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The War of 1812: Difference between revisions
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** Justified in that the lack of proper passages through the St. Lawrence River prevented large ships from sailing into the lake from the ocean. This also occurred in Lake Huron to a lesser extent and for the same reasons.
* [[Common Knowledge]]: Many Canadians can tell you that the War of 1812 was when the Canadians burned Washington, D.C.. Except that there were no Canadian forces involved in the Baltimore Campaign, and it was the ''British'' who burned Washington, D.C..
** Averted entirely by the British. A possibly apocryphal tale was that a British general saw a painting of the Burning of Washington in the Pentagon in [[World War
* [[Cool Versus Awesome]] : A rare [[David Versus Goliath]] example; the US Navy and the Royal Navy were two of the best at the time.
** The US Navy had far higher pay then the Royal Navy and the Royal navy was worn out by a [[Forever War]]. After the original shock of some engagements British captains who had been lax on training began working thus giving them a chance to [[Take a Level In Badass|retake a level in badass]].
* [[Courtroom Antics]]: Prize Law was an innate part of the [[Laws And Customs Of War]] at the time. One American privateer was able to sue for the ransom of one capture in a ''British'' court. And was granted his suit. This no doubt proves that lawyers are [[Pirates]].
* [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]]: The siege of Detroit had Tecumseh repeatedly have his men circle the fort, tricking the Americans into thinking that the Native numbers were much greater than they were. Detroit's surrender gave the Natives and British a tremendous amount of supplies, along with a major psychological victory.
** More humorously, the British torched [[Washington
** The defense of Fort McHenry stemmed the British invasion on the Eastern seaboard. The British sailed after this to New Orleans... where [[Andrew Jackson]], four thousand troops, and some badass pirates bested 11,000 British troops.
** Battle of Lake Erie.
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** Subverted again after the defeat of Napoleon. With British forces now freed up from fighting in Europe things looked grim for the Americans. Three major invasions of the U.S. were launched but all were thrown back.
** Played straight in the Battle of New Orleans (which actually happened after the war technically ended). 55 Americans died, 185 were wounded, and 93 were missing, with a grand total of 333 casualties and losses at the end of the battle. On the other side, 386 British died, 1,521 were wounded, and 552 were missing, with a grand total of 2,459 casualties and losses. The reason for the high casualties is because [[Andrew Jackson]] put his army in a position that made all of his flanks covered by swamps, thus forcing the British to attack head on, because they couldn't wade through the swamps. Pakenham forgetting to give the British soldiers ''siege equipment'' may also have had something to do with it. American morale soared after the battle, and was even made the subject of a popular American song called [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|''The Battle of New Orleans'']].
** To make up for New Orleans, the Brits had the Battle of Frenchtown. The British had 25 dead and 161 wounded, plus 3 dead native allies, whereas the Americans had 410 dead, 87 wounded and 547 captured. Unfortunately, 30-100 of the wounded American prisoners were executed by the native
* [[David Versus Goliath]]: A complicated example at sea. In the over all picture the US Navy was the ''David'' but it was often the ''Goliath'' in a given engagement. This is actually fairly common in warfare but worth remarking on.
** Advancements in ship-building by the Yanks allowed the U.S. Navy to float fewer but vastly more powerful ships than the British. While the British were able to adapt new tactics and develop improved ships as the war progressed, the early victories by the U.S. enhanced their navy's reputation to [[Worthy Opponent]] status.
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* College Humor spoofs the relative obscurity of this war [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2AfQ5pa59A in the mock trailer] of a fictitious ''War Of 1812'' movie, where the characters can't even figure out what the war is being fought over and against whom.
* The [[Alternate History]] short story "Empire" by William Sanders has Napoleon moving the the US and coming into American military service. He then promptly backstabbed it (with the help of the likes of Arraon Burr, Andrew Jacskon, Davy Crockett, and Sam Houston) and carved out his own Empire of the Louisiana. Said empire is embroiled in wars against the US and the Spanish colonies, which expand but later weaken it. The novel is set in an alternate War of 1812 fought between the British and Napoleon's Empire, leading to the defeat and dissolution of the Empire and [[The Duke of Wellington]] darkly commenting in the end that "perhaps we shall see about the damned Yankees and their so-called United States of America."
* The sixth [[Aubrey-Maturin]] novel, ''The Fortune of War '', ends with the battle between the USS ''Chesapeake'' and the HMS ''Shannon''.
{{reflist}}
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