In order to extol British martial prowess at the 2012 Olympic Games we will need to have some sort of celebration/re-enactment for as many countries as possible. I'll start the ball rolling with some obvious ones: France - 1815 - Waterloo (also could have used Agincourt, Crecy, Harfleur, Trafalgar, Talavera, Busacco, etc etc..) USA - 1812 - War of 1812 Germany - 1918 - First World War
Just list the ones we haven't been at war with. Its easier and we haven't got all day. So its Planet Earth minus a few countries like Peru and Chile.
here's some more for you... Zanzibar - they surrendered after about 25 minutes - shortest war ever, i believe. Holland - camperdown and all that Finland - finally declared peace in the 1980's i think, although i don't think a single shot was actually fired in anger Russia - ski mask and all that
Ceremonial sinking of all the Italian rowing boats in a re-enactment of us sinking the Italian Navy in WWII</p> Falklands for the Argies.</p> Do you think the Taleban and/or Al Qaeda will be sending a team?</p>
You're not helping We need to know when and where in order to order the re-enactors/mentalists. Its no use sending a few tertio's of pikemen to represent our victory over China when it should be mid Victorian Royal Marines. Honestly.
The war with Finland The only war between two countries with democratically elected governments ? Or summat .
Tricky one that Afghanistan is currently in our possession, but as with previous invasions its probably not going to last. The Taleban will just say that they retreated strategically and did not actually lose. Think the best we can claim is a right royal bloody nose.
All of them at sometime We used to be smart and better than the rest until we started giving women the vote and being soft as *****. It went downhill from there. Should've kept the Empire.
We could tell the German team to go and sit in the French enclosure and get the USA team to go and hide, then get stuck into the Germans and tell the Japs to find and attack the USA squad and then all pile in together andkick the **** out of the Germans and Japs.</p> I like how we call ourselves "British" to make the Celtic fringe feel like they actually contribute.</p>
Not wishing to be pedantic or owt.. but didn' the Yanks beat us in the war of 1812? Battle of New Orleans, Lonnie Donegan etc?
Point of order - Germany 1918 The first world war was a stalemate in late 1917. Trench warfare meant nobody was winning.</p> The first example of electronic code breaking being of use was the First World War. The British broke a code sent by the Germans to their embassy in the US. They were causing trouble in Mexico in an attempt to keep America concentrating on their own borders and out of the war. When the British uncovered this plot and presented it to the Americans, it did the opposite and brought them into the war in May 1918</p> A matter of months later Nov 1918 the Germans surrended when they realised that the force of numbers the Americans would contribute effectively meant they were beaten.</p> It was an allied victory</p> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I#Entry_of_the_United_States</p>
Depends how you look at it The Battle of New Orleans took place 2 weeks after the war had officially ended by the signing of the peace treaty. Both sides handed back territory gained and one of the British aims was to protect Canada which they did. Then again, the US retained their independence. Sounds like it was a draw!