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First Great European War

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Prussian Expansion War

First American War
Beginning:

July 14, 1812

End:

February 15, 1814

Place:

North America, Atlantic Ocean

Outcome:

British Victory, Treaty of Liverpool

Combatants

United States of America, various Native Tribes

United Kingdom
Colony of Canada, various Native Tribes

Commanders

James Madison
Henry Dearborn
Jacob Brown
Winfield Scott
Andrew Jackson
William Henry Harrison

Lord Liverpool
George Prevost
Isaac Brock
Roger Sheaffe
Tecumseh

Strength

United States Army

  • 32,000 (at wars end)
  • 450,000 State Militia Forces

US Navy and US Marines

  • Frigates: 6
  • Other Vessels: 14

Unknown Native allies

British Army

  • 58,230 (at wars end)
  • 25,000 Provincial Forces

Royal Navy

  • Ships of the Line: 15
  • Frigates: 34
  • Other vessels: 52
  • Assorted Coastal Defense Forces

Unknown Native allies

Casualties and Losses

2,500 KIA
3,750 wounded
19,000 (est.) died from disease

1,750 KIA
3,957 wounded
3,457 (est.) died from disease

The First American War, also known as the War of 1812, was a military conflict between the United States of America and the British Empire. The war was a long time in coming, and the efforts by the Congressional "War Hawks" to promote the expansion of American power into Canada and further west was met with force by British supported Indian tribes, who attacked the various settlements that sprung up in what was traditionally their land, in Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. The War Hawks pushed newly elected President James Madison to stand up to the British, though he tried to end the crisis diplomatically. Madison was forced to declare war in June 1812, however, when calls for war soon echoed across the union as the news of massacres and violent raids were heard in the eastern states.

The war was mostly fought over American attempts to expand westwards into British supported Native territory, including the Louisiana Purchase. With the ability to focus its entire strength in North America, having ended the war with Napoleonic France in 1806, the initial American attempts to invade Canada, while successful, were soon beaten back. Battles of the western frontier swayed back and forth for most of the war, with the outnumbered British, the untrained American's, and each sides Indian allies never managing to gain the upper hand.

The assault into New York State by the British after recapturing York (Toronto) and beating back the attack on Montreal in 1813 sparked panic in the US, and efforts to reform the army, and instituting a draft managed to eventually halt the attack, and the efforts of General Andrew Jackson soon turned the tide in the North-East. Indian raids in the west forced American settlers back west and the British still held Maine, Northern Vermont and Northern New York. The attack on Washington D.C. in 1814 was the final straw of the war, and forced the United States to seek peace. This lead to the punitive Treaty of Liverpool, which forced the US to give up almost half of the Louisiana Purchase, as well as pay damages to Canadian colonialists.

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