The Battle of Britain Was The First Defeat For The German Luftwaffe.

[bongodriver]

For the victors (in any conflict...?) there is more of a tendency to view it as a nation-defining achievement (though how long a country should keep clinging to its past glories is a valid question to raise)

Why?......not really going to make any difference other than history being forgotten........whats that saying again?

[kendo65]

True. I'm all for remembering and marking the sacrifices and achievements of those years.

But maybe a nation (especially one with such a grand, imperial past as GB) can define itself too much by its past achievements. Reliving the past can maybe become an unhealthy attempt to avoid difficult choices in the present (?) (aircraft carriers with no aircraft, clinging onto the nuclear club, our continued addiction to 'punching above our weight' in various foreign conflicts under the last two governments.)

That last paragraph is more throwing a question in the air than saying i necessarily subscribe to that position.

I also don't think that most Brits (with the possible exception of Daily Telegraph readers ) have that strong identification with Empire and glory that some of the posters in this thread seem to believe.