George Washington voted Britain's greatest foe

[WKDWZD]

Exactly. He was a threat to the existance of Britain. He was taking over all of europe.

Strike up the band, I actually agree with betamanlet.

Washington, with the help of the French, cost England a colony, Bonaparte threatened Britain's very existance.

[Byng]

Reading is fundamental eh?

It does help if you read what you post first, especially if you are the thread originator!

[Byng]

Washington wasn't an Existential threat to Britain, Napoleon was.

Again, what are they teaching people these days?

Washington won, Napoleon lost.

[WKDWZD]

Yeah, but He lost, while Washingtom won.

I think veritas nailed it on this one. Losing half of their North American possessions really hurt.

Certain members of parliament favoured letting the colony go, it was only George III's greed and stubborness that caused the war, given a few more years the US would have gained its independence without the blood letting.

[Seadog]

... And they still had a whole lot of Canada.

And still do, which is why I said "half".

[betamanlet]

Washington won, Napoleon lost.

That's like saying Ho Chi Minh was the biggest foe of the US.

We didn't try to win, the british didn't try to win either. If they had wanted to have won, they would of, but weren't willing to make the effort.

[Byng]

That's like saying Ho Chi Minh was the biggest foe of the US.

We didn't try to win, the british didn't try to win either. If they had wanted to have won, they would of, but weren't willing to make the effort.

I will side/agree with the excellent post provided by veritas, the first time I can think of, that I have agreed with one of his posts this year to date.

[Seadog]

That's like saying Ho Chi Minh was the biggest foe of the US.

We didn't try to win, the british didn't try to win either. If they had wanted to have won, they would of, but weren't willing to make the effort.

I'm trying to remember, who else besides Uncle Ho ever won a war against us?

As for us not trying, I sure humped a lot of ammunition in an effort we weren't serious about. We tried pretty damned hard to win for a while, but in the end, we realized that it was never our battle to begin with, and keeping the Goodyear rubber plantation and a few bauxtite mines in the free world wasn't really worth the cost in blood and treasure. Fortunately, Nixon had the good sense to put an end to Kennedy's war.

[betamanlet]

I'm trying to remember, who else besides Uncle Ho ever won a war against us?

As for us not trying, I sure humped a lot of ammunition in an effort we weren't serious about. We tried pretty damned hard to win for a while, but in the end, we realized that it was never our battle to begin with, and keeping the Goodyear rubber plantation and a few bauxtite mines in the free world wasn't really worth the cost in blood and treasure. Fortunately, Nixon had the good sense to put an end to Kennedy's war.

We didn't win the Korean war either. The second we leave Afghanistan, the taliban will take over again, so we will have lost that war too.

We fought the vietnam war with one arm tied behind our backs. If we were prepared to kill a lot of people and fight an all out war like we did in WW2, we would have won.

[zenwalk]

Can you elaborate on this a little?

My mistake. The Kurtz Character in Apocalypse Now. Kurtz was dangerous because he took the war to heart in a true believer fashion. Authorities like to see soldiers marching, not getting off the boat so to speak. TE Lawrence got off the boat but went mad just like Kurtz.

[banner1124]

We didn't win the Korean war either. The second we leave Afghanistan, the taliban will take over again, so we will have lost that war too.

We fought the vietnam war with one arm tied behind our backs. If we were prepared to kill a lot of people and fight an all out war like we did in WW2, we would have won.

The Korean war isn't even actually over yet.

Afghanistan was technically supposed to be about getting bin Laden... that's done.

The soldiers didn't fight with one arm tied behind our backs. Technically I think our soldiers won every battle in that war. Militarily we kicked ***... unfortunately that war was much more about politics and geo-political concerns than anything else... and we didn't come out too well on that end.

[zenwalk]

Proxy wars are morally reprehensible. That's why we keep losing, or shall we say, not winning. Immoral behavior has repercussions and it's not victory.

[Seadog]

[/B]

The Korean war isn't even actually over yet.
Very true, I spent about 12 months in South Korea doing a project for the RoK Navy. Pretty much every able-bodied male, and a good number of females, serve in the military. National air raid drills are held monthly. The beaches are guarded by RoK marines to prevent Northern infiltrators from slipping in. However, economically, the South has won that war hands down.
Afghanistan was technically supposed to be about getting bin Laden... that's done.
So lets learn from the Brit's mistakes and get the hell out.
The soldiers didn't fight with one arm tied behind our backs. Technically I think our soldiers won every battle in that war. Militarily we kicked ***... unfortunately that war was much more about politics and geo-political concerns than anything else... and we didn't come out too well on that end.

Also, it is pretty hard to suppress a rebellion when the general populace is on the rebel side. In any event, although the communists won, they are, for the most part, not communists anymore. Viet Nam is now a vacation paradise and the US is in the process of allying with them against our mutual opponent China.

[banner1124]

[/b]
Also, it is pretty hard to suppress a rebellion when the general populace is on the rebel side. In any event, although the communists won, they are, for the most part, not communists anymore. Viet Nam is now a vacation paradise and the US is in the process of allying with them against our mutual opponent China.

That is absolutely correct.

Also, regarding Afghanistan I'm in complete agreement as well. We need to get the hell out of there.

[bullmikey]

I'm still scratching my head at Turkey's Ataturk being on any list much less the shortlist. Maybe the American Idol staff compiled the names because it makes about as much sense as last show's bottom three.

He probably killed more Brits than Geroge W. did,

[bullmikey]

Can you elaborate on this a little?

Yeah, I've read it two or three times and I don't remember there being a seal in it by any name.

[zenwalk]

He probably killed more Brits than Geroge W. did,

If that's the criterion, might as well give that award to the Kaiser. I believe WWI probably still holds that record as far as Great Britain goes. Gallipoli was a horrific blunder of the same sort that Lee gave into with Pickett's Charge. Children could have defended that salient.

[bullmikey]

Exactly. He was a threat to the existance of Britain.

It was more like Britain was a threat to his existence, since the British financed collation after collation against him – while doing a beggar’s share of the fighting themselves – in their never-ending quest to restore Bourbons and crush the ideals of the French Revolution. Britain’s government was a gentleman’s club run by the gentlemen for the benefit of the gentlemen. How dare some Corsican upstart treat the rabble as if they were actually human and had rights! No way did the knobby snots want Liberty, Fraternity, and the Rights of Man living next door to them. Next thing you know the ordinary blokes might start getting ideas.

Because Napoleon was so successful in the field people tend to forget that in most of his campaigns it was he fighting on the defensive and his opponents acting as the aggressors. It was only after 1810, when his Continental System began to flounder, that he became a bully-boy in the true sense of the word.