Heroes or Villains?

History is littered with myths that we have come to believe as facts. This is because the truth belongs to the victor!

I have to be biased over which history to write about, because I was born and raised in Britain, so I tend to know more about British history than other histories. This of course comes from the British slant on what was taught to me when I was a child. I have had a life-long interest in history and why people lived the way they did.

The Battle of Hastings (which wasn’t at Hastings) could have, and should have, had a different ending. If you don’t know about this battle it’s something that all children of Britain are taught about. We might not know our pin numbers for the bank but we all know 1066, the year of the battle.

To cut a long story short, William ’The Bastard’ (honest, that was his name) was the Duke of Normandy who claimed that the throne of England was promised to him. But Harold, the current owner of the pointy head-piece, disagreed - and, as with all disagreements between boys, they decided to have a fight about it!

But Harold and his brother had also fallen out, so his brother had gone to the Danes to ask if he could borrow an army and attack Harold.

Harold marched his men to Stamford Bridge, near York, where the battle with his brother took place, and Harold won.

One fact about this battle I loved as a young boy was that one of the Viking invaders stood on the bridge armed with an axe and held the whole of Harold’s army at bay by himself.

When the battle was over Harold, marched his men back down to the south coast to fight off the Norman invasion - this in itself was a colossal feat.

Wave after wave of attack by the Norman cavalry could not break the Anglo-Saxon shield wall until the Normans feigned a retreat and Harold’s men broke rank and chased after them: this altered the whole course of British history.

Another myth that we relish here in Britain is the great Francis Drake and the defeat of the terrible Spanish Armada!

Francis Drake did not defeat the Spanish Armada; he had little to do with the battle, and actually sailed back in to dock with a Spanish ship to claim salvage on it while the rest of the British fleet was engaged in the battle. The British weather, a bit of luck, and a few fire-boats defeated the Armada.

Drake was a low-life pirate, who, for some unknown reason, has gone down in British history as a hero. This was a quality that he never ever demonstrated. He even left his cousin, the man that took him in and set him up with a life at sea, to die in battle. Can you imagine his surprise when Hawkins (his cousin) later sailed back into port alive and well?

The battle of Agincourt was another myth, though the battle did of course take place. But the overwhelming odds were rubbish. Both armies were more or less evenly matched. What won the battle was not the longbowmen, as we have been led to believe, but the choice of venue for the battle and the French retarded view of chivalry. The commanders led from the front on horseback into what can only be described as a swamp. With their heavy armour they were soon bogged down and were in many cases clubbed to death!

But of course all this doesn’t really matter to anyone except a few pedants like me. But what about history that’s in the making, what about now?

What will future generations think of our governments, that are still run by the ’old school tie’ brigade? What will they think about us as a nation, that have built up a welfare state in such a short space, then idly stood back and watched as it is dismembered before our eyes? What will they think about us accepting big business controlling our every move, where we give up more and more rights because of some deep seated fear of media-hyped terrorism, or xenophobia.

People are now marking the 50^th anniversary of the death of JFK. Much is now being made about his philandering and his drug dependency. Personally I don’t care who or what he slept with as long as he did his job. I would have had more concerns with his links to the Mafia than I would about his sex life. But none of this matters any more, as he has taken his place in history.

All men in power have secrets in their closets, in fact we all have secrets. You do not climb the greasy pole to get into a position of power without treading on a few heads along the way. And when in power, you find you have to talk to and deal with people you both loath and despise. But still you have to deal with them. As long as it’s in your country's interest, then it’s fine, but it seems more and more that only the politicians and their kind benefit from their deals.

You see the problem is that one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. And what can be seen to the world as a great statesman can be seen as a corrupt despot to his/her people. It all depends on your social, religious economical and geographical background on who is a hero and who is a villain.

We are all part hero and part villain, but sometimes in history it seems the villains always win!