Quote Originally Posted by Mad Lews View Post
Ah to be lectured on arrogance by an Englishman, perhaps that’s a redundancy.

But an Englishman with such a peculiar recall of history? True the diplomats ended your attempt to reclaim the lost colonies back in 1815 but if New Orleans was any indication, you could ill afford a victory.

You dithered about in the 1860s until your erstwhile ally had been thoroughly starved, and beaten.

You trundled to a standstill in the Great War until we yanks threw our weight in.

You begged , and borrowed from us through the early years of the second Great War (BTW Lend/Lease implies repayment) and if we had followed that strutting peacock Monty’s advice we might still be attempting to strike at the Germans ‘soft underbelly’ as our tanks lumbered up the Italian peninsula and attempted to cross the Austrian alps.

Still I suspect your worse sin to be this. You dreamt of Empire and then you retreated without regard for the vacuum you left behind. I’d say you were no better than the French but I’m not that cruel.

As to the story, I’ll review it once I’ve calmed Mr. Lews down.

Respectfully yours,

Mad
Lol - Mad (and Lews)

Well, as a Canadian and NOT a Brit - I take exception to your linking the fiasco at New Orleans with the thorough drubbing your invading army suffered at Queenston Heights.

The userous repayment rates the US set on lend/lease (and requiring the Brits to honour broken commitments made by allies added to that) had a lot to do with the collapse of the British Empire - that and the loss of a large proportion of two generations of young men.

Yes, Lend/Lease was the only option open to Britain (and her allies) since the US was doing a land-office business with Germany supplying munitions initially. Indeed American industry had a strong lobby for the US to side with Germany from the early days of the Third Reich - it saw greater profit in crushing Britain. Britain finally did pay off the debt - in 2006. The US borrowed heavily during the War of Independence and again during the American Civil War. In both instance the US reneged on it's repayment commitments, making it the only modern world power that got there (in part) by declaring bankruptcy - twice.

The US flirted with joining the second world war on the side of the Axis until Japan attacked. Had Germany and Italy NOT sided with their axis ally (Japan) and declared war on the US when the US declared war on Japan it is likely the US would never have entered the European Theatre. Based on how badly the Germans were doing against the Russian winters, and the high command's insistence that Russia must be taken at all costs, it is likely that the war would have dragged on longer, but ultimately with the same outcome without US involvement. Indeed Patton's disasterous plan for Omaha Beach nearly cost the American Army it's soul.

Popular misconception to the contrary, the American involvement in WW II was a factor, but not the deciding factor Hollywood tries to portray.

And while the British did have an Empire and acknowledged it - the US has played at having an empire and denied it vociferously. I highly recommend Naill Ferguson's "Colossus: The Price of America's Empire" if you doubt me.

Yes, Mad and Lews, I am also a student of history - and some of the history published in the US is heavily "adjusted" to match what 'ought' to have happened rather than what did happen - historiography coupled with a touch of propaganda.

But we're off topic - lol - and this is an argument best taken with a nice glass of chablis before a roaring fire.