War of 1812

A war fought mainly because of a trade conflict between the U.S. and Britain (The U.S. was supplying Napoleonic France in which Britain and several other European powers were fighting at the time). This war started in 1812 when U.S. president James Madison declared war upon Great Britain. The U.S. declared war first because of the increased amount of American shipping being intercepted by the British Navy, America's desire to expand into Canada and the increased vocations of the War Hawks, an American organization thats sole objective was to exact revenge on Great Britain after the American Revolution. The first fighting occured when an American force was launched over the Niagara River, although the force was large and had good leadership it mainly consisted of militia from New York who simply refused to cross into a foreign land to fight(the militia did have the right to do this because the main purpose of a militia is to defend home soil). This force then blindly marched deeper into Upper Canada where they were attacked by Butler's Rangers and forced to retreat. Knowing their mistake the Americans drafted militia into the armed services. Next the Americans moved against Montreal, the gateway between Upper Canada and the Atlantic Ocean, but the winter of 1812 came very quickly and the Americans lost a third of their force before even getting to Montreal. When they did arrive an amazing blizzard had created zero visibilty and both sides started firing into the wind, the Montreal militia barricaded within the gates of the cities were able to hold off the Americans until reinforcements arrived and the Americans retreated again. Things were not looking well for the U.S. and by this time the British sent and expeditonary force to Canada. The British then tried to invade the U.S. via Lake Ontario but the highly superior British fleet was humbly defeated by the Americans but they did not capture Toronto due to popular belief so invasion was successfully repelled...for now. The Brits then split their forces in two and headed in two directions, one force to Detroit and the other to capture New York. The force to Detroit was successful and the city was taken but the force heading east took much longer as they stopped and burnt down many small coastal towns along their route, they were slow enough that the Americans could retaliate and the Brits then found their way back to Canada. Now the Brits were so irritated that they launched a force by way of sea right to Washington and they burnt down the White House and pillaged the surrounding area, then the Brits moved to Baltimore where they tried to siege the city but the Yanks soundly defeated the Brits outside of the city. The British force was nearly annihilated and the living were captured, now the British force was only at half strength and that half was far to the west and could not stop a counter-invasion by the Yanks. Sir Isaac Brock, the Commander of the Canadian Militia knew he needed to act quickly to stop the Americans from advancing through the Niagara region so he gathered all the militia under his command and garrisoned British troops aswell as a large number native americans and headed to Queenston heights. When Brock arrived the Americans were waiting for him and had set up their artillery on the hills, Brock then charged each of the hills personally leading the assault. This was a great Canadian victory but Brock had died during the battle and leadership was now a large issue. The Brits in Detroit then decided to float down the Mississippi and take New Orleans, this was a catastrophe, the Brits didn't stop to take St. Louis and they St. Louis militia took potshots at the British, resulting in heavy casualties, when the Brits did arrive they had no will to fight and were slaughtered in the swamps of Lousiana. This led to the Brits asking for peace, they did this mostly because the war with France was not going well, James Madison signed the treaty and the war was over. Many historians debate over who won but it is a fact that an American invasion was repulsed which was the entire objective of the Canadian and British forces.