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.

Me too 😭😭😭

Certainly not generations ago. My DH and his family all have very real and lasting trauma and experiences. He's in his 40s

Btw has Wales apologised for this?

https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2022-03-15/an-uncomfortable-truth-wales-links-to-the-slave-trade

We are English with some distant Scottish ancestory.
As English we probably all descend from serfdom and servitude, not many of us would have been rich.

We are mostly a long suffering people, so are probably more deserving of sympathy, more than antipathy.

Consequently we are too damn tired to hate other countries, we have been held down by our own for many many hundreds of years

I think it’s because we’re the villains in most stories

Agree with this.

I worked at a golf club as a teen and a couple of elderly men there really hated the Japanese. My knowledge of history at the time wasn’t great so I can remember feeling quite shocked to hear them speak with such vitriol.

I agree (I'm English) but do understand the history- and have read a lot about it. To say the 1840s and 1850s were not the English government and landowners finest hour would be a real understatement. And it wasn't just confined to that shameful period either.

I feel that the American culture has had a detrimental effect on our culture and I wish we didn't share a language.

We barely do, to be fair.

England in particular was a very powerful nation historically. In modern times we were the winner.

What we do do, however, is have the class system. Potentially lots of songs and anger towards the oppressor there.

No, I don't. It's possibly a controversial opinion, but I dislike being made to feel I should be personally apologetic for historical crimes/oppression by the English. Even if my own ancestors had been involved (unlikely, as far back as I've gone they were all mill workers and the like) I'm not responsible for things other people have done. I try to live my life without doing harm to others, and standing up for injustice where I see it; I can't do more than that.

Ive heard it said that the North has never fully recovered from the harrying of the North under William

Not sure if that is true but wondering where the North/South divide comes from. Im not convinced its soley because of the positioning of London.

This. 😄

Just remembered, my grandmother (born end of the 19th century) was told by her grandmother (born 1820s) that as a threat to make her be quiet and go to sleep "Boney will get you if you don't" (Boney being Napoleon)

Pushing it a bit as he died in 1821, but hey, if it worked I suppose they would have carried on.

I think that's understandable, and not the same as a random English person choosing to hate random German folk nowadays.

This. You only need.to understand basic history to know why England has no major reason to be resentful to any other country but that some other countries may understandably be upset with the actions of England, within their living history.

Yeah but only because the British were the most ‘successful’ colonisers.

Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Spain etc they all treated others terribly when colonising. Just weren’t that good at expanding, comparatively.

The Italians did well, the Mongols, Ottomans, the British. All very successful colonisers. The British is obviously the most recent so gets the most hate. People don’t really study history, as a rule. The white slave trade no one talks about, obviously.

I’ve got family deeply traumatised (for good reason) by the Germans. I don’t hold it against the Germans of today.

The Americans I've seen complaining about Britain for the time around the War of Independence are doing so in jest, just like the Brits who post 'Happy Treason Day' and similar to Americans on the 4th of July. I don't think it's a thing Americans often do in any serious way as portrayed in the OP.

If the English were to be mad for things from that time, I guess England could be mad at the Barbary pirates, but there isn't really an identifiable government today that such ire could be aimed at.

You think if the English understood history better, they’d hate more people? What historical unacceptable treatment of us are we not understanding properly, that would mean we disliked the current population of that country if we did?

My great grandad died in WW2, my great grandmother, and my grandmother (whose father died) both understood perfectly well. But didn’t hold a resentment against the Germans. It would have been understandable if they had, but the reason they didn’t had nothing to do with not understanding.

Same with mine. Two of my uncles and my grandparents were pow of the Japanese. My dad hates the French and my mum is just racist but thats a different thing.

No, it's not hate. It's a mutual suspicion and irritation that has bizarrely persisted for centuries but is not especially deep, and we even have a grudging affection for each other, rather like an old married couple.

The was a book written by a married couple some years ago now, he was English & she was French and they called it 'Beloved Enemy' which sums it up.

Most people alive today aren’t responsible for past events and the general population don’t usually have much choice in the matter anyway.

So no, I don’t dislike any nation.

Life’s too short to hate people for history that they had no part of and nobody can change.

I think the English were colonised so long ago it doesn't feel fresh to us like say, Australia or new Zealand, which was far more recent.

I can't get cross about something that happened a thousand years ago, however if I was Irish, for example, and half the population had been wiped out in the last few hundred years, then I imagine I'd feel differently.

Toby Young once said something interesting about this. He made the point that while in America they pretend they don't have a class system (but they have), we are very open about having one. We have a monarch and aristocracy, so we can't really deny it. The bad side is the obvious unfairness and inequality, but there is one positive: we are very aware that we don't all start on a level playing field, and in America, where there's less acceptance of this, there's far less welfare. We are supportive of our benefits and welfare system and NHS because we know some people are born with disadvantages, and we know you don't always get the success you deserve with hard work, and we generally support the idea that someone who's down on their luck should have some help to get up again. In America, where there's less acceptance of this, there's less support for state welfare.

I thought that was interesting.

I don't think that's true going by the ONS data.