Can English people explain how they feel about this?

[Green215]

As an English person, do you hold resentment towards any country based on historical grievances like war, invasion, famine, colonialism etc? If so, which; if not, why?

The reason I ask is because I’ve always found it odd how the English tend to be the only people in the world who do not hold such grievances.

Irish people are always complaining about British colonialism; many Scots and Welsh likewise complain about England on a historical basis; Greeks and Turks complain about one another; Africans, Indians, Arabs etc complain about European colonialism and American invasions; China complains about Japanese atrocities and vice versa; Russia complains about German atrocities; post-Soviet states complain about Russian occupation; France and Germany complain about one another; America often complains about the Revolution; Canada complains about the War of 1812; Mexico and Latin American countries and Caribbean countries complain about American invasions or interference or colonialism; some Australians resent British rule etc.

But, rarely do English people demand reparations or sing “rebel songs” or complain about historical grievances. Why?

I could understand if maybe some English people resented Germany due to the two world balls or resented America for things like the Suez crisis and the funding of the IRA. And truth be told, I have come across some English people that are like that. But, they are very few compared to the other peoples I described.

I understand that this is sort of an academic question, but I wanted to come on this forum to ask ordinary English people how they felt and I hope you can give some honest answers rather than sarcastic responses or not answering the question properly.

Agreed. The Italians invaded England. No one gives them a hard time. Maybe because they made stuff. We did that in lots of countries too. No one gives us credit..

As opposed to the Spanish who left only death and devastation in most of South America. And language.

Exactly. We got dragged into two world wars that we really didn't want to be a part of

The Normans were complete gits.

If Horrible Histories haven’t done a song called that, then they should’ve done.

Yes so it’s the living memory part that’s the issue

I feel the other way, like it's really odd to hold grievances about things which didn't happen to you... against people who weren't alive whenever the misdeed took place.

I boggles my mind when countries (or company boards or whatever) "apologise" for things hundreds of years ago.

Trying to make it somewhat relative to my own life, my family are very left wing, and also got totally fucked by Thatcherites back in the not-too-distant past. But what could any of us possibly gain if the Conservatives one day "apologised" for it publicly? Don't get it. Plus, it's cringy.

dont be a wet lettuce. You didn't need to clarify, it was obvious what you meant

Not pedantic at all

Perhaps some of us save all the resentment for the inequality, class system and aristos foisted on us by the Conquest whose impacts never went away and regularly rear their ugly little heads. And on the north/ south division. There’s a lot of north/ south division and resentment of London.

Also all English people have a bounded duty to hate the French because they smell of elderberries. There’s a nice book called ‘A thousand years of Annoying the French’.

One of these is partly fun, because frogs are quite cute really and essential to ecosystems. The other is not.

It's because no-one can be mad with the nation that gave us pizza - statistically, it's impossible.

And the reason we didn't levy crippling reparations after WW2 is because those from WWI created the circumstances which allowed Hitler to rise to power & directly contributed towards the second world war.

Who were the English colonised by to feel angry at?

This was my first thought. The were the colonisers, not the colonised.

I don’t hate any other country. And I always think countries that hate us - it probably comes from a place of jealousy….

Absolutely.

We’re all awful people. F our inventions, f our language, f our literature, f our countryside, f our sense of humour…

No, we’re all Very Bad and must atone for the sins of our fathers (mine were total bottom of the heap really winning at life peasants).

As a pp observed, why on earth would anyone want to immigrate to such a dump as this?

To be honest I thought it was obvious but apparently not

I'm English and hold no grudges for the 2/3rds of the world selfishly taking their countries back and requesting return of the stolen riches. I would also not complain if the countries we continue to occupy did the same.

Exactly. Hyper inflation and all that jazz. But Britain did once ask …. and receive. Wow that GCSE history still hits hard 25 years later!

Rule Britannia was actually written during The War of Jenkins Ear a conflict that broke out due to British ships smuggling goods into Spanish colonies - they smuggled slaves too. The Spanish navy used to board British ships and during one such encounter Captain Jenkins had his ear cut off. He later showed up in Parliament when there was debate on whether to go to war with Spain.

The song demands that Britain rule the waves so nobody can ever treat them like slaves even if they were transporting slaves themselves

Because it’s not a thread we want to start pulling at because then we have to accept that we’ve done a lot of bad shit over the years!

The teaching of British history in schools is a bit crap. We focus a lot on ww2 (ie when we were the actual good guys) and then a lot on how England was formed - Romans/Vikings/Anglo-Saxons but not a lot on the nitty gritty of colonialism and what that actually meant. An example being you’d think it was wild if a German person didn’t know about Nazi concentration camps but very few British people will know about the British concentration camps in Kenya in the 1950s. So we just sort of have this incorrect idea that we were history's good guys. I know a few people who when it has came up in conversation actually thought Britain got involved in ww2 to save the Jewish people.

Also, it’s not so bad as in the 80s and 90s but there’s definitely a group of people who still bang on about what Germans did in the war so if they knew a bit more of British history they probably would hold a grudge to be fair.

I've met plenty of English people who hate the Scots, Irish, Welsh and French. Loads more with issues about the Germans - they chant 'two world wars and one world cup'. Plenty who resent the Poles and other eastern European migrants and some who don't like 'Pakis', 'wogs' and whatever.
Has all the anti-immigration flag painting of recent weeks passed you by?

Absolutely not. Why would we?

When we were children, my granddad, who had served in WWII as a medical orderly, took us to Cannock Chase war cemetery. He chose that location because he wanted us to know that the ordinary German soldiers were just ordinary people, and not evil. Why blame people today for the actions of previous generations? There is no point to that for me. Though I can confess, when younger, being peeved at US funding for the IRA.

My thoughts exactly.

I think the Celts need to stay out of our banter with our European friends, they really don’t understand it!

Agree with this...

While I do remember those that gave their lives for England's freedom I'm the type that believes you can't move forward if you keep looking back.