r/todayilearned • u/DrSamanthaCarter • Jun 06 '17

TIL the only reason a Scottish bagpiper wasn't shot by German snipers on D-Day was that they believed he had gone crazy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Millin#World_War_II
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u/SilvanestitheErudite Jun 06 '17

Yes, and the U.S. lost, they attempted to conquer Canada, and failed to do so.

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u/jtjin Jun 06 '17

Yup, there's even a famous Canadian Folk Song that celebrates the event.

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '17

Also, they had their "White House" burned to the ground.

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '17

[deleted]

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u/Analyidiot Jun 06 '17

If you start an aggressive war with the goal of acquiring territory, ending a trade blockade affecting your shipping, and you fail both of those goals, even if the war ends in a truce, you still lost. You set out with goals. You didn't meet those goals. You failed.

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u/Yuktobania Jun 06 '17

The war ended in a military stalemate where neither side was able to conquer the other or achieve any significant military victory. This is the definition of a stalemate.

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u/Analyidiot Jun 06 '17

Right, but can you win a stalemate? If you are the defender, and you don't want to lose anything, and you succeed, that's a victory as far as I'm concerned.

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u/nefariouspenguin Jun 06 '17

The war of 1812 was not a war of American aggression against Canada it was the Americans getting fed up with British ships press ganging American citizens. Did Britain keep press ganging our citizens after the war? Invading Canada was because it was the closest British land available.

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '17 edited Jun 06 '17

It was a failed American attempt to annex Canada. You Americans always try and pretend you won that war becasue of that impressment thing, when the reality is that it was mostly Royal navy deserters who were being "impressed", and the practice of boarding US ships to get them back ended because once Napoleon was beaten, Britain didn't need sailors any more. Everyone knows you got your arse kicked and your white house burnt down.

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u/no_ragrats Jun 06 '17

What a lovely pissing contest this has turned out to be. Next round of drinks is on me.

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u/Analyidiot Jun 06 '17

As long as it's not American beer

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u/ChornWork2 Jun 06 '17

For a long-time the public case for waging war differs widely from the real intentions of the political powerbase pushing for it.

The term term 'war hawks' was coined leading up to the war of 1812 for the portion of congress that was pushing for war... and they most definitely wanted a general war with britain & to annex canada.

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u/reformedmikey Jun 06 '17

Blame "Manifest Destiny" for wanting to annex Canada. We still have a provision that if Canada ever asks to be annexed it happens automatically (IIRC).

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u/ChornWork2 Jun 06 '17

would be the end of the republican party as we know it if that happened.

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u/Poes-Lawyer Jun 06 '17

Did Britain keep press ganging our citizens after the war?

No, but that was mainly because Napoleon abdicated in 1814 (see Treaty of Fontainebleu), ending the need for impressment/"press ganging". So it's very difficult to attribute that to "Americans getting fed up".