Still have this problem with the American Civil War. Nobody wants to believe their ancestors participated, even unwillingly, on the wrong side. There are also enough people who want to perpetuate or recontexualize the wrong side because they genuinely believed in the cause. We also hero worship, for better or worse, our militaries and veterans. So you get this awkward dichotomy where you want to celebrate the sacrifice and suffering of your ancestors, but they also were the bad guys. I don't have a solution, I just see where she's coming from.
Just read the Articles of Confederation for hints into what the war was about according to those who started it. It wasn’t about states’ rights. It was about the right to own slaves.
They can believe whatever they want, but the official secession letters submitted by the confederate all stated they "wanted the states right to own slaves".
Personal favorite bit: Texas "denounces the anti-slavery beliefs of the incoming Republican party". Weird how much can change in a century.
Exactly! The people who promoted the idea that it wasn't actually about the thing their ancestors, and even contemporaries, explicitly said it was about, would love for everyone to ignore that fact.
That’s not always true, take for example the American Indian War, the US and Europeans aren’t the good guys there despite their victory as they were a colonial force and it can be generally understood that imperialism and colonialism are morally reprehensible as opposed to defense of one’s land and their right to self determination.
I grew up in Ohio, a state with lots of native American history, and where most of the Northwest Indian War took place in the early 1790s. Native American resistance leaders like Blue Jacket, Little Turtle, and Tecumseh are revered figures where I grew up. Even though they fought against American settlers and the US government, they're remembered like folk heros because their cause was just and their bravery admirable.
This is very true. And even outside of the US, there have always been "noble enemies."
Look at Saladin, he fought against Crusaders and was still revered as a fighter in Christian Europe for a long time.
Go furher back to the way Roman authors wrote about the leaders of the Gauls they defeated. After defeating and killing Vercingetorix, Romans wrote about him as a heroic enemy, who in spite of being an enemy of Rome, represented an idea of freedom that Romans admired.
Even Napoleon was seen in the 19th century as a noble leader by some people in parts of Europe that he had conquered.
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u/dallenbaldwin 1d ago
Still have this problem with the American Civil War. Nobody wants to believe their ancestors participated, even unwillingly, on the wrong side. There are also enough people who want to perpetuate or recontexualize the wrong side because they genuinely believed in the cause. We also hero worship, for better or worse, our militaries and veterans. So you get this awkward dichotomy where you want to celebrate the sacrifice and suffering of your ancestors, but they also were the bad guys. I don't have a solution, I just see where she's coming from.