a Russian school. We weren't taught that Japan surrendered because of the Soviets, but we did learn about the Soviet-Japanese war, which wasn't resolved until September 1945.
@kreiner1
The only thing I remember from the war of 1812 was that they burnt the White House.
@1wuzgray325
I'm Canadian and I don't recall spending all that much time on the war of 1812. The only thing that comes to mind is the snickering we all did when we learned the white house had been burned down.
@rebeccaaycock8059
American here, I was born after 9/11 so I was taught about it at school. In my school we were taught kind of about the war afterwards but more in a “we didn’t coward away” way but we were never really told the before. I feel like every time we were taught the teachers were always so full of emotions that it made us ask less questions. And I wasn’t just taught in my history class. Every year, every class on the anniversary it was talked about. And yet I never really felt like I was taught anything other than “ they attacked us on our own land SO WE WENT TO WAR!”
@546268
My wife, who is Belorussian, was taught that the atomic bomb was a pre emptive strike by the west, and that is why you should be afraid of them. ‘If they did it to Japan, they could do it to us’. She had no knowledge of pearl harbour or the atrocities committed against allied soldiers and civilians.
@RogerWKnight
Fun fact about the War of 1812. Americans invaded Toronto, then called York, and took a bunch of books from the library. A year later, the Americans again invaded York, and returned the books they borrowed from the library!
@murpho999
Another good example is Ireland. Ireland’s struggle for freedom and away from British colonialism is huge in Irish schools but I have met British people who still think Ireland is part of the UK and have no idea of the history of Ireland, its nearest neighbour and Britain’s role in it.
@Compucles
The Pilipino-American War: Practically if not literally absent from most middle/high school U.S. textbooks, I can't even imagine how it's covered in the Philippines. Heck, they now ignore their actual date of independence in the aftermath of World War 2 in favor of their declared date of independence from the P-A War, despite losing that war and that declaration being ultimately meaningless from a practical standpoint.
@JonSmith-hk1bq