Notmy Realname replied to the discussion "I don't remember this show being so ludicrously amerocentric"
Yeah, when I watch Dr. Who, I'm struck by the fact that the aliens are always negotiating with the British first. (Although they do have the kindness to occasionally slip in the psychotic blow-em-all-up American general.)The history books that are popular in America claim that the American Revolution was a huge international event that inspired several revolutions around the globe, the French Revolution in particular. (It's also claimed that France's financial investment in supporting the war was a factor in its civil unrest.) Without the French Revolution (and without being Amerocentric) it's almost certain that Latin America would not have rebelled when it did, since the opportunity to do so was afforded to them by Napoleon's incursions on Spain.So my take on the episode is that France never really invested itself in the American Revolution, in which case the Americans lost the war, and the French monarchy was stable enough to stave off its own dissidents. (Probably, they had a different domestic policy as well...does this make the show Francocentric?) This alone would have huge significance in the timeline (for instance, the World Wars seem unlikely to have happened) and it's also entirely possible that the Europeans could have had more effective policies in dealing with their colonies.
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