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.

My gdad always talked about how dangerous the Russians were when I grew up in the nineties. I didn't listen to him but he was right.

It wasn't me, it wasn't whoever I'm talking to, and it's unproductive to hold a grudge.

I have opinions on the national characters of various places, but view it very much the same way I view individuals - that everyone has foibles and hobby horses, that as long as no-one's actively being awful to me and mine they're welcome to them, and I actually enjoy the differences.

My mum (born 1921) hated the Germans and the Japanese, because of what she experienced during WW2. People of later generations than her don't have the same hatred because we don't have the direct experience of the war and can have a bit more logic, that it wasn't your average German or Jap who was our enemy. I did also work with someone who'd been a prisoner of the Japanese and I can't think that he liked them much!

I don't think we hate the French, but we do enjoy putting them down (their terrible plumbing, can't make a proper cuppa, etc) and they call us rosbifs because we burn in the sun and they take the mickey about our cooking. Isn't that kind of attitude the case with all countries that are neighbours?

I have a memory of my grandmother, a jew, proclaiming that she 'didn't like the Germans because of Hitler 'when Boris Becker won Wimbledon in the 80s and struggling to understand with my 10 year old brain what Boris had done wrong.

No, that would be absurd. I wasn't alive

And Italy. Denmark. Norway. Sweden. France.

Thank you. I guess I was thinking more recent history. But that is interesting.

No. What's the point? It's not the fault of the people there now.

I don’t hold any resentment against any country. I can’t respect anyone who does. People making themselves victims because of things which happened generations ago. If my grandmother had fallen out with someone I wouldn’t hold a grudge against their grandchild. It’s ridiculous.

I think England, as a whole, is naturally very resilient. We’ve seen and experienced it all throughout our history, the rise and fall of empires, the change from a religious society to an industrial one. We have set ourselves out as a strong and stable country for centuries.
it takes a lot to rattle us, but no one, I mean no one should mistake that for us being a push over.,when we rise up, no one would be wise to get in our way.,

I really like Germany and the Germans. I'm a bit biased because I'm a German teacher, but that means I've spent quite a bit of time there and got to know lots of Germans. I've generally found them to be friendly, hospitable and fun and I think we have more in common with them culturally and in terms of national characteristics than with any other country I've visited. They also LOVE it if you try and speak German to them (unlike the people of a certain other European country whose language I also teach ).

I remember my grandparents being quite anti-German. I remember being quite young and a group of my nan's friends discussing the fact that one of their GC are learning German at school. They found offensive and bizarre.

I remember people also being quite angry and suspicious of Irish people.

I think we are less angry at other nations now because we haven't been attacked as such by one or colonised for a long time.

My Great Uncle was a prisoner of war in Japan. He got very into UK-Japan reconciliation and didn't hold any ill will.

My DM from a Scandi country experienced a lot of anti-German racism when she arrived in the 50s, despite her not being German and coming from an occupied country. BTW she hates the Swedes for being neutral in the war.

I have a (fairly distant) relative who was taken as a POW by the Japanese. He survived but died by suicide after returning to England. I haven’t read up on it much, but I gather it was probably one of the most disturbing episodes of POW treatment in history.

I have no feelings about the Japanese today, they’ve done nothing to offend me or our country in recent times.

@MagicLoop I agree that there is a lot of common ground.

I do find it a little amusing for instance that the people who invaded Ireland 900 years ago were French, having just finished conquering England, but whilst the English absorbed them (into the upper classes) the Irish considered themselves a people apart.

And of course the whole St Patrick being kidnapped by Irish raiders and sold into slavery until he escaped, and yet there is a certain holier than thou about the slave trade (which yes, England and the rest of Europe obviously took to an extreme, until we then also were instrumental in ending it)

We definitely look down on Americans

Germany did many countries dirty, and much worse than they did England

We don’t hate another nations as a whole, we’re not particularly proud to be British either. I was talking to a friend about it yesterday, in the context of not understanding nationalism, particularly Christian Nationalism; we’re both Christian. He pointed out that it was a thing when we were colonising other countries (eg: for King and Country) and as the parent of an immigrant being English was a big deal to him growing up.

Haven’t we mainly assimilated our invaders? I think we were originally Celts, then the Vikings, the Romans, the Normans invaded and settled. Our port cities were very multicultural, spreading out from those areas.

Now we’re very much a mishmash of all of the above.

I don’t hate anyone but as others have said….. we haven’t been colonised (and don’t come at me with Norman’s or Viking’s, that’s ridiculous)

i love the French, it think the English and French love each other really but we just keep up the rivalry in an ironic and cheeky way. We both know we love each other really.

it’s no wonder the Irish Scottish Welsh, Indians, Pakistanis, Ugandans etc hate us… we terrorised and raped their countries.

What have the Swedes done?

Or tbh the Norwegians/Danes for that matter - less doing the UK dirty, more falling to the Germans surely?

I hate people who voted for Brexit.

Btw my grandparents and everyone i know of their generation hated the Germans so it’s perfect normal when in living memory.

Yes but that doesn’t mean my answer wasn’t correct.

It makes me 🙄 when the Irish say how much they have in common with the Palestinian struggle. Aside from the fact none of us do, the UK has actually been subject to mass aerial bombing campaigns and hundreds of thousands of war deaths in not-so-distant history.

It's pointless, that's why.
Holding a grudge only affect the person holding it.