The Epic Failure in the War of 1812

The War of 1812 was fought between the United States and England. It ended in 1815 and did not accomplish anything it was being fought over. For the United States, the War of 1812 seemed to just be one failure after another. The United States did not present a united front leading to multiple failures such as military defeats to states and citizens being divided over the causes of the war. Because of these failures, it is quite valid to call the War of 1812 poorly fought and unnatural.

When the war began, Americans fought to address their grievances toward the British. This seemed like a justifiable cause for a war, however not all of the citizens shared the same sense of unity about the political issues the war was being fought over. The United States was quite upset about the continuing impressments of American sailors into the British Navy and the seizures of American merchant trading vessels by the British. Another reason the United States wished to go to war with Britain was because of their dealings with the Indians in the West. The British were not only trading with the Indians, but they were also providing weapons and encouraging them to attack American settlements. Along with these reasons, the Americans, now becoming hungry for land, dreamed of capturing Canada.

Also, the Americans still contained a certain degree of resentment from the Revolutionary War, which they were eager to take out on the British. Even though these were the causes the nation was supposedly fighting for, the entire country lacked the force to gain restitution for them. Everyone was only concerned with their own problems instead of being concerned with the problems facing the nation. In normal circumstances a three-year war would not break out over this list of grievances. Many groups throughout the United States all had their apprehensions about the war at hand. New England didn’t want a war because it would cut down on their profitable shipping. The South had similar views as New England because Britain bought most of their cotton and tobacco, and a war with Britain would cut off the trade and severely damage the economy. The Federalists feared that citizens of Canada would infiltrate into the United States and would then end up supporting the Jeffersonian Republicanism, lessening Federalist votes.

Because of these apprehensions toward the war, the citizens were not able to unite and join together to support the war that was going on around them, creating a state which fighting was not the best choice to make. The military did suffer very bad defeats for several reasons. One of the foremost reasons was that the military was extremely unprepared to go into war. While Jefferson was still in office he made drastic military changes that had not been rectified by Madison at the start of the war. Jefferson cut the standing army down to a bare minimum, and he weakened the navy. When the war came, both were still weak and could not be used as effective fighting forces. Leadership was also a factor that played a role in the war. The generals who were in charge were not up to date on military tactics, and they also underestimated the power of their enemy. For example, the United States military thought Canada would be extremely easy to take, and in actuality, the British forces in Canada held strongly and fought off all attacks by the Americans.

As a result of this unorganized attempt, the United States suffered great military losses. None of this was remotely necessary. The only reason we invaded Canada was to gain land, which we did not need. By the end of the War of 1812, both sides had accomplished nothing except destroying fragments of the enemy. Neither side had settled any of the issues they were originally fighting over, nor had either side technically “won” according to the Treaty of Ghent. It was the most unnatural war because there was no real reason for a three-year war to have been fought. The grievances that America had were those left over from the Revolutionary war and small problems, which did not need to have been fought over.

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