What Do Europeans Know About America?? | Americans React | Loners

#europe #america #reaction
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Welcome back to another episode, Loners! We hope you all are doing well. In this video, we took a look at what some Europeans knew about the US. We were surprised by how much they knew! If you enjoy this content please make sure to like and subscribe. Thank you all :)

[@user-fb2dw6yc8n]

US history is not typically taught. However we are taught World History and key events in other countries, including the US, can be included in this.

[@Dutch1961]

I'm 63. I can't remember ever having had US history being taught in school. Gaining knowledge about countries in the world isn't just a responsibility of the schooling system. It requires an open and investigative mindset of the person. I've been following world news on a daily basis for all of my life. That's where I gained most of my knowledge.

[@viquiben4919]

US History or Geography are not taught in european schools, it's just that europeans are generally more curious about what's going on in the world, we also know about the rest of the world not only the USA.

[@publicminx]

wrong. Most Europeans also know a fuck about Belarus or Moldavia. The reality is that huge influential countries like the US (most influential one) which are just much more in media (and created more media like youtube, google, facebook, insta etc.) and have much more impact in general (from politics to anything else) have much more focus and are in general more known (and interesting) than Nauru, Marshall Islands, Tuvalu or Saint Vincent and the Grenadines which most ppl even dont know that these are countries in the first place. That ppl from those lesser known countries know more about the big influential countries than the other way around surprises just idiots. And just idiots believe that this has something to do with 'being more curious'. And if you open your eyes than you should have noticed that KZbin (and other media) is full of 'curious' US-Americans which is why you have also that many us-youtubers watching all kind of things. you need to learn to see the reality and reflect the circumstances, before you draw stereotypical conclusions. it is also NOT 'being more curious' if you live in Europe among many other countries as neighbors and know therefor a bit more (and speak more languages) than living in a huge country with another huge mostly English speaking country (Canada). and dont overestimate the knowledge of most ordinary people. most even dont know who the own foreign minister is or can name all states/municipalities. And outside of the West (those Euro vs. US-Americans are rather a typical inner-western dialogue just as you also have that between the US and Canada or Germany vs. Austria and so on (all that more in the 20. century a thing) the situation is even much worse (in some cases, especially rural people even dont know in which countries they live). Its going better on the planet slowly (than it was in the 20. century not to talk about earlier times) but dont overestimate the general knowledge. That most ordinary ppl in the most developed countries know more than most of the rest (and also traveled more, especially countries like Germany and neighbors (France and Spain etc. just started more in the 21. century btw. they had a much more inner-focus and 'no foreign language' skill than the US btw. (which always had migrants from all over the world). And apropos: do you know the first king of Poland? Or the difference between UK, England and Great Britain? Most Europeans failed already on such questions about more known neighbor countries.

[@Niki91-HR]

I would beg to differ. We do have some US geography and history in school. I dont know in which school you went to but I did have some lessons about the US in Germany and Croatia.

[@winterlinde5395]

@@Niki91-HR it must have been in history class, too. But I remember US history (and British and Australian history) from English class. Same with French class.

[@Niki91-HR]

@@winterlinde5395 yeah its a combination. Some things are part of Geography, some of history and well another benefit when you learn a foreign language you automatically learn stuff about thr place of origin and some other places where the language is huge. And well I remember in English classes not only learning about the differences in spelling and meaning in BE and AE for example but some historical facts as well.

[@AmaraBeaulieu]

US history is not taught globally 😭

[@MAVAZZ]

Yes it is, but through Hollywood and other means, not at school. We are surrounded by US history anywhere, which is something were US intentionally made big efforts (and succeeded).

[@Linkov_]

Exactly 💯💯

[@AmaraBeaulieu]

@@MAVAZZ Maybe in your country but not globally at all.

[@MAVAZZ]

@@AmaraBeaulieu Globally doesn't mean in 100% of the countries... What do you exactly mean? Because for me its so clear.

[@AmaraBeaulieu]

@@MAVAZZ If you watch a lot of US movies and count that as learning they’re history good for you.

[@real_lostinthefogofwar]

Other countries don't learn about America, but America never shuts up about itself.

[@pigedehekkan]

There are 35 countries in America, including USA...

[@paul1979uk2000]

Yep, it's more about learning world general knowledge and current events that's going on then it is about the US. All the answers above I knew apart from the vice president, which I knew but couldn't pull the name out of my head lol, and I've got decent knowledge about the rest of the world with my weakness being Africa and if this was 20 years ago, I would also say the Middle East but it's been in the news so much over the last two decades that I've picked up a lot of knowledge about the region. It's unfortunate for the US that they have such an insular education system, as well as news reporting that does a poor job of reporting on things from around the world, which isn't doing Americans any favours in a lot of ways. By the way, US history isn't taught in the UK when I was at school, it was mostly UK and regional history, but being that we are brought up to be more open about things around the world, we learn a lot more of world history as we leave school and what's going on around the world throughout life, whereas Americans seem to have this weird view on the US and much of its history that doesn't really exist.

[@real_lostinthefogofwar]

@@pigedehekkan Only one country calls themselves American, I guess they couldn't think up a proper name for their country.

[@pigedehekkan]

@@real_lostinthefogofwar the country is named USA.

[@real_lostinthefogofwar]

@@pigedehekkan That's not a name, it's an acronym

[@smoonchild9401]

In Azerbaijan we have two different history classes. One is Azerbaijani history, second is worldwide history. And each year we learn by time periods. Like in grade 6 we start from old Neanderthals to Roman Empire, we cover major events of all world. We cover from Egypt, to India, to USA (it appears in grade 8), European countries, Russia, Ottoman Empire and etc. Last grade (11th) we end up with WWII to modern era, even covering up Covid. We know pretty much all about US history, from beginning till nowadays. We also learn most notable presidents, what was done during their period. But we are not that knowledgeable about Geography of US. We learn only basics, do not cover capitals of states, just knowing Washington DC is enough.

[@xxx_phantom_xxxw_t_a9479]

Hello from Switzerland, I find it a bit strange that you take it for granted that “everyone” in Europe speaks English. Sure, younger people mostly speak it, even in our four-language country (excluding English!!!), but it would also be worth thinking about learning the language of a country you're visiting.

[@kevingrant7098]

Other countries don’t really teach American history at a basic level. I don’t remember being taught American history in the UK. We studied British history

[@lewilewis3944]

We did back in the 70's + 80's. We learned about Columbus, the 13 colonies, both French and British, the genocide of the Native American people (by Spain and the US) and of course, slavery. Although us Brits were major slave traders, we only did it with the cooperation of African Tribal leaders and Arab traders. No slaves were ever allowed in Great Britain, not since Anglo Saxon laws outlawed it over 1,000 years ago before the Normans turned up. The British were the first to outlaw it internationally between 1800 - 1830. By 1830 The Royal Navy was blockading West Africa and freeing slaves. We would also park ships off the south coast of the US and offer sanctuary to escaped slaves if they'd serve in our navy. They got the same pay, bounties and promotions as everyone else. One escaped slave made it all the way up to a ships captain. I also learned about the US 'democratic' system as part of my politics A level. Even then US lobbyists/corporations were buying politicians. The democracies I admired? Iceland (the oldest in the world) and Germany, the fairest. No federal German politician is allowed stocks, shares, outside business interests or expenses. And they're well paid, removes the need for bribes.

[@paul1979uk2000]

When I was in school in the mid to late 80's to mid 90's, they didn't teach American history at the school I was at, it was mostly UK and regional history and some world history, but I do remember that we were encourage to learn about the world, which is what I did a lot more when I left school

[@lorrainewillis6364]

I know as much about US history as I do about France, Spain, Germany, etc. It's not taught generally, it's more about world history and a common interest in other countries and cultures. Also, Europeans generally speak English well because it's a compulsory subject in most European schools...which is why us Brits are a little spoilt when we go abroad and lazy when learning other languages.

[@publicminx]

its not about being lazy but being pragmatic. most are not interested in foreign languages but have other focus and get around with what works best in most cases - which is English. And learning about the 'own' history often means for Europeans also learn a bit about the history of other European countries (or since 19./20. century a bit more about the US), because all of that is usually connected - at least on a superficial level. And apart from that, every better school system teaches of course also at least superficially about world history (from stone age to modern times) and geographics - which automatically includes usually not just the own country (which is often not possible without mentioning others) ....

[@lynnhamps7052]

We don't get taught American history in Europe but we do take an interest in what is going on in the rest of the world, plus America tends to stick its nose into everyone else's business so we can't avoid knowing about them. Made me laugh when the loner guy said they might know more about a country if they went to war with them! Is that the first place your mind goes? How about visiting places of interest or read more to widen your horizons? 🙁✌🇬🇧

[@danmayberry1185]

0:03 yawn. Is that a record?

[@lazios]

No, we don't study American history (as I suppose you think), at least in my day the only things that were studied were the American discovery (so Cristoforo Colombo) and some of the European colonisation in the new world (all things related to Europe), the only true American "thing" was about the independence from the British (just something, we study the French Revolution primarily); there were also the WWI and WWII in the school programme but in relation to Europe (we talk about the American role in the war of course, but like the USSR and other countries). What we Europeans (Italians in my case) know is given more by the American cultural invasion (from cinema to TV, for example) rather than schools (and sure, a lot depends on the person, there are who love reading, learning etc).

[@solidsteel3634]

Well, these questions are actually part of general education. And that's what the typical American lacks. Nobody learns explicitly about America. It is simply necessary to have a certain basic knowledge of other countries.

[@Mjanmar]

I Slovenia they teach us about America and USA history. We also learn about Asia history.

[@Bramfly]

That’s a typical winter in the Netherlands 😊

[@markusolofzon]

We are taught world history in Sweden and in that you are taught bigger moments in for example US history, Chinese history etc. We are not learning US history specifically

[@TheJohnnycab5]

That yawning of yours has become a bit of a signature move of your podcast. Cute!

[@nicschu456]

I learned about American history, culture, political system in German Gymnasium( High school?). In several school subjects like English, History, Geography...

[@user-tr3do5xw9s]

The US is not taught at all world wide in history as it has No history, history is thousands of years hot 200 or 300 years, how many Americans are taught their true history of native Americans. I would love to hear about the true American history not really bothered with recent history.

[@publicminx]

ok, they had no horses, because they were introduced by Europeans. now you learned something. they were themself colonist (and since they came in different waves the first ones could also see all others as neo-colonist). now you learned something more. many changed the environment and were responsible for the loss of many woods (to make space for buffalos). now you learned even more. the reality is that you just wanted phrase political correct nonsense which is why you failed already by thinking that their history is the only 'true' history. thats obviously nonsense (all history is true history as long it is at least close to being as correct as much as possible - scientific). and if you want learn more about those (if you knew more about the history of mankind than the history of such tribes are in most cases rather typical for tribes) then no one is holding you back. thanks to the Europeans/European Americans etc. you have the possibility to know more about them (or have you forgotten who were historically the ones who explored/researched also the history of the natives in the world? - also invented modern history, archaeology and so on. or do you think that those tribes made lexica, history of the world and thousand other things? no, you know that and can also learn more about thanks to whom?). and if you would love to hear more about those then LEARN IT YOURSELF. what are you waiting for? a collective which shares your ideological woke left wing view (apropos: left wings are with islam the most antisemitic/antizionist ideologies - in the tradition of the antiwestern/antiwhite racist socialist dictatorships. or do you also need here some lessons in history?)? apart from that: that the history of civilizations like Babylon, Egypt, India/China, Persia, Greeks, Roman Empire, newer European Empires and the United states are much more interesting than the life of every anyway mostly similar tribe who are just the results of small groups moving out of africa, spreading over the world and then lived mostly isolated developing their more ore less typical tribal culture, should also only be for idiots not be obious. the progress of mankind is usually more interesting than rather static cultures/variations of the same. and if you dont know why then you are even more backward than most tribes/clan-structures were (and partly still are). general rule: every history is interesting but not for ideological reasons but to 'understand' patterns. and that nowadays many tribes/natives 'represent' environment/eco friendly ideologies is also something I expect that everyone with a bit real knowledge about history knows that this is just zeitgeistig ideology - raised mostly during the 20. century but based on typical antimodernism: simple life vs. modern complex life - and the instrumentalization that for political ideologies ...

[@tomjohnston1220]

We only know a lot about America because we know a lot about the whole world. We watch world news. I was in New Mexico for a while and the TV only had really local news. In Europe, even small local stations will have news from around the world. I am not obsessed with travel but even I have been to countries all over the world, Europeans travel out of their countries more than Americans do. It could be because America can provide every type of holiday or adventure within it's own borders. Americans are missing out, expanding your horizons expands and opens up your brain. I'm disappointed with so many wrong answers from these young Europeans, I thought everyone in the world knew that George Washington was the first President.

[@anejz1637]

Hello Slovenian here yes we have tones of people how can speak english here, up to an age of 50- 45 mostly every one can speak english. We learn english in our schools, plus we have one of the best school systems in Europe or even world

[@Pterodactylus548]

""John Hanson (April 14 [O.S. April 3] 1721 - November 15, 1783) was an American Founding Father, merchant, and politician from Maryland during the Revolutionary Era. In 1779, Hanson was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress after serving in a variety of roles for the Patriot cause in Maryland. He signed the Articles of Confederation in 1781 after Maryland joined the other states in ratifying them. In November 1781, he was elected as the first President of the Confederation Congress (sometimes styled President of the United States in Congress assembled), following ratification of the articles. For this reason, some of Hanson's biographers have argued that he was actually the first holder of the office of President of the United States." Greetings from Finland.

[@lewilewis3944]

And right there, folks, is an example of a decent education. Thanks for telling me something I didn't know, makes a nice change. How many US citizens know this? Not many I bet.

[@eileendilworth3256]

Hey lads ,We (Europeans)don’t put emphasis on U.S. We actually have a fair idea of what’s going on in other parts of the world too. The world has become a lot smaller and what’s going on elsewhere has an impact throughout the world. I don’t want to sound too harsh but it’s frustrating when the impression is that we are all looking at U.S when the reality is we are all looking outward except you.(ie most from U.S)

[@phoenix-xu9xj]

American history isn’t taught that we pick it up. Somehow we all know about the Civil War. Independence. Thanksgiving. July 4th. The number of stars on the flag, states.etc.

[@bettychagas5760]

I am In Canada and I get American T.V. CNN, ABC, NBC, FOX PEACHTREE TV plus the internet.

[@E85stattElektro]

Somehow a lot of people think that there are 52 states (including me). I wonder why that is?

[@Nekotaku_TV]

We just absorb stuff from media... 3:15 We don't...

[@dariusmeyer9668]

3:02 US History is definitely NOT taught in Europe. I am convinced that these people got their knowledge about the USA from american movies. :-D

[@hanes2]

French people know English but hate it. Often if you ask in English they answer in French. Lol

[@RF-ye7wu]

In Italy they just didn’t want to speak English haha

[@lewilewis3944]

They were kind of right with Lincoln, he was the first Republican president. I doubt he would recognise his party now though. I'm sure he'd be ashamed. Can you imagine Chump giving the Gettysburg Address?! Big fat nope.

[@laziojohnny79]

Yeah funny how that worked out while the dems stayed exactly the same; patronizing and exploiting minorities.

[@Dreaded-Flower]

we learn world history and not just the usa

[@Niki91-HR]

This would be considered basic knowledge...well the capital of California was the only very specific one. Those who say they dont learn anything in school about the US across Europe are a bit wrong. I for once had some lessons about the US in geography as well as history since its also linked to british history .... I remember the civil war being mentioned and stuff. There were countries outside of Europe where we did the most important stuff when it comes to history....sure we did concentrate more on Europe as a whole and our own country, especially here in Croatia. I also went to school in Germany and we had some basic stuff about the US as well. So YES, some of us do have some stuff in school about the US. The other part is from media and having enough interest about the world and what is going on.

[@loners4life]

That makes sense! Thanks for letting us know 🙏🏻

[@publicminx]

actually one could also say that USA also has Russia as neighbor. Its just 55km (water) distance between them.Technically if one adds on each side the 'territorial water zone' (19.3 km/12 miles on each sides) than its 55km - 38.6 km = 16.4 km 'international/neutral' water distance, but in regard of the a bit vague 'at will - definition' of a maritime territorial zone - and the focus just on reality, Russia IS basically the neighbor of the US. This is in particular funny, because most ppl associate permanently Russia rather with the European borders (where actually also most Russians live and most of the relevant history and also conflicts took/take place), or Central Asia Russia but the US is considered far away like from another planet (also because this border region is rather calm and peaceful since kind of forever. No focus at all)....

[@seijika46]

The US has long had issues with bothering to learn about the rest of the world. Certainly back in the Second World War, US soldiers were provided with booklets about where they were stationed with an overview as to why the locals might take exception to certain statements and behaviour (both in allied and occupied nations). How many actually bothered to read such things (given that supposedly 'world history' is in a number of US school curriculums) is less clear. Much of the rest of the world learns US history insofar as it impinges on their own history as well as overviews in world history in general. Far more is learned through US media being everywhere and its mythology being hammered through as part of their internal brainwashing and outside propaganda: (amazing founding fathers [mostly freemasons and slaveholders] creating the most perfect document in the world [that has needed dozens of amendments] making them free forever [if you ignore the lack of workers/womens/minorities' rights'] and envied by all [just not in places that know much about them] - just as they threw off the shackles of tyrrany with sheer pluck and vigor [as long as you don't count French and Spanish money, arms, supplies and armies]). Aslo, there are plenty of people who know English and just don't like it or acknowledge it (my Italian stepgrandfather is like that - he knows what we're saying, he just refuses to reply in English).

[@publicminx]

most Europeans (and I even dont start to talk about less developed non-Western countries with a much lower education and knowledge base) also dont know the first rulers/kings/presidents of even the next neighboring European country (and often not even of the own one). the education and knowledge level on the planet are raising thanks to the modern world (it was much worse in the 20. century and forget about the past before - most ppl on the planet lived relatively isolated in rural areas with such a horizon, married at best (or worse) to the next village/tribe)) but I still would not overestimate the knowledge of ordinary ppl. most know more practical things and bits and pieces about what they hear and see in movies, superficial youtube or tictoc stuff and so on. thats better than before but far away from more detailed knowledge. btw, what one should not underestimate is the knowledge spread by football/soccer. that many ppl in Europe permanently moved around the different countries to support their teams also helped a lot to know/experience a bit more about other countries. and lets face it: cities like Liverpool, Dortmund, Madrid, Munich, Manchester etc. are for most parts of the world also only known due to football/soccer, not from a memorized school knowledge or own curiosity. A REAL loss of mainstream knowledge is rather if among the most famous ppl are more soccer/football player, instagrannies and so on than for instance in the case of Germany people like Einstein, Planck, Leibnitz, Goedel, Schroedinger, Robert Koch, Heisenberg, Gutenberg, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Goethe, Beethoven, Mozart, Bach and so on (at least as compansation now also raising global number of more educated ppl on the planet who are more interested in all kind of more civilization relevant things know about them and other famous ppl in the world) ...

[@mrs7195]

English is kind of the common language in Europe as well. What Greek speaks Norwegian? 🤷😊

[@paul1979uk2000]

True, I think I heard that around half the population can speak English to some degree or another, which if I remember correctly, is more English speakers in the EU than there are in the US, which if true, is kinda ironic.

[@publicminx]

@mrs7195: yep, because in difference to the many youtube stereotypes about languages, most people are not interested in linguism but are more pragmatic. what is useful got the focus, what not is rather a hobby or of an individual niche benefit ...

[@keyboard5494]

English is easy peasy for everyone. Boring, nothing special, but veeeeery easy. ❤

[@matyy_.]

i mean i had literally like maybe 4 lessons about U.S history in my whole lets say school "carrer" because USA i realatively young country so there is not THAT much knowledge you need to learn to know when it comes to important events when it comes to people its harder of course but still its not that much as it is in any european country when ALMOST every country has 1.000 years of history at least mine has ~1.1k years

[@micade2518]

Hi Loners, off- topic, but I think you might be interested in this, by the excellent John Oliver: "Marijuana: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)".

[@powthehamster]

US history is not taught globally LOL. all I know about the us is that y'all had a civil war, WW1, WW2, and some presidents but that's about it.

[@p.f.5718]

I am 67 years old and I remember we were thought the basics on USA in history and geographies. We also learned about geography in Latin Amerika and the most important Native empires like, Inkas, Maya and Aztecs and about a few Native American Tribes in Nord America. Love from Austria 🇦🇹

[@loners4life]

That’s awesome. Greetings from Los Angeles ✌️ thanks for watching!

[@ac0rpbg]

What do you mean USA history is like so short 1 lesson can cover it all. some european countries have 2k years of history.

[@leonardgrant6876]

USA is exporting a lot of culture, sure many people know a lot about the United States. I am from small European country called Slovakia

[@lewilewis3944]

'culture'? An interesting way of looking at capitalism, corporate greed, obesity and a violent semi democratic society. But they did invent Levi's and gave us Earnest Hemingway, so not all bad.

[@leonardgrant6876]

@@lewilewis3944 Well recently I saw in my country that even woke culture flyers are starting to pop up.

[@marieskold4759]

We leran about all countrys in the world, dont they do that in Amerika?

[@WookieWarriorz]

usa history isnt 'taught' necessarily its just part of the education. You cant talk about most topics without talking about massive range of countries, like we learned about south africa when talking about apartide, learned about the industrial revolution in the usa as part of the topic as a whole where the uk is more the focus of that. I think thats the main difference, you guys are taught about the industrial revolution in the usa were taught about it in the world. Same with slavery you guys think you ended slavery when it was abolished in the british empire in 1807 and the west africa squadrom was formed and the british people paid the costs for ending slavery in the british empire (which at the time was over 1/4 of the world) in the british peoples taxes until about 2015.

[@foxmercuryearthylog120]

Dude, we don't learn about American history in school, we learn about our own history, and the regional history. I punched a whole in the drywall when I heard this.

[@georgeryan3310]

Most of everything you have heard is general knowledge.

[@pigedehekkan]

We are not putting such an emphasis on USA, it's just that we learn about the whole world, and the universe. Maybe you should too? USAians are unfortunately very poorly taught about what happens outside due to nationalistic propaganda and narrowmindednes. But the worst part is the censorship preventing USAians to have easy access to updated information about whats happening around the world today.

[@edmeshar]

You should not feel bad about not knowing who is the president / prime-minister of those countries - they do not either know who is the governor of Ohio or South-Carolina - did you ever ear anything about a political decision in Roumania or Malta or Luxemburg ??

[@daluzsoares]

I have decided not to say anything about your thirt!!🤐

[@laziojohnny79]

Don't feel bad for knowing jack sh*t bout other countries, no country has had an influence on the world like the US had, especially due to culture (movies, TV, 'fashion' and music) and the US is the leader of the 'free' world and the world's absolute nr.1 (military) super power, for better or for worse. So it makes sense we know more bout the US as Americans know about the Netherlands, Swahili, Nicaragua or Tadzhikistan.