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THE BATTLE OF LUNDY'S LANE
History in some sense is always propaganda.
Review Questions
Vocabulary: impass, parole, harass, appendage, legend, posterity, lament, countermand, cannonade, exhort, combatants, sultry, permeate, flimsy, bivouac, dispatch, windbound, lustre, prudence, trundle, muzzle, strategic, tactical, audacity, shrapnel, bewilder, counterattack, fluctuate, battery, manoeuvre, besiege, garrison, quagmire, fortify.
This narrative is somewhat different from the others. It begins with a description of the clash at Lundy's Lane which incorporates most of the commonly accepted details regarding the battle. Following this fairly comprehensive description, I have excerpted from various books for the purposes of comparison, some brief and some lengthy descriptions of the same battle by several different authors.
1. What if anything do the various articles have in common?
2. Select any two articles and identify two events they have in common and two events that have been omitted. Explain how the latter makes a difference in the meaning.
3. Explain: "History in some sense is always propaganda."
4.
President Madison threatened, "The longer he protracts his hostile endeavours the more certain and decisive will be his final discomfiture." (a) At whom did Madison aim this threat> (b) What makes it an unusual threat?5.
When Niagara-on-the-Lake was burned by the retreating Americans, Canadians demanded retribution. Was the British officer right in ordering a similar act on the American side of the border?6.
The victory resulted in an impasse. Explain.7. History can enlighten but it can also distort. Give examples to illustrate both of these.
8. Explain:(a)bias is blatant (b) diplomatically decisive word; (c) nurse national passions; (d) patriotic cement; (g) history hungry for heroes; (h) enhance national pride; (i) the headline version of history; (j) content to lick his wounds.8. "A historian among his books should forget his nationality." Why?
9. One account says the Americans may have won a tactical victory but suffered a strategic defeat. What does this mean?
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