Which "Great" deserved the title the least? I say

Shitting on England (yeah I know, but England=GB=UK, no one cares) is funny, since most of people shit on them while using English invention in English language.
If anyone deserves respect for their historical deeds, it's the English, they built the modern world.

"Great" doesnt refer to quality you dipshit

>>542187

>Brittany:
34,023 km2 (13,136 sq mi)
>Great Britain
209,331 km2 (80,823 sq mi)

As you see, Great Britain is way bigger.

>>542204
English language is the lingua franca because of the USA, a country that exists because Britain lost a war to a bunch of peasants (with little help from France and Spain).
Not to mention that with its shitton of French words, English language also serves as a reminder of how England was raped by the Normans in 1066 and then spent centuries being ruled by French nobles from Anjou

Choose a better exemple than that if you want to explain Britain's greatness

>>542187

Great Britain refers it to being the largest island in the British Isles, dumbass. Clearly it deserves the title.

>>542251
Okay Mr. Pierre.
>because of the USA
Not just because of USA. British Empire controlled 1/4th of the globe.
French was diplomatic language, but English was the language of trade. Guess what was more important.
And still, my point stands, England built modern world.

>>542251
>>542187

> that's bait.gif

Besides it's called Great Britain because it's the United kingdom of the isle of greater Britain. Largest of the British isles.

>>542251

You are stupid if you think the lingu franca of the India subcontinent or chunks of Africa is due to the USA, that is all down to the British Empire. Obviously Canada, Australia, New Zealand and chunks of the West Indies speaking it as their first language is down to the British Empire and so is the USA speaking it in the first place.

>>542204
You're thinking of France ladchapm8.

>>542269
Nobody speaks English because some Pakistanis or Africans do. If it wasn't for America, English would be about as relevant today as Spanish.

>England built modern world
That delusion.

The Modern Era began with the French Revolution, and the spreading of its ideals by Napoleon. It had nothing to do with England.

>>542358
>what is the industrial revolution for 400, Alex?

>>542358
>Nobody speaks English because some Pakistanis or Africans do

Pakistan alone has a population well over half of the population of the USA.

The Indian Subcontinent that the British Empire spread English to have a population multiple times the size of the USA's.

The population of former British holdings in Africa is multiple times the size of the population of the USA.

>>542286
Do you unironically believe being spoken in India and a few African shitholes is what made English language relevant?
It's being spoken in Europe and japan that did, and it only happened after WW2 thanks to the US

During the height of the British Empire, French was the lingua franca
English was so irrelevant than German officials adressed to British ones in French ("chiffon de papier")

>>542470

Riddle me this, anon, why is the English language spoken as the first language in the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand?

>>542470
>English was so irrelevant than German officials adressed to British ones in French ("chiffon de papier")
top kek
but maybe there was a bit of rival/enemy banter to it as well

>>542251

Back to /r/France, Pierre

>>542251

>he thinks that the American Revolution was fought by 'peasants'

I bet you think it was a guerrilla was fought by snipers in the trees too.

>>542434
And all of that shit is completely irrelevant.

>>542499
Britain is great because it faced the hardship of stealing America from a bunch of savages?

>>542187
Britain is great because they let one of its trading companies take over India and btfo China

>>542187
Great Britain is the name of the island, i.e. Britannia Superior (which is based on the Roman naming scheme of naming things closer to Rome as superior and things further away, inferior. Ireland is Britannia Inferior). The country is called The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

>>542187
AHEHEHEHEHEHHE COUNTRY WARSS
SHID
SHID
SHID
POO IN LOO
A FUCKING LEAF
SWEDEN YES YES
ANGLOKEKKEKKEK

Fuck off to /int/

>>542921
Nice try Panjeet
Scared of the toilet? xD

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>>542873
>The French literally call it 'Big Britanny'

>>542187

When it comes to naming historical figures, Great is the opposite of Good.

Success breeds jealousy

Because the vast majority of the country is situated on Great Britain, the largest Island of the British Archipelago.

Other islands in this group include the Isle of Wight, the Isle of Man and the Isle of Skye among others. Ireland is arguably part of it too but they're always prissy about being called British

>>542187
>Great Britain
> " Didn't deserve a geographical name"
> Greatest empire ever doesn't deserve the name "great"
Jesus Christ kill yourself.

>>542187
Wrong and you should feel bad for being wrong.

I should feel bad for biting your bait this hard.

>>544460
Yes you should, and for forgetting to sage

>>544446
>Greatest empire ever doesn't deserve the name "great"

You're confusing large and great (quantity vs quality)
How could an empire built on massacring niggers even stand up to Rome or Napoleon's Empire when it comes to gloty?

>>544597
Well they did stand uo to Napoleon and beat him.

Also they'd rek Romans because gunpowder

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>>544613
Britain did jack shit against Napoleon
Russia, Prussia and Austria beat him

And that what before what everyone known as "The British Empire" was a thing
The British Empire as people know it was built by conquering technologically backward nations in Asia and Africa during the 2nd half of the 19th century (the so called "Victorian Era")

>>544667
>French damage control

>>544667
Britain fucking demolished, literally obliterated, Napoleon's navy.

They also delivered the coup de grâce at Waterloo

>>545871
>Britain fucking demolished, literally obliterated, Napoleon's navy.

Wow, such an achievement...
The French navy was the equivalent of the British army (utter shit).
Destroying it did in no way contribute to Napoleon's downfall

>>545889
Napoleon was never able to invade Britain because he got so wrecked by Nelson. It was something he always wanted to do, he ordered an army of flat bottom boats to be made but they were never used because of the British blockade that constantly plagued France.

The term "Great Britain" is just a translation of the French "Grande Bretagne", as opposed to (smaller) Bretagne, which is Brittany.

Basically Britain is named after a region in France.

>>544613
Bitch please, all Britain did was pay all the other countries in Europe to go to war against Napoleon (and they still kept losing up until Napoleon invaded Russia).

>>545910
I'm pretty sure it was called Britannia in roman times, Pierre

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>French ITT desperately trying to say they were beaten by powers other then the British
>they still can't face the fact that the only other significant French population out of France, Quebec, bows to the British Crown

>>542434
And no one gives a fuck.

Go to Europe AKA somewhere with people actually worth knowing how to talk to and they all learned English thanks to American TV, and it's taught in all schools thanks to American global hegemony.

Sure, Britain taught some niggers how to read. But it doesn't matter.

>>545997
Depends.

Some Europeans go to the UK for extended periods to learn English, and come out with British English. Some already know some American English, then come to the UK to learn the rest. Europe is actually one of the worst examples you could have picked, its the area which British English influences the most.

Now Asia, they speak nearly completely American English (Outside of Ex-British colonies)

>>545871
>Hold one hill while you wait for the Prussians to save the day again.
>Winning the battle.

>>545924
Which matters because French is a Latin language that raped Old English.

>>546017
English still has more German loan words then French.

England was a French province between around 1066 to 1350 though. (although Normans integrated, the French domination really began at a later date)

>>546006
That isn't a matter of British political influence though. That's a matter of Britain happening to be the closest English speaking country. The same happens in Ireland.

Not to mention the debate was never British English vs. American English. It's why English is the global lingua franca.

>>546012

>winning the battle
>is not winning the battle

>franco-amerifat logic

>>546026

>England was a French province

oh of course I forgot about that time when England was incorporated into the Kingdom of France and ruled by the King of France

>>546030
>Have someone else win the battle for you.
>Delivering a coup de grace.

>Bong logic.

>>546035
Henry VI.

>>546029
>Why English is the global lingua franca

I think that it depends country to country. Places like Japan, South America, middle East etc certainly owe America and not Britain for their English.

But countries like India, which have English as the default language for translating the various Indian languages, owe more to Britain then America. It really depends were you mean, its basically untrue to say either Britain or America is solely responsible for it when clearly it was a combination of both in different ways.

>>546035
This gets tricky, because the English Crown literally split off from the French one, then claimed the whole of France as theirs and by extension England's, and then the hundred years war. So really its more 'France and England were united in a kingdom' then 'France dominated England'

>>546036
>implying it wasn't glorious

>>546036

It's almost as if Britain had a tiny standing army and did not risk it much after the Dutch campaigns.

Huh. How strange. British leadership wrecked Napoleon, corralled minor European states into blockading him, and ultimately fucked his shit up by drawing 100 000 men into the Iberian peninsular, fucking them up, and then been part of the coalition army during Napoleon's return.

I'm not sure what else a tiny European nation could do.

>>546036

>be the first army ever to rout the Old Guard
>destroy the French cavalry with based square formations
>bravely charge and capture the French guns but don't even bother destroying them because banter and victory is practically guaranteed anyway
>not a flawless victory

>>546053
Clearly Britain was supposed to NOT BE A PUSSY, create a massive army it has no experience with then FIGHT THE FRENCH MAN TO MAN.

>>546048
>the English crown literally split off from the French one

What. The English crown existed before 1066 you know. It fell into possession of Frenchmen but the king of France was never king of England

>>546053
Except

1. Britain and her allies only had slightly less troops at waterloo than the French. Whereas Prussia had over 20,000 less and still won the day.
2. The main diplomatic force in pitting European states against Napoleon was Austria. Who led almost all of the Napoleonic wars.

>I'm not sure what else a tiny European nation could do.
Britain was fucking huge as far as nations went at the time. It had both a population of 20 million of which the only countries in Europe that were significantly bigger was France with 30 million and Russia with a retroactively estimated 37 million.

Germany however in its entirety had half the population of France yet Prussia absolutely dominated at Waterloo.

>>546064
Yes he was, until the French crown was destroyed in the revolution the King of England always claimed to also be the King of France.

And on top of this during the 100 Years war he was officially coronated and recognized as such.

>>545889

>"we didn't care about those ships anyway"

lmao

>>546077
>using population statistics to justify battle-field strategies and tactics

Honestly your clutching at straws here

>>546082

>King of England always claimed to also be the King of France

The King of England having a legitimate claim on the crown of France is not the same as the King of France and the King of England being the same crown and the same person

>>546091
>what is salic law

>>546089
I'm not, I'm simply saying Britain was by no means a tiny country.

>>546093

a meme system

>>542216
Don't know if you're having a laugh, but Great Britain is a term used in contrast to Little Britain (Ireland).

>>546077

Prussia just came in at the end when Britain and France had already been fighting all day and after the Old Guard and French cavalry had already been defeated by the British army. They literally just came in and attacked an army already on the brink of defeat from the rear.

Wow well done guys.

>>546091
But they were, Henry V was the legitimate king of France as ratified by the Estates General.

>>546108
That's called winning, my friend.

Attacking an already tied up army from the behind is a time honoured tactic.

>>546103

Little Britain is Brittany, not Ireland.

>>546103
It isn't, Little Britain is Brittany as the Great/Little distinction is a French innovation.

The Romans just called Britian Britannia, there was nothing great about it. With Ireland being Hibernia or Scotia.

>>546117

the point is Britain did the majority of all the fighting and winning and held the line all day long against the best the French could throw at them, something Prussia or Austria or any of the other faggot countries ever did against Napoleon

>>546113
One guy being the king of two separate countries doesn't make them the same crown

Britain is the best nation that ever existed, and I'mm not even a native iEnglish speaker.
Rule Britannia. They need to get their Empire back.

>>545989
>Bong finds out no one respects his country
>"I-I bet you're all French!!!"

You could use some time on /int/ to get rid of this delusion that only frogs despise your nation

>>546048
Places like Europe, Japan, South America, middle East etc certainly owe America and not Britain for their English.
But countries like India, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Burma and Pakistan owe it to Britain!

Britain stronk!!!!

>England at its height of power
>French is the lingua franca
>America at its height of power
>English is the lingua franca

Why are Britshits so delusional?

>>546831
Brits consider that America's achievements are theirs because they founded it

>"Oh, so English didn't become lingua franca until US hegemony? Well, who founded the US anyway, hmmmm?"

See >>542499

>>546813
Why would you despise Britain?

>>546921
For its pettiness (hiding on their island while the continent was ravaged by the French and the Germans, conquering backward people thank to technology and calling it the "greatest empire ever"...etc)

>>546838

I wouldn't necessarily put it exactly like that but if we are talking about the subjective topic of cultutal influence of Britain then clearly you can't just magically separate out the USA, which was created from a bunch of British colonies, speaking the English language, basing their laws on English Common Law and deriving their culture on the cukture that founded them and pretend it has nothing to do with Britain and is so some sort of rival culture that entirekly emerged independently and separately.

Clearly any cultural influence the USA has on the world is clearly ALSO part of the cultural legacy of the British EMpire because the USA itself is a legacy of the British Empire.

Don't forget the USA is only a couple of hundred years old for goodness sake. Only a slightly longer time period than between the first colonies from England in the New World and the American Revoultion.

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>>546945
The USA became independent before what everyone see as the British Empire (the collection of third world shitholes gathered during the Victorian Era) was even a thing

>>546969

That's a strong and highlydisputable claim and it doesn't actually change anything I just said.

The main point is that this ludicrous intenational /int/ or /pol/ style shitposting competition that this thread has turned into and appears to have been created to generate isn't a terribly useful way of analysing either the US' or the UK's worldwide cultural legacy.

In fact it is just fucking childish.

>>544667
They literally funded nearly the entire war effort of all those countries

>>547026
We're discussing Britain's greatness in this thread

Being a warrior is glorious, being a banker isnt.

>>547046

>Being a warrior is glorious

You're aware 4chan is an 18+ website?

>largest empire in history
>not great

burgers are shilling hard.

/k/ an /his/ seem to share quite an anti-british bias but i'll bite.

First of all the name 'Great Britain' refers to the island as a whole. It's not a comment on the countries quality.

Secondly, it became popular when Britain began to rise as a world power. You may not like it but Britain was for centuries a major power with a great influence on world history.

>>542187
>own 1/3 of the Earth
>not great

The answer is Peter the "Great"

>>547268
>/k/ an /his/ seem to share quite an anti-british bias but i'll bite.
I blame the memes

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>>546930
>country is successful
>judge a state as 'petty' or 'hiding' when it is pursuing successful strategies in its interest

Why are you ascribing human characteristics to states? The threads premise is shaky but basically says that Britain isn't significant, that's provably false.

>>547682

Great Britain is not a state though.

There was the Kingdom of Great Britain but the naming of the state was based on Great Britain as a geographical term already existing. Not because any one made a state called "Britain" and decided to tack "great" on the front as a claim at how awesome it was.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Great_Britain

>>547718
I'm assuming its what the OP meant. Because if he literally meant geography, that is off topic posting.

>>542251
>>542187
Back to /int/ my Chicano friend

>>546831
>England at its height of power
>French is the lingua franca
>America at its height of power
>English is the lingua franca
>China at its height of power
>American is the lingua franca
I see a pattern!

>>547724

I'm assuming OP is an idiot from /int/ or /pol/ that wanted to start a shitposting competition and had no clue the "Great" was a geographical term desu senpai.

>>547754

>French was ever the lingua franca in the one third of the global surface cover by the British Empire

>Americans speak English rather than French by pure chance

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>>542251
>with little help from France and Spain

>>547780
>French was ever the lingua franca in the one third of the global surface cover by the British Empire

French was the lingua franca everywhere, retard (until English replaced it after WW2)
That's the point of a lingua franca (international language).
When Russian and Japanese diplomats met in early 20th century, they used French.

>>547930
>French was the lingua franca everywhere, retard (until English replaced it after WW2)

Lingua franca is not the simple comcept where one language replaces another as the official lingua franca of the world, dumbass.

If you are seriously suggesting that French was the lingua Franca of North America or the British holdings that covered a third of the world's population during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries then you are more than somewhat slow witted.

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>>542204
Shitting on France is funny, since most Anglos live in a state that heirs from the French Norman kingdom of England.

If anyone deserves respect for their historical deeds, it's the French, they built England.

>>545924
It wasn't called "Great Britain" in Roman times Nigel.

>>547996
A lingua franca is a language spoken between people who don't speak the same native language. Of course two Swahilis are going to speak Swahili to each other, that doesn't make Swahili a lingua franca.

>>547754
But French was already lingua franca while France was at the height of power. And even before that.

>>547754
The same thing happened before with Latin and Greek too.

>>548065

And that does not even come close to addressing what I just said.

>>548065
But Swahili actually is a lingua franca...

>>542470
>a significant portion of the world speaks english due to british rule
>ITS ALL BECAUSE OF MURICA

>>546825
>middle east owes english to murica
>not to britain.
>countries that have low total amounts of english speakers owe it to america
>murica stronk

Great depression.
It wasn't great for most people by then.

>>542251
/thread