What are British Students taught about the American Revolution (Rebellion)?

Question

This question got me wondering http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AimjgL6lBU.7o2sVf.ehozjsy6IX?qid=20061104144448AA7qkgZ

Were the Amercans considered terrorists?

Answer 1

Very little, unfortunately. Usually the best chance one has of learning about it is during a unit on the British Empire, when a forward-thinking teacher might manage to slip it into the unit of work.

It should be taught more ... but, then, so should a lot of things. (And there should be far *less* 20th century history, which would make room for lots of other medieval and early modern topics.)

Answer 2

I remember having to study it in the Third Form. Not much really...we studied all the Revolutions that year from the Agricultural revolution onwards and the American Revolution was also included. Don't remember much of it, just bits and pieces like the Boston Tea Party, Gold Rush, Slave Trade etc. I vaguely remember studying the civil law and looking up sources on the red coats' war strategies. But it was a long time ago...and i didn't take history for O Levels or A Levels. I'm sure the people who did learned way more than what we did in the general curriculum.

Answer 3

We were taught a small amount about it, however it's not that big an event in British history, we lost a colony to traitors (like it or not thats what they were) and there are far more important areas of British history for students. The US colonies were the best treated in the Empire at the time and so it was quite a shock for our citizens there to turn coat.

I have since read a lot more on the subject and I am pretty ambivalent about who was on the right side in that war.

Professor Niall Ferguson has some very interesting ideas on the War, I will dig his book Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World (EDIT: it may be Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire, not Empire..etc) out later and add them.

Answer 4

Nothing really.

We did a little bit on the Boston Tea Party at school but that was about it.

Most of us know about the American Revolution but aren't really taught about it or particularly interested in it.

And noone calls it a "Colonial Rebellion" or any other such crap - come on its 2006 not 1796!!! Just because some of you Americans haven't moved on doesn't mean we haven't!

I guess its so long ago and not really relevant to us or our history anymore. I'm amazed you Americans still go on about it like it was yesterday.

We're more likely to be taught about stuff that had a big impact on our country and the American Revolution didn't. So we lost a "colony" 200 years ago -big deal! Noone in Britain loses any sleep over that!

I think most British schools are more interested in teaching kids about the Industrial Revolution and the rise of 20th Century facism in Europe.

And I have never heard anyone calling the American Revolutionaries - "Terrorists"!!! Where on earth did you get that from?

Answer 5

It is an important part of British History. Had we won the war of Independence history would have been different. George III got blamed for loosing America but as it took 6 weeks to get a message to England and 6 weeks to send the reply I would thing that it was a combination of faults by the local commanders together with bad communications

Answer 6

I have never seen it referred to as the American 'rebellion' in our school books. I went to school in Scotland and we were taught about the American War of Independence. We were probably not taught in as much detail about it as people are in the US but we had to learn about the grievances of the colonists, the failure of the British Government to address these concerns, the events that led up to the War itself, the different ways that the two sides engaged in the battles, the debate within the Colonies themselves concerning the break from Britain, the intransigence of George III in the face of the developing crisis and calls from Parliament to deal equitably with the Colonies, the debate about the freedom of the Colonies in Britain itself...the Colonists had many supporters for reform in the British establishment... (Tom Paine, author of The Rights Of Man was a Brit for example). I am not sure where the American War of Independence features on the current curriculum in British Schools, but we could not learn about 18th century British history without studying it to some degree.

Answer 7

we do not study American history at stage in school, but if you would take up a special course or watched a documentary from the TV, this is how we would talk about you.
the American colonies where fighting a patriotic war, so it was similar to today's tactics which the terrorists use. but this is not what they teach us about the American revolution, in-fact they blame it on the British king because it was the result of raising tax to fight the war with France. so we don't see the American colonies as terrorists, they were just one of many nations that fought for their Independence. you see Britain just wanted to spread a culture that was considered as civilized at the time and we had the right to invade a country to civilize them. the Americans benefited from this more than any other nation in the world. it laid down the foundation for an American super power to evolve from.

Answer 8

We were taught about the Boston Tea Party and about the determination of the colonials to have no taxation without representation. We covered the War of Independence and then gracefully bowed out and applied ourselves to British History. After all, the United States were now no longer our concern!

We didn't view them as terrorists. We could see how impractical it would have been for them to travel all the way to London to attend Parliament and then return to their constituencies in North America. We regretted the fact that they severed their ties so completely and didn't apply to join the Commonwealth in due course!

Answer 9

British students are taught about the Indians, Russia, Germany, and WW1+2, not much about the Americans I'm afraid. Unless that's the one where the Americans kicked the Indians out and kidnapped their childrena and stole their land and all that?

Answer 10

Generally referred to as the American War of Independance. I think we get a balanced view of things, that the colonies in America were trying to break free from unfair taxes and laws that restricted their freedoms. I'm not an expert though.