Making Sense Of The War of 1812

America’s least understood war

(Public domain)

The War of 1812 is most likely America’s least understood war. The second conflict fought between the United States and the British Empire is shrouded in obscurity. There were few major battles to point to, low casualties, and the towering shadow of the Napoleonic Wars to contend with. Most people struggle to articulate the causes of the war or the lasting outcomes.

Yet the war was critically important in forging the United States’ identity as a nation and as the final act in a long saga that saw the former Thirteen Colonies finally wholly divorce themselves from their former masters. Before the War of 1812, the United States struggled under economic domination and international humiliation at the hands of the British. After the War of 1812, Europe was forced to take the upstart Americans more seriously in their dealings.

The reason why the War of 1812 is so hard to grasp is that it was the result of a long economic war being waged between France and Britain during the Napoleonic Era. There was no Bunker Hill moment, no Pearl Harbor-style attack, and there was no Bull Run. Instead, there were increasing economic pressures, unfair tariffs, illegal blockades, and the slow strangulation of the American merchant marine. None of this is particularly exciting to the modern reader, and the…