Why does America have so much interest in Europe?

[Bakis]

The Luftwaffe was superior by technology, but the RAF was just better trained, and gave Hitler literally a run for his money.

¨

No, german pilots had war experience in Spain and Poland, RAF had none so that is false.
Battle for britain was lost when german planes by misstake bombed London which in turn made them bomb Germany which in turn made Hitler furious ordering Luftwaffe to focus from hitting radar and airfield installations to start the Blitz.

Luftwaffe was wearing RAF down to the breaking point untill that happened.

[Deleted]

Thanks.

And Christopher Cross. That guy's amazing.

[Deleted]

I'd say very ltitle compared to the middle east and south america, had 4 US friends over last summer and we were talking about greece and the EU. It came quick to my attention that one of them kept saying europe when we were implicitly talking about the EU. When I asked him if he knew the difference he had no clue what I was on about....

[Deleted]

¨

No, german pilots had war experience in Spain and Poland, RAF had none so that is false.
Battle for britain was lost when german planes by misstake bombed London which in turn made them bomb Germany which in turn made Hitler furious ordering Luftwaffe to focus from hitting radar and airfield installations to start the Blitz.

Luftwaffe was wearing RAF down to the breaking point untill that happened.

To correct that:

Hitler refused to bomb London and Britain from the very begining. At first Germany had the advantage and was fully capable of erasing Britain from the map, but Hitler hoped the whole time that England will join Germany. Hitler never has been a good General, in fact in WWI he was never promoted to a higher rank than the first one because his officers claimed he had no skills in leading people.

War would have ended completly different if he had been a better military leader, thank god he hasn't.

[Deleted]

To correct that:

Hitler refused to bomb London and Britain from the very begining. At first Germany had the advantage and was fully capable of erasing Britain from the map, but Hitler hoped the whole time that England will join Germany. Hitler never has been a good General, in fact in WWI he was never promoted to a higher rank than the first one because his officers claimed he had no skills in leading people.

War would have ended completly different if he had been a better military leader, thank god he hasn't.

Small correction, Hitler was a Gefreiter. Not a high rank but he did have some leadership responsibilities.

[Ranger382]

Hate to burst this guys bubble but I never.. ever thought Americans cared about Europe. They dont even know where it is on a map!
( err, I'm American)

[roflpot]

A few Americans care about the British royal family and that's about it from what I can gather.

[Abysire]

Think of America as like a bunch of Mercenaries... if there's a high enough profit, they'll do whatever it takes.

[Fahrenheit]

I'm sure I'm not alone when I say this. But, this American could not care less about Europe. Outside of Germany and maybe the the UK the rest of the countries can wallow in thier impotent, meaningless obscurity.

[Reeve]

I'm sure I'm not alone when I say this. But, this American could not care less about Europe. Outside of Germany and maybe the the UK the rest of the countries can wallow in thier impotent, meaningless obscurity.

Right, because France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Switzerland, etc. are all meaningless and obscure... /sarcasm

[Deleted]

Right, because France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Switzerland, etc. are all meaningless and obscure... /sarcasm

I'm not really blaming anyone for not knowing Sweden. In the large scale of things, we've always been pretty insignificant (with the exception of the Thirty Years War and the '60s).

[Reeve]

I'm not really blaming anyone for not knowing Sweden. In the large scale of things, we've always been pretty insignificant (with the exception of the Thirty Years War and the '60s).

Norway's a pretty major oil supplier, and the rest of the Nordic countries are pointed to quite often as having some of the highest standards of living/healthcare/education in the world. I'd say either of those things make them worthy of note. Also, the fjords in Norway seem to me to be something worthy of being on almost anyone's destination travel list.

[Deleted]

Norway's a pretty major oil supplier, and the rest of the Nordic countries are pointed to quite often as having some of the highest standards of living/healthcare/education in the world. I'd say either of those things make them worthy of note. Also, the fjords in Norway seem to me to be something worthy of being on almost anyone's destination travel list.

I don't think any school really teaches about how high living standards those North European countries have and how much oil and fjords they've got, that's my point. Everyone knows about Germany, France, the US and the UK because they've been the biggest parts of modern history, whereas the Nordic countries had their share of the spotlight between the 14th-18th century.

Besides, you know your country is really insignificant when most people primarily associates it with a fucking furniture company.

[Deleted]

We spy on Europe because of every war that has happened. World War I, World War II...etc. christ I could even throw in the fact that Britain ruled over us in our countries early state

Pathetic excuse. You do realize that the US has been the aggressor in far more wars recently? Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iraq again, Libya with perhaps Iran in the future.

[Reeve]

I don't think any school really teaches about how high living standards those North European countries have and how much oil and fjords they've got, that's my point. Everyone knows about Germany, France, the US and the UK because they've been the biggest parts of modern history, whereas the Nordic countries had their share of the spotlight between the 14th-18th century.

Besides, you know your country is really insignificant when most people primarily associates it with a fucking furniture company.

I don't usually think of these things in terms of what school teaches us. I mean what percentage of the stuff you know was really taught in school? 5%? 1%?

[Deleted]

I don't usually think of these things in terms of what school teaches us. I mean what percentage of the stuff you know was really taught in school? 5%? 1%?

I'm an 18-year old no-life virgin, so if the knowledge doesn't come from school it probably comes from South Park or various porn sites.

I still don't think people have a large interest of Sweden because, again, we're insignificant in modern times. Not that I'm unhappy, there's something awesome about being a patriot for a country barely anyone takes notice of and in a country where any form of patriotism is looked down upon.

[Reeve]

I'm an 18-year old no-life virgin, so if the knowledge doesn't come from school it probably comes from South Park or various porn sites.

I still don't think people have a large interest of Sweden because, again, we're insignificant in modern times. Not that I'm unhappy, there's something awesome about being a patriot for a country barely anyone takes notice of and in a country where any form of patriotism is looked down upon.

Hmmm, well I certainly didn't know as much about Scandinavia at 18 as I do now, and a much greater % of my knowledge came from school back when I was in public school. At 29, though, I've lived a lot more and I've been exposed to more people and places, and only a tiny fraction of the things I know came from school. I imagine that's the case for most people.

P.S. I was a virgin until I was 19 or 20 (can't recall). It's not really out of the norm to be a virgin at 18.

[Wikiy]

I don't think any school really teaches about how high living standards those North European countries have and how much oil and fjords they've got, that's my point. Everyone knows about Germany, France, the US and the UK because they've been the biggest parts of modern history, whereas the Nordic countries had their share of the spotlight between the 14th-18th century.

Besides, you know your country is really insignificant when most people primarily associates it with a fucking furniture company.

It's taught here, in geography classes (which are mandatory up to uni). We go over every single European country as well as major world countries twice (once in primary school and once in high school) and we of course mention the fact Scandinavian countries are the most developed. You should be happy that pretty much all Europeans know about you and look up to you. And that's the truth, we admire you (I'm not exaggerating, that's the image of Scandinavia in my country; the heaven on Earth).

My country is totally insignificant both globally and for Europe, which is just one of the reasons why I'm hoping one day the EU becomes a single country, at that point at least I'll know my country is of some significance. And i already prefer the European side of my identity rather than the Croatian side when I'm in the presence of non-Europeans.

[Deleted]

It's taught here, in geography classes (which are mandatory up to uni). We go over every single European country as well as major world countries twice (once in primary school and once in high school) and we of course mention the fact Scandinavian countries are the most developed. You should be happy that pretty much all Europeans know about you and look up to you. And that's the truth, we admire you (I'm not exaggerating, that's the image of Scandinavia in my country; the heaven on Earth).

My country is totally insignificant both globally and for Europe, which is just one of the reasons why I'm hoping one day the EU becomes a single country, at that point at least I'll know my country is of some significance. And i already prefer the European side of my identity rather than the Croatian side when I'm in the presence of non-Europeans.

I'm happily surprised to hear that there is a country out there where Sweden isn't synonymous with IKEA and blondines.

[Reeve]

I'm happily surprised to hear that there is a country out there where Sweden isn't synonymous with IKEA and blondines.

It's generally thought in the US to be the original source of all big boobies. The fountainhead, really.