History is Written by the Victors

[Penguin]

I can't believe it.  I can't believe that the authors of my history book did a two page touch-down dance on the Mexican-American war.  Call me a dirty, unpatriotic, anti-American hippie but by the time that they started cheering Zachary Taylor's paramilitary campaign of conquest on I was moaning "Oh, please, make it stoooop!".  I know that Texas buys lots of textbooks, but have these authors no spine? 

That's just me, though, have you guys encountered similar things in History class?

EDIT: To be clear-

It's that the passage was written like it was some grand adventure- not a war.  They made Texans look like heroes when they took the powers of the Federal Government into their own hands.  That's why I'm so riled up.

-Penguin

[Maverick]

What specifically was your problem with it? Was it that the US was on top or is there something else that you have not elucidated that is the issue here?

[Penguin]

It's that the passage was written like it was some grand adventure- not a war.  They made Texans look like heroes when they took the powers of the Federal Government into their own hands.  That's why I'm so riled up.

-Penguin

[JunkyII]

It's that the passage was written like it was some grand adventure- not a war.  They made Texans look like heroes when they took the powers of the Federal Government into their own hands.  That's why I'm so riled up.

-Penguin

I'm lost

[Guppy35]

No one source will give you the whole story.  There will always be bias in any historian's work.  It's always best to get as many different sources as you can and then make your own interpretation.  

I don't particularly care for the "History is written by the victors" line as any historian worth his salt, is going to be looking to get as much of the story as they can and as accurately as they can.  Obviously anyone who 'was there' see's it from their perspective.  Putting it all together is the hard part, knowing that your own built in bias will also impact on the story.  But that's also why history is so much fun for me as the story continue to evolve the more I learn.

If this book that has you riled up gets you to find a dozen other sources to fill in the story for you, it will have done it's job.

[Maverick]

History is also written by the losers. Investigate how the Japanese texts tend to pretty much ignore WW2.

[Raphael]

happens a lot on many "history" books in many countries including my own. the assassin, killer of native people is always the explorer and hero and then we name streets or even schools after their names lol. But in all cases you find authors that hate that kind of thing (patriotism inside history), just a matter of looking.
 If you are reading history and you start seeing someone is the good guy and someone is the bad guy then you stop and read it again.

 usually both sides are the bad guys mainly concerning wars, also keep in mind when reading stuff that two wrongs never make a right.

[curry1]

History is also written by the losers. Investigate how the Japanese texts tend to pretty much ignore WW2.

The Germans too

http://video.canadiancontent.net/43720662-family-guy-german-tour.html

[Penguin]

Thanks Guppy, thanks Raph.  That helped me a lot.  I should look for some more sources, then; it'll give me a better picture.

 

-Penguin

[MK-84]

     Do we encounter similar themes...

     Yeah, remember second grade, Thanksgiving, Pilgrims and Indians holding hands, celebrating their mutual existence   (we made paper hats)

     History gives us an idea of the past, a true historian uncovers the actual past, and a for someone like (you?) can and should read between the lines so to speak.

     History as taught is generally true in concept, but it is not always correct in practice.  I like to think that the realness of the truth is uncovered by individuals that want more than a textbook answer.  As such it is up to you to figure it out.

     This is my opinion only.  But a good example would be watching The History Channel's explanation of a 30mm, VS  reading Bustr's thread http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,330586.0.html on what he's done to, for lack of a better phrase, "take it a level further."

[Penguin]

True Dedication

-Penguin

[mthrockmor]

Were you hoping to read the version where Texas loses? Without reading it I would presme it covrs their view well. The Mexicans certainly have a much different story to tell. In fact, I know many text books teach that all of this was illegal and Mexico should own California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. It is called Azetlan. They likely tell the version a hippie would love. The one that America sucks and is the source that is all that is wrong. haha

Boo

[Tupac]

The fact is mexican army was full of a bunch of spineless cowards back in the 1830/40s/50s and deserved every defeat they took and every life they lost. The atrocities they committed during the battles they fought rivaled the slaughter of US military personnel during WW2 by the Japanese. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goliad_massacre

They didn't take prisoners - I sure wish the texans had done the same thing.

[Tupac]

They also killed all of the very brave men at the Alamo - Who fought valiantly despite overwhelming odds and held out for 13 days.

[Penguin]

Mthrockor, war is something that is surlegal in the same sense that art can be surreal.  I never said that the US was the source of all evil- I was complaining about here way that the story was told.

Tupac- I don't see that in the article at all.  The commanding officer sought to avoid carrying out the orders.  That's not to say that I'm not disturbed by the event, but he wasn't evil relative to his peers.  Nowadays, sure, he should have been discharged from the army.  Regarding the Texans approach to prisoners, why on earth would you want more brutality in a war?  Isn't it awful enough already without more blood and bodies?

The men at the Alamo were soldiers who chose to fight to the death.

I'm sorry for letting this thread get out of hand...

-Penguin