. . . to be really shocked that some people don't know in which years both World Wars began and ended?

[squoosh]

Was saying to a friend at the weekend that I was really shocked when someone I knew admitted that they didn't know in which year WWII began.

The person I said this too then said 'hmmm, was it 1935 that WWII began? I think WWI was 1910'. And this from a really intelligent person too. I thought those were the sorts of dates that everyone just knew. Even if you've never studied history in any capacity surely those dates just seep into your mind via films and tv programmes etc.

AIBU?

That's odd - my grandad talks about what he did in "the war" - he was born in 32
How does that work??

whereas my other one, who is 6 years OLDER talks about how he was evacuated
I can only assume he doesn't mean a WW

Wouldn't have a clue and I'm a bit of a history geek. But then I'm rubbish at dates. Can't even remember my own birthday, I have it written down in the front of my diary.

Maybe he was in Korea Stealth.

peevish, that is very sweet.

I remember getting really stroppy (at about age 14) with a mate about the dates of WWII. It took our teachers intervening to point out that, um, because I'm British and he's American we had different dates! D'oh.

Some people date WWI to end in 1919, too. It depends which country you're in.

He really wasn't. He has no other war stories, other than this one very specific fact. I'll need to ask him or my mum :)

It's just indicative of the general malaise of ignorance that exists in this country.

StealthPolarBear - if your older grandad was born in 1926 he'd have been 13 when WW2 broke out in 1939 so he'd have been the right age to be evacuated - most evacuations were in the 1939 'phoney war' when not much happened but there as a real fear of bombings and invasion.

Your younger grandad would be 7 when the war started and 13 when it finished so unless he lied about his age to join up near the end of WW2, he's probably referring to something a little later - there were lots of smaller conflicts in the aftermath of WW2 as the Empire broke up that British forces (often on National Service) were involved in - Kenya, Malaysia, Palestine, etc.

Stealth, my dad was born in 34 and also talks about what he did in the war. This is because although it officially ended in 1945 (?), there was still fighting going on in some areas. My dad got shot by enemy combatants while doing national service in Borneo in 1953. That's what he meant.

Thing is, right, it's important to realise that everyone has their own measure of what is shocking ignorance, and what isn't, depending on their own interests and tastes, and those of their friends and colleagues.

I would be deeply, deeply shocked to the very core of my soul at someone not knowing the dates of the world wars, and sundry other historical or artistic facts. Because those are my bag, and they are my friends' bags, and I don't know or meet anyone that wouldn't know that stuff.

But I can't drive, and I have no sense of direction, and I'm a bit hazy on pop culture, and I am (aside from some basic lefty leanings) politically dead. To some people, not being able to drive and being policitally dead would be deeply shocking, etc. etc.

I probably used to call people stupid when they didn't know stuff I knew. Then I grew up a bit and got a bit nicer

I dunno, niu - I wonder if it's not partly that these wars - though of course hugely important - are slipping out of living memory. I mean, I do not think we would 'expect' people to know the dates of the Boer war, say, or the Napoleonic wars. I'm not going to say this very well, but I think that it is healthy and right for memories of these wars to change as time goes on. I think we sometimes keep them unnaturally 'present'.

Disclaimer: the one thing that really, quite seriously pisses me off is people being ignorant, knowing they're ignorant, and being proud of it.

That is pretty poor form and makes me put on judgy pants with a special judgy panty-liner.

baked are you kidding? You are to start a masters in Military History and you don't know the dates of the first world war?

I think it is very strange when people don't know this stuff. How can you get through without remembering a couple of really key dates which are alluded to all the time?

YANBU. But it's to do with the change in teaching methods and styles, where dates and facts were considered less important than before.

Like people who proudly proclaim that they've never once in their life read a book? I will never understand why people think that's boast-worthy.

That should be a dark, shameful secret.

This might help

squoosh I agree. . .

I know when the 'great' wars were as it had an impact on my immediate family.
My parents were both born just before WW2 started, I hear tales of rationing, their parents stories passed down etc.

However I have absolutely no idea when we invaded Iraq or Afghanistan, that is surely much more of a shocker as it's still ongoing??

I thought baked wasn't boasting her ignorance, but trying to reassure other people that they shouldn't feel bad?

LRD I wasn't thinking of Baked specifically - just General People One Meets, sort of thing.

YABU to be 'really shocked' that some people either don't know or can't remember historical dates that are probably not that interesting to them.
I know nothing about WW1. I will probably read the Wikipedia entry after I post this though, lest my lack of knowledge horrify or disturb anyone in the future.

Catch do you really know nothing about WWI?

Not being shocked to very core etc. etc., it's just...well...I don't believe you!

Poppies? The Somme? Gas masks? Wilfred Owen? Etc.?

Trenches? Trench foot? Pointlessness? Entire generation gone? etc.? (Sorry, pressed 'post' too soon!)

I know, I just wanted to say in defense of her, because she is admitting to ignorance, but for a purpose. I think that's one of the good reasons to do it, to make someone else feel better.

I'm not shocked that people are uninterested in the wars, I just genuinely thought that these dates were things that 95% of the populations would know, along with who is the current Prime Minister or what does USA stand for.