War of 1812 - 1814 (USA against UK and Canada)

The War of 1812 was a little known military conflict in Britain, which was fought between the forces of the young USA and those of the British Empire – predominantly today’s Great Britain and Canada. The USA publicly declared war on Britain in 1812 for a number of reasons, including trade restrictions, press ganging of American merchant sailors into the Royal Navy, British support of American Indian tribes against US expansion, and the humiliation of American honor. These reasons were real on the part of the USA, and Britain was aiding the development of Indian nations to thwart the USA expanding westward.

However, behind the scenes, the USA was stealthily planning to absorb Canadian provinces into the American union and while Britain was engaged in a war in Europe against Napoleonic France. The US saw, what they believed, a good opportunity to strike. The USA was expecting more support from French Canadians then she got and upon this basis, the USA under estimated the over all Canadian will not to be part of the USA. In this theatre of the conflict, the USA lost. As far as Britain was concerned in thwarting US expansion westward and imposing international treaty restriction upon the young USA - well, Britain lost. These were strong issues of the time for both nations but their prominence diminished as the fruitless war almost got out of control. Britain had more pressing things to worry about in Europe and the USA got her nose bloodied against the Canadian militias. It was in the other theatres that the war began to take more unexpected turns.



From the British aspect, Napoleon's grand army was all but destroyed after the ill fated invasion of Russia. The joint forces of Austria, Prussia, Russia, Sweden and Great Britain were able to defeat France. This brought about an unexpected change of events for the USA. She was suddenly faced with a more focused and formidable force then expected.  

At first, the war was fought on a defensive basis by Britain. She relied on the strategy of Canada's volunteer forces. The Canadian militias were formidable against US aggression and managed to repel various American invasion attempts of her nation's provinces. The USA did manage to win control of Lake Erie and control parts of Ontario. They also defeated the Indian allies both in Canada and in the south west of their country which Britain had been manipulating.

However when things radically changed for the British Empire with the defeat of Napoleon in 1814; they were able to adopt a more aggressive approach and sent larger combat forces to the conflict. What followed was an upping of the political stakes. Britain and Canada won victories and the USA was able to win victories too. During one episode, the British managed to capture and burn Washington D.C. but eventually the Americans managed to repulse the British in this theatre of the war.

The White House during 1812 - 1814 War

At sea, both naval forces attacked one another scoring victories that were memorable on both sides, but neither side could seem to gain an upper hand.

The British no longer wanted or hoped to try and control the new USA and the Americans could not hope to gain Canadian provinces, though some of their own northern states came close to seceeding from the union and joining Canada. There was no gain for either side in the long run, just an escalating stalemate that neither side could afford to loose. Britain even tried to invade the US from the south but was stopped at New Orleans. At the end of the war, both sides occupied parts of the other's territory, but these areas were restored by the Treaty of Ghent.

In the end it was a war that neither USA or Britain could claim to have won. The Americans could claim it further united and bought their nation together. However, this could also be said of Canada and this was a harsh lesson, not lost, on the USA. 


Britain had more pressing matters and would leave the USA alone to continue with other far flung reaches of her Empire and stayed out of the USA's way concerning trade and supporting the Indian nations in future.