On Wed, 11 Apr 2007 08:12:13 -0400, Brent Tarter <[log in to unmask]> wrote:



>Where else in the world, I beg to ask, have the leaders of an
>unsuccessful rebellion against a government been so lionized as in the
>American South?
>

Actually both Scotland(i.e. the Wallace Monument and everything by Scott)
and (nineteenth century) Hungary spring to mind as nations that turned
defeat into national myth, and in both cases with the endorsement of the
conqueror. The Hungarian model seems to fit quite well, with the country's
nationalist uprising against the Austrians being defeated in 1848 (chiefly
by the Russians) and the land placed under military rule.
However after its defeat by the Prussians in the Seven Weeks War a weakened
Austrian empire had to come to a modus vivendi with Hungarians. The tricolor
was restored, Hungary was allowed great latitude in self governance and the
other ethnic groups in the Hungarian crown lands were regulated to second
class status.
There was even an explosion of street and square naming in honor of the
heroes of 1848 especially Kossuth. Kossuth's statue was also erected in many
a town, only to be later taken down as the vicissitudes of European borders
placed the statues among populations who saw the Hungarians more as
oppressors than freedom fighters.
The Compromise of 1867 which created the Dual Monarchy in many respects
seems to foreshadow the Compromise of 1877.
 

                                      Long time Lurker,
                                       Scott McPhail