The War of 1812 - a British Perspective
The War of 1812 is often used to define Canadian identity, but it was far off the radar for the British who were more concerned with Napoleon's European hegemony, and 1812 was the year that Napoleon marched to Moscow. Conflict with America was an irritating sideshow, and the American war was fought with no more than 7% of the total British military effort.
Trouble began when Britain employed a maritime economic blockade against France, not allowing American merchants to remain neutral. Britain introduced "Orders in Council" to block the trading. They also used warships to stop American merchant ships and impress any British sailors that they found. Some were American, most were British and some had deserted from the Royal Navy, a hanging offence.
When the U.S. declared war, the British imposed the same shattering blockade that had crippled France, targeting states such as Virginia that had voted for war. By autumn 1814, the American economy had collapsed and in August, 1814, four thousand British troops captured and burnt Washington, D.C.
On June 1, 1813, HMS Shannon captured the USS Chesapeake off Boston in eleven minutes, making
Captain Philip Broke a hero of the war. On February 28th, 1814, HMS Phoebe took the USS Essex at Valparaiso, Chile. On January 14th 1815, the American flagship 44-gun frigate USS President commanded by
Stephen Decatur, was defeated off Sandy Hook by HMS Endymion. The U.S. Navy had been defeated, privateers restrained, ports closed and trade at a standstill.
When Napoleon abdicated in April, 1814, the British threat to Americans was that they could now concentrate their forces against the U.S. However, Britain offered a status quo ante bellum peace agreement, the
Treaty of Ghent, and the U.S. acknowledged failure to achieve any of their strategic or political aims.
On Christmas Eve 1814, the British returned their main focus to Europe and Napoleon soon returned to power in 1815 just in time to meet his Waterloo at the hands of Wellington.
(Source: PBS News)
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