First Invasion: The War of 1812

I have read the reviews and as a Canadian I beg to differ in regard to this documentary. No wonder it was never shown in Canada. What do the film makers mean America won the War of 1812 ? You never conquered my country.

Consider these facts. In February, 1815 our British forces controlled the District of Maine; Prairie Du Chein in Wisconsin, ( This fort controlled the fur trade on the upper Mississippi and access to the Great Lakes. ), Fort St. Mary along with the town and Cumberland Island, Georgia and Fort Bowyer, Alabama.

And how much territory in Canada did American forces control in February, 1815 ? Oh yeah. None.

In addition to this the British were effectively blockading all eastern and southern American ports and six American states were considering succession from the Union. ( Hartford Convention. ) Now I want to set the record straight regarding the Battle of Baltimore. You did not give us a Stalingrad ! A small diversionary force of 4,000 British soldiers and sailors took on 12,000 American soldiers who stayed behind their walls of Fort McHenry and in the city while the rockets from the British ships tried to knock the well built walls of the fort down. After 25 hours the British stopped their bombardment and slowly withdrew. The Americans did not pursue us. The British left well satisfied because they knew they had greatly exceeded their original mission which was to take Washington D.C. We had also taken Fort Washington; Alexandria, Virginia; won two battles - Bladenburg and North Point and perhaps best of all, liberated approx. 2,000 black slaves in the Chesapeake area and took them away with us to start new lives as free people in Canada, Bermuda and Trinidad. We also liberated approx. 1,500 more slaves on Cumberland Island, Georgia and more were set free elsewhere. Why didn't the documentary tell the American viewers about all this ? As the Treaty of Ghent, Belgium makes clear, the War of 1812 ended in a draw but the British were clearly winning it.

It would be wrong to call the war, America's Second War of Independence as we only intended to take the Territory of Michigan from you to give to Britain's Indian allies as their own permanent land.

Finally, what should have been covered by this documentary were all the tens of thousands of American P.O.W's that were imprisoned at Melville Island, Halifax, Nova Scotia, at Dartmoor Prison in England and elsewhere. Believe me, their story needs to be told.

I find the Canadian reviews far more interesting than the documentary. Its interesting that all Canadian reviews find it inaccurate and the rest including this one are responding to their comments. I work with many Canadians (French and English) and didn't realize that the War of 1812 is viewed by Canadians the way Americans view the American Revolutionary War.

At the time of the War of 1812 current Canada was British North America, part of the British Empire. The Dominion of Canada did not become a nation until 1867 (as a result of the U.S. Civil War) and even to this day retains the British Crown. The War of 1812 was between the United States and British Empire. British North America at the time offered a convenient (if unsuccessful) point to attack the British Empire. U.S. expansionism was a motivation but as you all point out invasions to the north were very unsuccessful and not well manned or prepared. Regardless the U.S. attempted to invaded a British territory, not another country. I am unaware of any U.S. military invasion of Canada since 1867 and in fact the two countries share the longest unguarded border in the world.

I want to respond to the points raised by jcp-9.

1) After American independence Britain didn't recognize naturalized American citizenship, and treated anyone born a British subject as still "British" — as a result, the Royal Navy impressed over 9,000 sailors who claimed to be American citizens. Impressment was not abolished by the British until 1814. Impressment of a nation's citizens by another nation is an act of war.

2) British forces certainly invaded Chesapeake Bay and New Orleans. They were not invited. Yes the U.S. did declare war on the British Empire and this was in response to impressment as well as other grievances.

3) The United States was fighting the British Empire. The U.S. at the time was clearly the underdog. Again at the time Canada did not exist as a nation but as British North America.

4) Regarding the Battle of New Orleans, if the war was over why were the British invading? Communications were slow and neither side was aware of the Treaty of Ghent.

Another point from Erik Kaufman, "Condemned to Rootlessness: The Loyalist Origins of Canada's Identity Crisis", Nationalism and Ethnic Politics: "Already, the War was being turned to mythical ends in Upper Canada: Britain had defended her colonies and Providence had ensured the 'Triumph of virtue over vice, of a good cause over a bad one...Together, Upper Canadians came to believe, they had vanquished the forces of tyranny and oppression. Out of the war there arose a sense of community, an awareness of being Upper Canadian, which encompassed all settlers. The War of 1812 came to be considered by many as the colony's rite of passage into young adulthood.'"

This "documentary" is closer to propaganda. It paints a picture of patriotism and American success. I'm retired from the military (USAF 20 yrs) and extremely patriotic, but that doesn't mean I'm in favor of rewriting history. The war of 1812 was a lesson on how NOT to fight a war. We had severe internal strife between the Federalists and the Republicans (no, not those Republicans), we had poorly trained officers some of which were more in favor of seeing the British win rather than the Republicans under Maddison and we had very few "regulars" with which to fight. We lost far more battles than we won, were terrified of the Indians supporting the Brits, and our logistics were a disgrace. Soldiers didn't have food, weren't paid for months, and resorted to destroying and pillaging local farms and orchards to feed themselves. Which didn't exactly endear them to the locals on either side of the border. We didn't have a clear goal to achieve, and goals we did have were poorly communicated to the generals fighting the war. We were lucky that the Brits were so consumed and focused on France and Napoleon for most of the war. Had the Brits not been worriedaboutwar with France or actuallyfightingthe French and focused all their attentionon us we'd be speaking English today...but with a funny accent. By the time we entered into peace talks in Gent we had less bargaining power than we did at the beginning of the war. If it hadn't been for issues going on at the Congress of Vienna and another potential war with France (ultimately the 100 days war under Napoleon again) we would have lost our shirt. Yes we won a big battle in New Orleans but that actually occurred after the peace treaty had been agreed to...although not yet ratified. That final battle led by Andrew Jackson left a far more positive spin on the war than I think it deserved. In most respects, it was a monumental failure.

What a pack of lies. No mention of the Battle of Lake Erie and nothing about the impact that Jean LaFitte and his men and ammunition had on the Battle of New Orleans.

I agree with you on a couple of the points you had made, and am very disappointed that the History Channel would make something of such a poor-quality. However I do think that you are a little over-zealous in your patriotic nitpicking of this movie. You may not have meant to do that, but to a uneducated on the subject reader you may come across as a zany Canadien (which isn't all bad). The video states that America is the underdog. You disagree and we must agree to disagree. The War is divided into two sections commonly; the first phase, in which Britain sent a few blockades now and gain but nothing special, and the second phase after the war with he French in which they concentrated all attention on America. Now remember at the time Britain's Navy was the greatest in the world, had the arguably best Army as well. (After defeating one of the greatest military minds of his time in Napolean I agree) Now, because Britain is overseas from the United States, there must have been naval battles out there. Now take in mind that America's Navy at the time consisted of 15 rickety old ships already not in the best of shape after a brief war with Tripoli (spelling?) was all that was mustered, and that the U.S. army was cut by Thomas Jefferson, while the Embargo Act was drastically cutting funds, and Britain had allies in and Native American tribes, so almost it was like 1 on 2 how can you even consider the U.S. to not be underdogs. The country we were attacking was, Canada yes, but it wasn't the only country attacking, and also the British could, and did, reinforce after the war with the French. (Napoleonic Wars) Now your notion that the History Channel claims that America won the war is true, it does, and not at all subtly. But most historians do not agree on the victor. For one, the purposes of the war were expansion into Canada, which failed, so chalk one up for the British. But also it was because of the impressment of American soldiers into British service (By the way, your point on the fact that the British merely requested soldiers be returned to them is somewhat ridiculous, why would British soldiers fight in American armies for one?) Which ceased after the war, chalk one up for America. Also the war was a result of Britain attacking U.S. merchant, which stopped. Chalk one up for America. In my opinion though your best point by far was the one about the Canadians fighting off American forces, and because of this Briain won the War. Props for that. Chalk one up for Britain. So as you see it is undecided. Overall good movie. Also in response to that last paragraph of yours, I do not think that young viewers will think of America being invincible because of the current war in which 1-4 men can destroy cities. (Super-Terrorism is a horrible thing) But also this movie can't be that horrible as you say (in my opinion it was tasteful yet lacking in some areas, mainly informational areas), because it was nominated for a Emmy.