The War of 1812, which lasted from 1812 (surprise!) to 1815. Why was it named that instead of, say, the 3 Years War, or maybe something creative? Why are creative names for wars so rare? Anyway, it was a short war between the brand-new United States of America and Great Britain, caused primarily by Britain not really caring about the Revolutionary War, and thinking it could keep using America as a colony. Some of the things Britain did were fairly standard among opposing countries, like funding and supplying the natives against America, but Britain would also “press” or kidnap American sailors and merchants to serve in the British military. So yeah, the British were not really nice to the new country. During Thomas Jefferson’s run as president the British even tried to control who America traded with, since England didn’t want Americans to fund Napoleon in France, directly or indirectly. Thomas then proceeded to stop all trade with everyone in 1807, which was supposed to show Britain that they had no control over America, but it just made the American people grumpy and mad at Jefferson.
The Democrat-Republican party formed what are known as the War Hawks, advocates for war, promoting it for a variety of reasons, officially because of the offenses already listed here, but unofficially because Britain owned Canada, and if there was a war conquering their neighbor could be rather profitable. Eventually, despite the best efforts of the fourth president, James Madison, war was declared in 1812, and nearly nothing happened for two years. Of course there were battles, and quite a few of them, and large amounts of territory changed around the Great Lakes, but it did so frequently enough to mean practically nothing, despite the lives lost during naval battles and sieges. Finally, in 1814 the Americans captured Plattsburgh, giving them control of Lake Chaplain, which they kept throughout the war.
Later on in 1814, the British finally defeated Napoleon for the last time, and directed all their army towards America, and it showed. They captured and fought their way all the way to the capital of the US, Washington DC. They then proceeded to burn down as much as they could, even setting fire to the White House. After this the bricks were painted white to disguise the black burn marks, and it’s been known as the White House ever since. Due to a lack of support and supplies they had to retreat, but the damage was done and congress had to meet elsewhere, creating quite a bit of difficulty.
The British were stopped at Fort McHenry, which protected Baltimore and the most important ship-builders in America. It wasn’t supposed to be difficult, as the Americans were helpless and could only stand still in the fort, and 20 British ships fired continually at the fort, trying to destroy, and did so for a full 25 hours, but still the fort stood, and still the American flag waved. There was a song made commemorating this battle, and it was later incorporated into the national anthem. At this point both sides were tired of this war, and nothing much was happening, so they decided on a treaty and declared “Status Quo Antebellum” or, in other words, nothing changed. Literally, nothing. All of the territory, forts, borders, all of it, the same. The only differences were the loss of life, and the fact that Britain no longer pushed America around as much.
However, in 1815, the final battle, the Battle of New Orleans, took place, since information and letters traveled so slowly that no one in Orleans knew about the treaty, and Andrew Jackson led the Americans into an incredible victory while defending New Orleans. He lost approximately 300 men, and killed approximately 2,500 British soldiers, forcing the British forces to leave Louisiana completely, without them knowing there was a treaty. This battle also has a song, “The Battle of New Orleans” creatively enough, though this was in 1959 by Johnny Horton.
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