The American Revolution - Ken Burns

[CptTrips]

Starts tonight.

https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-american-revolution

[FLOOB]

They keep calling the Hessians Germans. Germany hadn’t been invented yet, they were from the Holy Roman Empire. That’s like referring to Spaniards as Iberians.

[FLOOB]

And another thing. Why do we in the west say that Austrians and Swiss speak German? Both countries are way older than Germany. That’s like saying English and Americans speak Australian. It’s because Germany gets no respect in Western European languages. The Deutsch don’t live in Germany they live in Deutschland and they speak Deutsch. It’s because the ancients called north central Europe Hermania or germania. Like I said, it’s like referring to Spain and Portugal as Iberia! It muddies history!

Sonsasqueakes..

[fudgums]

They keep calling the Hessians Germans. Germany hadn’t been invented yet, they were from the Holy Roman Empire. That’s like referring to Spaniards as Iberians.

They were considered “Germans” in the 1600s before Germany unified.

[CptTrips]

They were considered “Germans” in the 1600s before Germany unified.

And the Holy Roman Empire wasn't much of any of  those three.   (nods to Voltaire)

[AKKuya]

You're talking about a subject without the real culprit.  The vast majority of the population was illiterate until the last century and a half.  Poor knowledge was passed on verbally. 

Local kingdoms that turned into nation-states.  They didn't set up a unified history among the various governments.  It was an ego-centric sense of early nationalism.  Each one believes they were in the right.

Generations of people carried on these beliefs well into the New World.  Cultures clashed.  Misinformation ruled the day.

In 2025, we can use 20/20 hindsight to see what went wrong.  We can't apply today's standards to a time we weren't part of.