# Non-Americans: When I hear "The Civil War" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 18, 2011, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-when-i-hear-the-civil-war/593113 "2011-08-18T03:21:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-when-i-hear-the-civil-war/593113/21 "2011-08-18T18:56:57Z")
Canada here. It would depend on context, but if that wasn’t clear, I’d assume American Civil War. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-when-i-hear-the-civil-war/593113/22 "2011-08-18T19:04:11Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > Possibly because it would be quite difficult to turn Oliver Cromwell into a hero. “We fight for Puritanism, the abolition of Christmas, and the oppression of the Irish!” An important historical figure, but not one that can easily be turned into a Braveheart. > > I voted for the American Civil War, because it’s the only one I’ve heard referred to as such without any other context. Charles wouldn’t make a good hero either. I’d like to see something about Cromwell’s generals, maybe, possibly someone completely invented for the film but relatively historically accurate. They could get gradually disillusioned with Cromwell (as did happen to many) and maybe help Chuck 2 to get the throne back, only to realise he’s a different sort of bad. Or something like that. It could be interesting, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-when-i-hear-the-civil-war/593113/23 "2011-08-18T19:42:08Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > It’s true, there aren’t many movies about the English Civil War, which is strange really. > [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > Possibly because it would be quite difficult to turn Oliver Cromwell into a hero. Well, there is [Cromwell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cromwell_%28film%29) with Richard Harris. The film’s other merits or lack thereof aside, casting Harris almost automatically turns him into a fascinating quasi-anti-hero. Except maybe when he was playing Dumbledore, there was always something slightly menacing about Harris ;). ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-when-i-hear-the-civil-war/593113/24 "2011-08-19T02:39:22Z")
I was about to mention _Cromwell_. I think it’s a good movie covering the period. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-when-i-hear-the-civil-war/593113/25 "2011-08-19T03:21:59Z")
There was a mini-series “By the Sword Divided” about the English Civil War. I think Julian Glover(the villain in the third Indiana Jones movie) was a central character. ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-when-i-hear-the-civil-war/593113/26 "2011-08-19T03:26:29Z")
If it would be just “the civil war” with absolutely no context whatsoever I’d think of [Finnish Civil War](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_Civil_War), since I’m a Finn. The American one would most likely be next in my mental queue. ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-when-i-hear-the-civil-war/593113/27 "2011-08-19T06:22:54Z")
American civil war. Even though I was born in the UK the English one was too long ago. And I’m reading Gone with the Wind these days. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-when-i-hear-the-civil-war/593113/28 "2011-08-19T07:47:12Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > Did you think Charles the First’s head just fell off by itself? 😉 > > I don’t know, you cut the head off one king and they call you a regicide… Hey, maybe it would have been called something else. Spain has had about 10 Civil Wars since we actually became a single kingdom again (and that was only in the 19th Century), but they all have different names. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-when-i-hear-the-civil-war/593113/29 "2011-08-19T11:53:07Z")
(South African) Absent _any_ context, I think of the American Civil War. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-when-i-hear-the-civil-war/593113/30 "2011-08-19T12:12:52Z")
Irish Civil war. In context though I’d pick up on American, Spanish and English. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-when-i-hear-the-civil-war/593113/31 "2011-08-19T12:18:46Z")
If I hear just “Civil War” in English, I’m gonna have a hard time figuring out which war is meant (except if I’m talking with some Americans). If I hear it in my first language, that is if I hear “guerre civile”, I m gonna think of the Spanish Civil War (but that’s Picasso’s fault. His Guernica piece kind of sums up every and any civil war for me). We refer to the American Civil War as the War of Secession here. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-when-i-hear-the-civil-war/593113/32 "2011-08-19T12:40:08Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Hey, maybe it would have been called something else. Spain has had about 10 Civil Wars since we actually became a single kingdom again (and that was only in the 19th Century), but they all have different names. England is just the same (even excluding the other constituent parts of the UK) – depending on where you draw distinctions between civil wars, wars of succession, revolts, revolutions, and rebellions. Even the one we call “The Civil War” is more like three separate wars over a short period of time. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-when-i-hear-the-civil-war/593113/33 "2011-08-19T12:42:33Z")
American. I’m a New Zealander who has lived in the UK for the past five years. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-when-i-hear-the-civil-war/593113/34 "2011-08-19T14:20:44Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Charles wouldn’t make a good hero either. I’d like to see something about Cromwell’s generals, maybe, possibly someone completely invented for the film but relatively historically accurate. They could get gradually disillusioned with Cromwell (as did happen to many) and maybe help Chuck 2 to get the throne back, only to realise he’s a different sort of bad. Or something like that. It could be interesting, anyway. That’s pretty much the plot of the 2003 film, _To Kill a King_, which starred Dougray Scott as Fairfax. Which was released to general indifference. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2011, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-when-i-hear-the-civil-war/593113/35 "2011-08-19T22:23:01Z")
> [@APB](#): > > That’s pretty much the plot of the 2003 film, _To Kill a King_, which starred Dougray Scott as Fairfax. Which was released to general indifference. cool - I’ve just added it to my Amazon wishlist. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2011, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-when-i-hear-the-civil-war/593113/36 "2011-08-20T11:35:15Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > Possibly because it would be quite difficult to turn Oliver Cromwell into a hero. “We fight for Puritanism, the abolition of Christmas, and the oppression of the Irish!” An important historical figure, but not one that can easily be turned into a Braveheart. Good point. “We fight for Puritanism, the abolition of Christmas, and the oppression of the Irish!” Only one of those things is any fun. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-americans-when-i-hear-the-civil-war/593113.md?page=1)