# George Washington was Englands greatest military foe. I don't get it

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-washington-was-englands-greatest-military-foe-i-dont-get-it/618899>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [April 15, 2012, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-washington-was-englands-greatest-military-foe-i-dont-get-it/618899 "2012-04-15T23:36:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-washington-was-englands-greatest-military-foe-i-dont-get-it/618899/81 "2012-05-02T23:28:33Z")

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> [@PrettyVacant](#):
>
> I suspect Wellington found the measure of Boney in the Peninsular War.

My recollection of my history classes is that they never fought each other in Spain, but that Wellington developed methods to counter what Napoleon taught his best generals to do. If I had my pick of any contemporary general to go up against Napoleon, it would be Wellington. And vice versa.

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**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\
**Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-washington-was-englands-greatest-military-foe-i-dont-get-it/618899/82 "2012-05-02T23:46:41Z")

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Is it possible the panel was influenced by [this video? (NSFW for language)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7iVsdRbhnc)

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**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-washington-was-englands-greatest-military-foe-i-dont-get-it/618899/83 "2012-07-20T17:47:58Z")

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Washington has a fair claim to be the UK’s greatest military foe. He did more than any other individual to militarily win American independence, keeping an army in the field for eight years. He was usually very careful but also knew when to roll the dice, as he did to deadly effect at Trenton, Princeton and Yorktown. After that last defeat, the North government fell, and George III actually drafted a letter of abdication. It was the first time in human history that a colony successfully won its independence and then set up a lasting form of self-government. It was also, if memory serves, the only large war which the UK lost… ever?

Washington never posed the existential threat to Britain that Napoleon did, though, or as Hitler later would, through such talented generals as Rommel, Guderian, von Manstein, etc.

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