The War of 1812 was a military conflict, lasting for two-and-a-half years, between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, its North American colonies and its American Indian allies. The war resolved many issues which remained from the American War of Independence but involved no boundary changes. The United States declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions brought about by the British war with France, the impressment of American merchant sailors into the Royal Navy, British support of Indian tribes against American expansion, outrage over insults to national honour after humiliations on the high seas and possible American interest in annexing British North American territory (part of modern-day Canada), which had been denied to them in the settlement ending the American Revolutionary War.[3] The war was fought in three principal theatres. Firstly, at sea, warships and privateers of each side attacked the others merchant ships, while the British blockaded the Atlantic coast of the United States and mounted large raids in the later stages of the war. Secondly, land and naval battles were fought on the American–Canadian frontier, which ran along the Great Lakes, the Saint Lawrence River and the northern end of Lake Champlain. Thirdly, the American South and Gulf Coast also saw big land battles, in which the American forces defeated Britains Indian allies and a British invasion force at New Orleans. At the end of the war both sides signed the Treaty of Ghent and all parties returned occupied land to its pre-war owner. With the majority of its army and naval forces tied down in Europe fighting the Napoleonic Wars until 1814, the British at first used a defensive strategy in the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada. The Americans gained control of Lake Erie in 1813, seized parts of western Ontario, ended the prospect of an Indian confederacy and an independent Indian state in the Midwest under British sponsorship. In September 1814, the British invaded and occupied eastern Maine. This territory, along with parts of Michigan and Wisconsin, was held by the British and their Indian allies for the duration of the war. In the south-west, General Andrew Jackson destroyed the military strength of the Creek nation at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814. With the end of the War of the Sixth Coalition on April 6, following the defeat of Napoleon in 1814, the British adopted a more aggressive strategy, sending larger invasion armies. The British victory at the Battle of Bladensburg in August 1814 allowed them to capture and burn Washington, D.C, which had been abandoned by the military and government officials, but they were repulsed in an attempt to take Baltimore. American victories in September 1814 at the Battle of Plattsburgh repulsed the British invasions of New York, which prompted agreement on the previously rejected terms of status quo ante bellum, and the British suffered a major defeat at New Orleans in January 1815.[4] In the United States, late victories over invading British armies at the battles of Plattsburg, Baltimore (inspiring their national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner) and New Orleans produced a sense of euphoria over a second war of independence against Britain.[5] The war ended on a high note for Americans, bringing an Era of Good Feelings in which partisan animosity nearly vanished in the face of strengthened U.S. nationalism. Spain played a small role; some Spanish forces fought alongside the British during the Occupation of Pensacola. The U.S. took permanent ownership of Spains Mobile District. In Upper and Lower Canada, British and Provincial militia victories over invading American armies, became iconic and promoted the development of a distinct Canadian identity, which included strong loyalty to Britain. Today, particularly in loyalist-founded Ontario, memory of the war retains its significance, because the defeat of the invasions ensured that the Canadas would remain part of the British Empire, rather than be annexed by the United States. In Canada, numerous ceremonies took place in 2012 to commemorate the war, offer historical lessons and celebrate 200 years of peace across the border.[6] The war is scarcely remembered in Britain, where attention focuses on the closer threat of Napoleon.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 12:38:34 +0000
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