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Adolf Hitler: Man or Myth?
01/05/2004 . Source: Ken MacLeod 
Scots SFF author Ken MacLeod thinks it's time for the British to blush, as a new survey reveals that large swathes of the UK's population think Conan was real and The War of the Worlds, H.G. Wells's fictional account of a Martian invasion, actually happened. Every so often, a survey is released showing that some startling proportion of US citizens believe that aliens have landed on Earth, that men never landed on the Moon, that Saddam attacked New York, that the Copernican conception of the Solar system is 'just a theory' pushed by secular humanists and evil government scientists. US educators grind their teeth; educated Europeans snigger.
It's time for Brits to blush too:
[The following is from the Blenheim Palace press release]
British heroes and their most famous victories are in danger of being completely forgotten by the public, according to new research published by Blenheim Palace.
The research reveals that despite being one of the greatest victories in British military history, nearly three quarters of the population do not know it even took place. And less than one in eight have heard of John Churchill (1st Duke of Marlborough), who led the historic victory.
But researchers were amazed to discover Blenheim was not alone when it comes to forgotten history. Of the great battles, a quarter of Brits were not sure that the Battle of Trafalgar was a real historic event, and more than half believed that Horatio Nelson led British troops at the Battle of Waterloo.
Brits fared little better with modern history. One in five believed Harold Wilson was the British Prime Minister during World War II and one in ten did not think that Adolf Hitler was a real person.
John Hoy, Chief Executive of Blenheim Palace, said: "We set out to establish where the Battle of Blenheim stood in the nation's consciousness and were amazed to find out that so few people had even heard of the battle.
"We're determined to do all we can to change this.
"By defeating the forces of Louis XIV in the War of the Spanish Succession, John Churchill, later the first Duke of Marlborough, changed the history of Britain and Europe. It was such a momentous event that Queen Anne bestowed Blenheim Palace on Churchill as a gift - from a grateful nation?"
And he added: ""The problem for many people is that they associate history with dry and dusty dates and facts. Once they realise that history is about people, the way we used to live and the way we live now, it becomes more relevant and more exciting. At Blenheim we're very aware of the need to make history relevant to today's visitors, that's why this year we have a packed calendar of events to bring history to life."
Blenheim's anniversary survey asked people to identify which battles or famous figures were real and which were fictional. Confusion ran deep on both counts.
Whilst one in seven Brits did not know that the Battle of Hastings really took place, more than one in twenty thought that Orson Welles? sci-fi classic the War of the Worlds did. And some even believed that the Battle of Helm's Deep (from the Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers), and the Battle of Endor (from Return of the Jedi) were fact rather than fiction.
It seems that Hollywood may have a lot to answer for, with cinema causing a huge amount of confusion about Britain's historical heroes.
Almost half of Brits believed that William Wallace (Braveheart) was not a real person, whilst performances from Sean Connery, Kevin Costner and Arnold Schwarzenneger may have helped convince more than half of Brits that King Arthur was real, a quarter that Robin Hood really existed and one in twenty that Conan the Barbarian was a genuine historical figure.
Even the small screen has led to confusion, with some Brits believing Richard Sharpe, Edmond Blackadder and Zena Warrior Princess were real.
Real people that some believe never existed
- Ethelred the Unready King of England 978 to 1016 - 63 per cent
- William Wallace 13th-century Scottish hero - 42 per cent
- Benjamin Disraeli Prime minister and founder of the modern Tory party - 40 per cent
- Genghis Khan, Mongol conqueror - 38 per cent
- Benito Mussolini, Fascist dictator, 33 per cent
- Adolf Hitler - 11 per cent
- Winston Churchill - 9 per cent
- Real events some people believe never took place
- Battle of the Bulge 52 per cent
- Battle of Little Big Horn Scene of Custer's last stand - 48 per cent
- Hundred Years' War 44 per cent
- Cold War - 32 per cent
- Battle of Hastings, 15 per cent
Fictional characters who we believe were real
- King Arthur , mythical monarch of the Round Table - 57 per cent
- Robin Hood - 27 per cent
- Conan the Barbarian - 5 per cent
- Richard Sharpe , fictional cad and warrior - 3 per cent
- Edmund Blackadder - 1 per cent
- Xena Warrior Princess - 1 per cent
Fictional events that we believe did take place
- War of the Worlds , Martian invasion - 6 per cent
- Battle of Helms Deep , Rings Trilogy - The Two Towers - 3 per cent
- Battle of Endor , The Return of the Jedi - 2 per cent
- Planet of the Apes , the apes rule Earth - 1 per cent
- Battlestar Galactica , the defeat of humanity by cyborgs - 1 per cent
Blame is being divided between the Left in the education system (downgrading 'kings and battles' history for social history) and Hollywood (making shit up).
This seems fair and balanced.
To be fair, I can think of ways in which the method of the survey could bias the results. If, for instance, people were presented with a list of names of battles, and asked to indicate which were real and which were not, wouldn't Endor and Helm's Deep sound more historical than the Little Big Horn and the Bulge?
Still, I like the idea that some of my compatriots believe Harold Wilson flanked by Xena and Conan led an army of cyborgs to victory over the apes in the Battle of Woking during the Martian invasion ...
Ken MacLeod
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