One interesting point of the War of 1812(which was fought mostly in 1814).It nearly cost Britain the Waterloo campaign in 1815 by denying Wellington use of most of his invincible Peninsular Army.
At Waterloo he was very reliant on foriegn troops,but did win the day,just.

Whatever the aim of either side, neither side accomplished their goal. The United States lost no land and gained a bit of respect, so making the statement that they lost is a bit unreasonable. They did try to invade Canada, but frankly, it was never executed intelligently, nor was it attempted with any great enthusiasm. The US had enough troubles facing one of the most powerful natiions in the world at the time. The US was lucky to come out as well as they did.

"They did try to invade Canada, but frankly, it was never executed intelligently, nor was it attempted with any great enthusiasm"

Actually their goal was to take over the colonies and drive the british out of North America, and the US failed to do so. But you are right in that the US never went about the invassion in an intelligent manner and the war did have the enthusiam of other US wars in the 19 century. The way I see it, because the war was poorly planned and because US forces were forced out of out of Canada each and everytime, it makes it a victory for Canada... as far as the land war goes.

This war be debated for ever if you want, because stands people take have more to do with their national view of the facts. Doing a poll on this subject doesn't really matter much either because the majority of forum members are from the US, and I don't believe they make an educated choice on this subject. It would be same if this forum was full of Canadians... only the out come would be for a Canadian victory.

What I find interesting is that ONLY Canadians seem to universally claim victory. People from Great Britain most often call it a draw. I'm very interested in finding out why this is. Also, many Americans claim victory. I don't understand this either.

Actually their goal was to take over the colonies and drive the british out of North America, and the US failed to do so.

I am familiar with the Monroe Doctrine, but I've never heard of this being the primary reason/goal for the War of 1812. I believe it had a lot more to do with the Brits doing so not so considerate things, etc.

Doing a poll on this subject doesn't really matter much either because the majority of forum members are from the US.

Of course, that's irrelevant to me. I'm not putting forward the poll as a basis of proving anything via majority vote, I'm trying to get people to site facts to prove their points. If you can give me a compelling reason to believe that the British won the War of 1812, you just might force me to rethink my opinion of it.

The war of 1812 is barely known in Great Britain. The American Revolutionary war is much better known but seen as a civil war in many respects. Films like the ludicrious and racist "The Patriot" has seen revived interest but the events of 1812 remain obscured.
We did hold a function last June in the Mess where we burnt a model of the White House but one of the American officers got all upset and threw his teddy around so we didnt bother this year sadly.
A shame since we all attended the 4 July bash and didnt whine.

True, it was not a very big deal for Britain. They were more focussed on Napoleon and France, etc.

If the british arm had not had napoleon to deal with then the war of 1812 would probably of been costly for the US, but they did gain a lot of respect in the one-on-one ship combats and ships like the USS constitution proved themselves to be a big threat.

Originally Posted by Shadowalker

If the british arm had not had napoleon to deal with then the war of 1812 would probably of been costly for the US, but they did gain a lot of respect in the one-on-one ship combats and ships like the USS constitution proved themselves to be a big threat.

Amercan ships chose their battles well,they only fought smaller opponents.
No American ship in the War of 1812 did, after all, capture a British ship of the same force.

They even lied to show themselves being better, the USS constitution took on 2 sloops, cyane and levant and won, but the captain commissoned a picture showing him taking on 2 frigates which was published in america and regarded as being accurate.

Well, those of us who know more about history than that know one very important thing -- the United States was lucky that Great Britain was busy doing something else. Still, there is no reasonable basis for making the statement that "Great Britain won." Peace negotiations involved a more clear definition of borders and the Brits agreed to respect the sovereignty of the United States on the high seas. That's about it.