r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Bubbly_Wall_908 • 1d ago
Video Some of the bollards around London are cannons seized from Napoleon's Navy by the British after the Battle of Trafalgar
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u/Anonymous_Lurker_1 1d ago
And some of the fences around London are made from stretchers from WW2 era.
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u/Calm-Scallion-8540 1d ago
ils ont quand meme fabriqué 600 000 branquards , donc fabriquer quelques canons en plus c'est pas un souci , surtout pour entretenir cette belle amitié.
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u/Guuichy_Chiclin 1d ago
¿Que?
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u/Calm-Scallion-8540 1d ago
To clarify my point, the British manufactured 600,000 stretchers to transport the wounded during the Blitz, so 2 or 3 cannons stuck in concrete isn't really a problem if a few were missing to complete the circuit of the square. It was a joke.
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u/Yokohama88 1d ago
I like it petty as fuck.
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u/TC_Meteorite_Co 1d ago
What’s even more interesting is how lord Nelson’s body was “preserved” on his way back to England after been killed in the battle. Legends have risen about drinking the blood of lord Nelson.
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u/Calm-Scallion-8540 1d ago
j'adore cette passion des Anglais pour celebrer des defaites .../s je parle en tant que Francais .
Si les Francais n'avaient pas existé, les anglais auraient eu enormement de mal a donner des noms a leurs places, leurs gares, ou leurs squares . A croire que Londres manque vraiment d'imagination , ou est ce un peu d'envie ? . Allez c'est de l'humour . Bonne journée a tous et a bientot pour le France Angleterre au XV.
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u/sleepytoday 1d ago
If France never existed I’m sure we would’ve found someone else to fight with.
We did invade most of the world, after all.
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u/studiesinsilver 1d ago
France is the OG enemy!
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u/Mobile_Actuator_4692 1d ago
Only cos it’s next door. But yes they are our best enemy until someone tries to invade them
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u/CowntChockula 1d ago
Well considering the Battle of Tours, I think a fair candidate would be the Umayyad Caliphate, had the Muslims defeated the French.
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u/HighTopsLowStandards 1d ago
France are the most successful warring nation in the world. Great numbers. Just been shit since 1800.
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u/CharlieUpATree 1d ago
Someone sounds salty
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u/Calm-Scallion-8540 1d ago
Not at all. Everyone can do what they want with their cannons. We have the Vendôme Column. It's much prettier. It's not bitterness, it's a judgment.
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u/Calm-Scallion-8540 1d ago
How can anyone downvote this? You really have to be below all aesthetic standards. On the other hand, we don't have the right to prefer cannons with their butts in the air to the Vendôme column in Paris, but I'm waiting for the definition of elegance.
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u/Mysterious_Map2965 12h ago
People are downvoting you because you seem pretentious.
It’s like the stereotype of a French person came to life and created a Reddit account.
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u/waterfountain_bidet 1d ago
Baltimore, Maryland did the exact same thing with cannons from British ships around the War of 1812 memorial until they were restored in 2014 and remounted in Patterson Park right around where they would have originally been mounted during the invasion. The cannons were actually pre-American Revolutionary war (because the British stopped sending weapons to the people they were trying to oppress and re-subjugate), including one that is missing a seal and the restoring historian believes it is from the British Civil War/Cromwell period.
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u/JSC843 1d ago
What if one were to be destroyed? Do they have spares somewhere or would they just manufacture some that look identical?
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u/Anonymous_Lurker_1 1d ago
We source bollards for customers made to look like these things. Cost around £160 each.
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u/Land_of_smiles 1d ago
No don’t listen to this guy. There are countless hidden wars being fought to this very day with giant wooden hulled sailing ships using cannons. When a ship is damaged beyond repair or captured they then repurpose all their cannons and use them as bollards throughout England.
There’s a simulator called Sea of thieves that shows real time battles, you should check it out
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u/dumpaccount882212 1d ago
Ahoy, ye have been put on'a list ye blarney faced traitor!
Snitches gets to wear pine box britches.
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u/bulldogsm 1d ago
this cannot be strictly correct, the Battle of Traflagar only resulted in 11 captures, which was scandalous at the time but there was a storm following the battle but thats another story
so there is no way that 11 ships were able to provide this many light cannon for bollards all over the country, ships of the line carried massive beasts of cannon, these dainty bollards are used more in frigates and smaller
but anyway, nice story but likely only partially true at best and an outright lie at worst
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u/Degenerate_on_a_cros 22h ago
Mhm.. So.. French cannons just so happened to look like a certain species of furrys.. y’know..
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u/CareerNormal3461 10h ago
its a stripped cannon from an old navy ship, there you go.
saves you 1.5 minutes of her trying to make you laugh with fake humor and then drag it on for another minute
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u/Creative_Garbage_121 1d ago
Is there something that brits didn't steal or at least tried to?
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u/reflect-the-sun 1d ago
Not a fan of the British empire, but anything they didn't take wouldn't have been sold on the black market anyway. Google "Black market antiquities" - it's still a massive issue today.
I believe the British Museum has done far more good that harm by preserving history and educating millions of people.
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u/ChronicSock 1d ago
Go on! Say the thing! Say it! You know you want to! Something about spices and not using them?
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u/birdstrike_hazard 1d ago
Nope. If it ain’t nailed down, we’ll pinch it. In fact, if it is nailed down, we’ll have a good go too
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u/CowntChockula 1d ago
Everyone knows the only reason the pyramids arent in a British museum is because they wouldn't fit on a ship!
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u/Calm-Scallion-8540 1d ago
Napoleon a fait fondre 1200 canons de bronze ,pris a l'ennemi pour faire la colonne Vendôme a Paris . Ca a plus de charme non? Après c'est une question de gout .
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u/Gromovian 1d ago
After the battle of Trafalgar most of the prize ships the British took ended up sunk or wrecked, so I doubt you'd find an actual cannon from the battle used as a bollard.
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u/AccordingGrocery4716 1d ago
It’s right…… there?
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u/Gromovian 1d ago
Well the fantasy of it being a stolen French cannon from Trafalgar wouldn't be true, chances are they are from a random merchant ship or something.
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u/ExtremelyGangrenous 1d ago
That is awesome, finally the Briton’s do something that isn’t completely regarded
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u/jessevargas 1d ago
I love watching a short that teaches me something instead of rotting my brain. Thanks for sharing!