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Subject: America's Worst Enemy in History
mongyu    1/2/2008 8:16:10 AM
The title says it all: Who do you think has been the greatest enemy ever to threaten America? My vote goes to the British hands down. No other country ever came as close as the British to physically ending the United States in our history. The Germans and the Japanese were formidable in their own right, but neither [or even both] could reasonably invade the United States. The Soviet Union had the theoretical potential to destroy the United States, but I think everyone agrees that this was not a practical capability in the way the British Empire's ability to take Washington DC was. The Soviets were a dangerous enemy ideologically in the way it could convert adherents in America, but they never out-did the British who successfully supported a rebellion in the United States by funding, arming, and giving moral support to the Confederacy. So what country would you choose?
 
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RockyMTNClimber    The American Liberal, hands down the most dangerous enemy of humanity!   1/2/2008 11:30:06 AM
Who do you think has been the greatest enemy ever to threaten America?

 
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mongyu       1/2/2008 11:46:46 AM




As for Britain being your greatest enemy, I think that's true to a point. Yes, we could have (in theory) ended your existence as a nation... but we didn't have the national will or desire to do it.



Now, now, there...I don't think the British Empire didn't end America's existence for lack of trying.  Come on  B.L.  :)  Give the poor Americans a little credit. T_T




Now now, we both know it was the French that really won that war ;)

B.L.

Ugh...
Outdone by the French ?  Surely you jest! 
 
I never knew the sub's namesake in "Crimson Tide" had such a pedigree.  Apparently, CSS Alabama set some records for taking out US merchant ships (numbers range from 64 to 69 depending on the description of "prize" or "destroyed").  I wonder if those submariners know that !  ;) 
 
The money that was lent was in the form of "cotton bonds" and junk bonds.  The cotton bonds could be exchanged for cotton but ONLY if the South survived the War.  I guess that was the South's consolation prize.  When the Civil War was over, the [newly defunct] Confederacy didn't have to pay back their creditors.  :P
 
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The Lizard King    American Mass Media   1/2/2008 12:25:51 PM
Down right un-American...
 
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mongyu       1/2/2008 12:28:15 PM

it should be noted that Britain traded with the Union at the same time as the CSA.... it did not pick a side in the civil war.
 
I don't know...from what i was taught, it was emphasized that the British did choose a side.  Maybe not "officially", but sending weapons, ships like the Florida, Alabama, etc., and loaning money to a rebellion sounds like choosing a side (I've never heard of them sending weapons and loaning money to the North).    And besides: people buy bonds because they expect an investment return.  And the only way the British Empire could get its money back was IF the Confederacy WON the Civil War ie. the Confederacy achieves independence and SURVIVES to pay back the bank notes.  If the Union won, the Confederacy [obviously] would no longer exist, thus voiding the money Britain invested.  So it's clear that the British intended the Confederacy to win.  Does that make sense?
 
Found this interview which might explain things better.  It also might explain why the Empire wanted to split the United States in two.
 

also note that an awful lot of Britain's (both mainland and colonials) joined up and fought for the Union against the CSA.... far more than signed up for the CSA (which tends to be more talked about for some reason)

Paul
Found a listing in the BBC to something of that effect.  It's at the bottom of the page.  The exact numbers of the british on the Confederate side are unknown.  However, 67 of the 1522 Medals of Honor were awarded to the British.  Hoo-ah!
 

>>

 
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wjr1       1/2/2008 12:42:13 PM
You guys are all wet. The most dangerous enemy that we have ever faced is MoveOn.org. Fifth columns are always more deadly. Particularly when they are funded by crazy rich folks with Marxist backgrounds.

Best,
wjr

 
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mongyu       1/2/2008 12:54:26 PM

RockyMTNClimber    The American Liberal, hands down the most dangerous enemy of humanity!   1/2/2008 11:30:06 AM
Who do you think has been the greatest enemy ever to threaten America?
I believe there's substance to that statment and I'll add something else to it.   In any war, America's enemies will seek to strengthen a domestic ally within America itself.  It doesn't matter if you're talking about the liberals in the War on Terror, the Left in the Cold War, or the Democratic Party in the Civil War. 
 
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mongyu       1/2/2008 1:00:41 PM

RockyMTNClimber    The American Liberal, hands down the most dangerous enemy of humanity!   1/2/2008 11:30:06 AM
Who do you think has been the greatest enemy ever to threaten America?
I believe there's substance to that statment and I'll add something else to it.   In any war, America's enemies will seek to strengthen a domestic ally within America itself.  It doesn't matter if you're talking about the liberals in the War on Terror, the Left in the Cold War, or the Democratic Party in the Civil War. 
 
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Ehran       1/2/2008 2:27:51 PM
the civil war really put the british in a bad place.  the slavery issue made the south repugnant to them on moral grounds but the economic importance of the cotton from the south to the british industry was considerable.  economics vs morals is normally not much of a contest but the british stuck to their guns and started planting cotton in various places around the empire. 
don't make too much of british companies doing business with the confederates as it was a very long ways from the british gov't actually supporting them.
 
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Ehran       1/2/2008 2:35:22 PM


Now now, we both know it was the French that really won that war ;)

B.L.


Ugh...

Outdone by the French ?  Surely you jest! 

 

it isn't a fact americans bring up when they teach history but without french aid the revolutionary war was a foregone conclusion pretty much ending with a bunch of founding fathers getting hung for treason. 

 
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Yimmy       1/2/2008 2:41:14 PM


it isn't a fact americans bring up when they teach history but without french aid the revolutionary war was a foregone conclusion pretty much ending with a bunch of founding fathers getting hung for treason. 



I would argue more important was simply France "being France", and playing a thorn in the side of England at the time, preventing us from sending much to fight in colonial conflicts.  The "thin red line" couldn't be everywhere at once.

 
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