and burned both the Capitol and the Executive Mansion (the White House). In August of 1814 the British captured Washington, D.C. Once Napoleon was defeated in 1814 and the war with France was over the British were free to turn more of their attention to the United States. Most of the battles of the first two years of the war were fought on the U.S.-Canadian border in locations such as Detroit and Niagara, as Canada was then a British territory. The British Royal Navy vigorously practiced this method of replacing its sailors by taking United States citizens from American ships during the early part of the nineteenth century.īritain's repeated attempts to limit American trade with France (with whom Britain was at war) also caused tensions that eventually boiled over into war. One of the major issues that brought about the war was the practice of " impressment," or forcing men to serve in the armed forces through violence. Like the Revolutionary War, it was fought against England. Known to contemporaries as the "Second War of Independence," the War of 1812 in fact lasted from 1812 to 1815. had been taken and burnt by British troops.The War of 1812 is not as well-known to students today as, for example, the Revolutionary War or the Civil War. Broke’s victory secured British control of the Atlantic, and within a year Washington, D.C. Both sides found new heroes but none could equal Captain Philip Broke, champion of history’s greatest frigate battle, when HMS Shannon captured the USS Chesapeake in thirteen blood-soaked minutes.
British frigates closed with the Chesapeake, the Essex and the President, flagship of American naval ambition.
Then in three titanic single ship actions the challenge was decisively met. Within weeks the land invasion had stalled, but American warships and privateers did rather better, and astonished the world by besting the Royal Navy in a series of battles. But America had to choose between the oceans and the continent. The south and west wanted land, the north wanted peace and trade. In that dark hour America saw its chance to challenge British dominance: her troops invaded Canada and American frigates attacked British merchant shipping, the lifeblood of British defence. Only the Royal Navy stood between Napoleon’s legions and ultimate victory. In the summer of 1812 Britain stood alone, fighting for her very survival against a vast European Empire.
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