ViL: "people in England"

"And men in England now abed shall think themselves accursed they were not here, and hold their manhoods cheap" - Henry V

"people in England persist in fighting back when they see others trashing their property or their friends" - Englishman living in France

This was certainly true in my native Northern Ireland in the late '60s, where riots by Catholic Irish Nationalists met a violent response from Protestant Ulster Loyalists which resulted in the British army being sent into NI ironically to protect the Catholics (who wanted Brits out of a united Ireland) from the Protestants. This didn't work out very well as the IRA used the British troop presence as a handy target to justify its incipient terrorist campaign.

Over in America, it's been said that the black Civil Rights movement of the same era was so successful because of its non-violent emphasis. Where the white South would have reacted with extreme violence to an armed uprising from the black South, it was unable to withstand the non-violent methods that Gandhi had used successfully against the British in India.

So, I think it's true, there's something in the Anglo-Saxon character that refuses to knuckle down when violence is directed against it (and arguably sometimes over-reacts). That this is not true of most other groups was demonstrated by the aftermath of the Madrid bombings, many Anglo-Saxon commentators were amazed by the reaction of the Spanish people. I support the right of the Spanish people to vote for whover they want, but in similar circumstances it's very hard to imagine Anglo-Saxon nations voting for an anti-war party.