Who won the War of 1812?

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We're on our 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, which I think that Canadians have come to view as their major epic war, replete with patriotic mythology, whereas in the USA, well....

in Chicago, they used to perform Tschaikovsky's 1812 Overture at our Independence Day (4 July) fireworks display. A former girlfriend of mine commented that she thought that the 1812 Overture was patriotic, and had something to do with the War of 1812...

I took Advanced Placement U.S. History in high school, back when the Vietnam War was going on. Even in my Advanced Placement class, we weren't really taught history objectively. Rather, the USA was presented as the greatest country ever, that always won its wars, and that could do no wrong. The War of 1812 was presented as just another magnificent victory for the United States, with the great hero Andrew Jackson smashing the British at the Battle of New Orleans.

My history class never mentioned the Napoleonic Wars that were raging at the time, and quite possibly my history teacher was unfamiliar with those events.

So, who really won?

It is amusing that many Americans are unaware of the fact that the Battle of New Orleans was fought after the peace treaty had been signed. Due to the communication lag, that battle was completely unnecessary, and obviously did not play a part in bringing an end to the war

The Americans had some major successes at sea (where their war was justified, imo, because of British naval blockade and impressment tactics used against their merchants). On land the US did not fare so well in their invasions of Canada. They even temporarily lost some territory and suffered the burning of their capital. In regards to the actual goal of annexing British North America (Canada), and the widespread belief among American war hawks that it would be easy, quick, and welcomed by the Canadians, it is clear they failed completely in that mission and misjudged the strategic situation entirely. The US has less to celebrate than Canada, when it comes to this war, but they can at least celebrate that they stood up to the British navy effectively and with justification

IF readers dont know:Tchakowsky was composing about the Napoleonic invasion of Russia when he wrote the 1812 Overture, and was not thinking about any event in north america.


The Brits were pushing us around-impressing our sailors (ie kidnapping them off our ships and forcing them to serve in the royal navy) and other stuff.

A member of congress gave an outraged speach about the brits tramping on our rights! But then he also added that it gives us a great excuse to sieze british ruled Canada.

So niether side was a clear cut victim nor clear cut villian.


The biggest battle of the war, the battle of New Orleans, was fought AFTER the war was officially over. Communications were so primitive then that niether force got the memorandum that washington and london had already signed the peace treaty.

The war was fought ironically to keep America OUT of war.

The global wars of Napoleon were raging between the two superpowers: France and Britain. The then small and weak USA declared itself neutral. But we had to fight two wars to stay neutral.

We had to fight a brief naval war with France in 1805 to stay out of the bigger war. And then we had to fight the war of 1812 with Britain( who was impressing our sailors because they were hard up for manpower in the war against Napoleon).

I pick "tie" because I always thought of it as a tie because the boundry lines stayed the same. Neither side (the british empire nor the usa) gained nor lost land.

But i guess canadians view it as a bigger deal than do we americans , and see at as a Canadian victory.

I don't know if anybody really won. Occupied territory on both sides were returned after the war. Canada was retained as part of the British empire and the US gave up on annexing it so they have that. The US 'preserved it's honor' standing up the GB's naval aggression. and Tecumseh's Confederacy collapsed after he was killed in the war which paved way for more western expansion. Sometimes there isn't a clear winner or loser in war.

Last I knew the land conflict in the War of 1812 was called off on account of weather; both sides got their asses handed to them by a rather large and vicious tornado.

Do correct me if I'm wrong, of course. And, for what it's worth, US citizen here.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBmE_clkBBU&feature=related[/youtube]

I won it. It was all me.

The Americans had a positive purpose and failed to achieve it. The British had a negative purpose and succeeded. I count it as a British victory.

No body ever WINS at war! You just win the right to write the history.

The Americans won in that it finally forced the British to respect their national sovereignty. Before this, the British were kidnapping American sailors and forcing them to work on British vessels through a process known as "Impressment". Afterwards, this no longer occurred. Yes, some of the Americans ambitions may have been too ambitious, but the final outcome was such that the War of 1812 is often referred to as the "Second American Revolution", since it finally settled the issues of national sovereignty with the British that the Revolution did not.

What do you call it when both belligerents are restored to their antebellum positions?

I call it a draw.

But we did burn down the White House. So there.