Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 10:58 pm
Ahem, are you forgetting your next-door neighbours?Not at all. I recall one in the 1770s-1780s when we lost to the French for once, but no colonial defeats.
Page 9 of 20
Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 11:00 pm
Ya...that's why the brits retreated from ConcordCaptain Seafort wrote:Not at all. I recall one in the 1770s-1780s when we lost to the French for once, but no colonial defeats.ChakatBlackstar wrote:Didn't the british army lose a war to their own colonies in the 18th century?
Oh, no wait. The French weren't involved yet were they?Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 11:00 pm
Rochey wrote:Ahem, are you forgetting your next-door neighbours?Not at all. I recall one in the 1770s-1780s when we lost to the French for once, but no colonial defeats.
Unless I'm very much mistaken, Wolf Tone lost.ChakatBlackstar wrote:Didn't the british army lose a war to their own colonies in the 18th century?
Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 11:01 pm
I forgot that the French sort of won something.
Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 11:02 pm
*Shrugs* Or Saratoga for that matter. They were mere tactical defeats, not central to the final outcome of the rebellion.ChakatBlackstar wrote:Ya...that's why the brits retreated from Concord
Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 11:02 pm
What does an Irish rebel music band have to do with the Revolutionary war?Captain Seafort wrote:Rochey wrote:Ahem, are you forgetting your next-door neighbours?Not at all. I recall one in the 1770s-1780s when we lost to the French for once, but no colonial defeats.Unless I'm very much mistaken, Wolf Tone lost.ChakatBlackstar wrote:Didn't the british army lose a war to their own colonies in the 18th century?
Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 11:04 pm
They lost those battles, then they lost the war with their colonies. Sure seems to be connected to the final outcome of the revolution to me.Captain Seafort wrote:*Shrugs* Or Saratoga for that matter. They were mere tactical defeats, not central to the final outcome of the rebellion.ChakatBlackstar wrote:Ya...that's why the brits retreated from Concord
Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 11:07 pm
Well, all I have to say (and no offense to any British people), usind red jackets in a green/brown forest or green/brown plains is a pretty bad battle tactic.
Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 11:13 pm
It depends on what tactics you're using - against skirmishers it's a bad idea, but in the thick smoke of a general action bright colours were essential to preventing blue-on-blues. In any event, the British army learnt it's lesson, and so produced a counter - the green jacketed 95th Foot, later known as the Rifle Brigade.stitch626 wrote:Well, all I have to say (and no offense to any British people), usind red jackets in a green/brown forest or green/brown plains is a pretty bad battle tactic.
Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 11:16 pm
The war was abandoned as a result of the loss of Cornwallis' southern army at Yorktown. That defeat was largely due to the expertise of French engineers, and the presence of De Grasse's fleet in the Chesapeake interdicting Cornwallis' line of communiction and withdrawal.ChakatBlackstar wrote:They lost those battles, then they lost the war with their colonies. Sure seems to be connected to the final outcome of the revolution to me.
Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 11:22 pm
abandoned? That's an interesting way of saying lost, retreat, running with their tails between their legs. Although I suppose loosing what should've been an easy war would put me in a state of denial too.Captain Seafort wrote:The war was abandoned as a result of the loss of Cornwallis' southern army at Yorktown. That defeat was largely due to the expertise of French engineers, and the presence of De Grasse's fleet in the Chesapeake interdicting Cornwallis' line of communiction and withdrawal.ChakatBlackstar wrote:They lost those battles, then they lost the war with their colonies. Sure seems to be connected to the final outcome of the revolution to me.
Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 11:28 pm
The North American colonies were operating at a financial loss at the time of the revolution, so Britain would have been better off abandoning them in the mid 1770s. The only reason we stayed on the continent at all was because the loyalists insisted on it. Even after the defeat at Yorktown, the northern army was still battle-ready, and the fleet was still powerful (Rodney smashed De Grasse's force at the Battle of the Saintes in 1782). Parliment simply used Yorktown as an excuse to abandon a costly war that would achieve nothing but the recovery of a liability.ChakatBlackstar wrote:abandoned? That's an interesting way of saying lost, retreat, running with their tails between their legs. Although I suppose loosing what should've been an easy war would put me in a state of denial too.
Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 11:46 pm
Whatever lets you sleep at nightCaptain Seafort wrote: Parliment simply used Yorktown as an excuse to abandon a costly war that would achieve nothing but the recovery of a liability.
Posted: Sat May 24, 2008 11:50 pm
The French actually used to be pretty tough. Though you could argue that's because of the infusion of Viking blood through the Normansstitch626 wrote:
I forgot that the French sort of won something.
It's only been in the times after Napolean that they've been turning into limp wristed surrender monkeys.
Actually I googled "French military history" just to make sure I was correct about that and found the following, which I at least found funny. And confirms what I basically understood of the history in that after Napolean they begin losing war after war after war, often pathetically, and lose the Empire he had built.
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/france.html- The Franco-Prussian War
- Lost. Germany first plays the role of drunk Frat boy to France's ugly girl home alone on a Saturday night.
- World War I
- Tied and on the way to losing, France is saved by the United States [Entering the war late -ed.]. Thousands of French women find out what it's like to not only sleep with a winner, but one who doesn't call her "Fraulein." Sadly, widespread use of condoms by American forces forestalls any improvement in the French bloodline.
- World War II
- Lost. Conquered French liberated by the United States and Britain just as they finish learning the Horst Wessel Song.
- War in Indochina
- Lost. French forces plead sickness; take to bed with the Dien Bien Flu
- Algerian Rebellion
- Lost. Loss marks the first defeat of a western army by a Non-Turkic Muslim force since the Crusades, and produces the First Rule of Muslim Warfare; "We can always beat the French." This rule is identical to the First Rules of the Italians, Russians, Germans, English, Dutch, Spanish, Vietnamese and Esquimaux.
- War on Terrorism
- France, keeping in mind its recent history, surrenders to Germans and Muslims just to be safe. Attempts to surrender to Vietnamese ambassador fail after he takes refuge in a McDonald's.
Posted: Sun May 25, 2008 12:07 am
Wow. I hope no one here is from France.
What I mean is, I hope (if anyone is from France) that they do not take any offense to our... um, opinions.
Lets blame something on Americans...
Discusting fast food, that's America's fault.
What I mean is, I hope (if anyone is from France) that they do not take any offense to our... um, opinions.
Lets blame something on Americans...
Discusting fast food, that's America's fault.