Nu Labour Edukasion standards

[AtW]

Just writing the dates down in an exam

It's not just dates here really - Cameron said Britain was junior partner in WW2 to USA - I don't think that's correct statement, in Iraq war it certainly was Junior partner, but not in WW2.

[d000hg]

I totally disagree with you there.

They are dates, not just numbers. And dates are the reference points of history. It's the way we learn what led to what, what else was happening at the time, who was alive, what tools, weapons, and art they had.

Dates are by definition numbers. You can know history well, what happened in what order and relative to other events, without knowing exact dates anyway.

[AtW]

You can know history well

In your opinion, was UK a junior partner to USA in WW2?

If you ask me non-USSR allies were junior partner to USSR.

[NickFitz]

It's not just dates here really - Cameron said Britain was junior partner in WW2 to USA - I don't think that's correct statement, in Iraq war it certainly was Junior partner, but not in WW2.

The real point isn't the nature of the UK-USA partnership in WW2: it's that Cameron referred to the partnership fighting the Nazis in 1940. The USA weren't fighting anybody at that time. People are pissed off because Cameron seems to be unaware of what Churchill described very well in one of his most famous speeches:

"...if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, This was their finest hour."

If you ask me non-USSR allies were junior partner to USSR.

The USSR suffered more, and did more to ensure victory, than any other Allied nation in WW2, aka The Great Patriotic War. :respect:

[sasguru]

It's an embarrassing slip but he's only wrong on one digit, is this just a headline and 2min later he corrected himself or even when reminded did he stick to that story? Anyone's memory can make errors and to be honest going to Eton wouldn't automatically mean you remember dates when you've got a whole country to run.

What he said. Storm in a teacup. Who hasn't made a slip of the tongue or forgotten dates?
In the essential point that Britain was the junior partner in the WW2 he is correct.

[sasguru]

It's not just dates here really - Cameron said Britain was junior partner in WW2 to USA - I don't think that's correct statement, in Iraq war it certainly was Junior partner, but not in WW2.

At the start it wasn't - the dynamic changed over the course of the war, as of course it would, given the immense resources of the US. Remember the supreme commander was American for the big push.

[sasguru]

PS I find it it revealing that the more left leaning members of the forum pounce on a simple slip of the tongue in order to discredit the Tories.
The fact is Cameron is considerably more intelligent than that innumerate idiot Brown*

* who has recently been seen in Africa (forgot the country) advising them to develop their IT skills. For sheer irony and chutzpah that takes the biscuit

[SupremeSpod]

PS I find it it revealing that the more left leaning members of the forum pounce on a simple slip of the tongue in order to discredit the Tories.
The fact is Cameron is considerably more intelligent than that innumerate idiot Brown*

* who has recently been seen leaving a private clinic

FTFY.

[Doggy Styles]

Dates are not the most important thing in history. Though they do give reference points to your knowledge you need to be able to understand, analyse, investigate and examine the evidence that something happened.

Just writing the dates down in an exam will not give you a pass but if you avoid writing the dates and do all the other stuff you will pass.

My point was not that dates are the b-all and end-all of learning history, but nevertheless, unlike some on here, I consider them very important.

Dates have resonance in our knowledge of history. For example, 1997 resonates with most of the English just as 1966 does to the Scots - two dates that need no explanation to anyone on here.

[thunderlizard]

We were the junior partner in 1940 when we were fighting the Nazis.

Dave is absolutely right.

"when we were", not "in the act of".
In 1940, Britain was fighting the Nazis.
In 1940, Britain was the junior partner with the USA.
It is not relevant that the USA did not also happen to be fighting the Nazis.