13th April 2003, 2:09 PM
ASM...give it up. The phone and basketball are American. The White House was burned by Britain. Canada's lost all three arguments in this forum so far.
N-Man, I salute you're excellent counter argument. None-the-less, I shall now try to counter it.
For such a young and small country (population-wise), Canada does have a rather admirable military history. While I don't know whether Canadians burnt down the White House, whether they did or didn't doesn't take away from the other military feats Canadians did accomplish. The most brilliant example would probably be Michel de Salaberry's 1700 Canadian militiamen routing a 3000-man strong regular American army unit in an ambush near Chateauguay.
My research confirms this battle; my argument is that they were entrenched and well-fortified. In addition, they were not all militia. Under those circumstances, being fortified would almost guarantee victory to anyone.
Still, certain militia units did shine in battle, as I'm sure some did in the US also.
Whether Canada was independent or not is irrelevant, the Canadians who fought on the British side in the war of 1812 are the modern Canadians' ancestors just like those who fought on the American side are our modern-day Americans' ancestors.
To much extent you are right; but it does matter as these Canadians were under British command. Their country wasn't sovereign and didn't make the choice to enter the war. That'd be like me claiming glory for the Franks conquering Rome because my ancestors (eventually) were French, and in virtue of that beat Rome. Still, I see your point and it is credible.
As for the rest of your argument about the grand and glorious Canadian military machine; it's fine and dandy, but it's relative. Canada is a small nation of only 31,000,000; and it's yearly military budget is only $7.8 billion...that's 1.1% of it's yearly revenu. That may sound like a lot, but America's is $276 billion; 3.2% of our budget...almost thrice yours. That being said and done, your trying to compare glory to American is impossible; not neccessarily because we're a better people, but because our military is just infinitely superior simply by funding. You brag of a minute skirmish between 3,000 militia in the woods as being your greatest victory. The impact of that may or may not have deterred an American advance into Canada. I'd say ours was the Battle of Midway, wherein three American carriers sank and six Japanese carriers, and a slew of smaller warships. This enormous battle single-handedly annihilate the entire Japanese navy's effectiveness, and ensured an Allied victory in the Pacific. Compare the scale of the two. I could go on too, but suffice to say, however glorious Canada's military may be in scale, America's is superior because we jus kick more ass and have more money:p
N-Man, I salute you're excellent counter argument. None-the-less, I shall now try to counter it.
For such a young and small country (population-wise), Canada does have a rather admirable military history. While I don't know whether Canadians burnt down the White House, whether they did or didn't doesn't take away from the other military feats Canadians did accomplish. The most brilliant example would probably be Michel de Salaberry's 1700 Canadian militiamen routing a 3000-man strong regular American army unit in an ambush near Chateauguay.
My research confirms this battle; my argument is that they were entrenched and well-fortified. In addition, they were not all militia. Under those circumstances, being fortified would almost guarantee victory to anyone.
Still, certain militia units did shine in battle, as I'm sure some did in the US also.
Whether Canada was independent or not is irrelevant, the Canadians who fought on the British side in the war of 1812 are the modern Canadians' ancestors just like those who fought on the American side are our modern-day Americans' ancestors.
To much extent you are right; but it does matter as these Canadians were under British command. Their country wasn't sovereign and didn't make the choice to enter the war. That'd be like me claiming glory for the Franks conquering Rome because my ancestors (eventually) were French, and in virtue of that beat Rome. Still, I see your point and it is credible.
As for the rest of your argument about the grand and glorious Canadian military machine; it's fine and dandy, but it's relative. Canada is a small nation of only 31,000,000; and it's yearly military budget is only $7.8 billion...that's 1.1% of it's yearly revenu. That may sound like a lot, but America's is $276 billion; 3.2% of our budget...almost thrice yours. That being said and done, your trying to compare glory to American is impossible; not neccessarily because we're a better people, but because our military is just infinitely superior simply by funding. You brag of a minute skirmish between 3,000 militia in the woods as being your greatest victory. The impact of that may or may not have deterred an American advance into Canada. I'd say ours was the Battle of Midway, wherein three American carriers sank and six Japanese carriers, and a slew of smaller warships. This enormous battle single-handedly annihilate the entire Japanese navy's effectiveness, and ensured an Allied victory in the Pacific. Compare the scale of the two. I could go on too, but suffice to say, however glorious Canada's military may be in scale, America's is superior because we jus kick more ass and have more money:p
H.R.M. DARVNIVS MAXIMVS EX TENEBRIS EXIT REX DEVSQVE GORONORVMQVE TENDORVM ROMANORVM ET GRÆCORVM OMNIS SEMPER EST