11th Sept (you win some, you loose some)

[antarmike]

For the English at war 11th sept is a mixed bag

 

this day 1777 American troops led by George Washington, are defeated by the British at the Battle of Brandywine Creek during the American War of Independence.

 

this day 1649 English troops, commanded by Oliver Cromwell, besiege Drogheda in Ireland. When the town is finally captured, most of the inhabitants are massacred.

 

this day 1297 Scottish hero William Wallace defeats the English at Stirling Bridge.

 

But as Meatloaf so famously sang "two out of three ain't bad"

[Jack]

Wow that is scary stuff!

 

My eldest 18th birthday today too!

[Snapper]

Good call. The War of Independence is a subject well worth deeper learning. The Mark Urban book I reviewed on the front page a while back was an amazing window into it all. There is so much more to learn that sidesteps the propaganda image of the dreaded Redcoats.

 

As for Cromwell, one of my favourite books remains Antonia Fraser's Our Chief of Men; which I think is appropriately "Warts and all"; though a friend of mine who is an Oxford type, says her Roman catholicism creates a bias. Dunno... He was a brilliant soldier of his time. Though how that excuses putting boiling tar on the surviving womens heads was any more acceptable to educated men in 1660 odd than it is now is a moot point. Drogheda is a major blot on his memory to the say the very least.

 

I don't know anything about William Wallace that doesn't come via Mel Gibson - so there's more bias for you.