No+Name+Yet

Angel Ambs 2-25-14 4th

One reason this was obscure is because no great president was associated with the conflict. His enemies called it the "Mr. Madison war" James Madison was shy and deferential, hardly measuring up to such war leaders as Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, or Franklin Roosevelt. Moreover, The best American generals in this war- Andrew Jackson, Jacob Brown, and Winfield Scott- were unable to turn the tide because each was confined to a one or two theaters in a war that has seven or eight theaters. No one like George Washington, Ulysses Grant, or Dwight Eisenhower emerged to put his stamp on the war and to carry the nation to victory. Another reason for the obscurity of this war is that its causes are complex and little understood today. Most scholars agree that the war was fought over maritime issues, particularly the Orders in Council, which restricted American trade with the European Continent, and impressment, which was the Royal Navy’s practice of removing seamen from American merchant vessels. In contemporary parlance, the war was fought for "Free Trade and Sailors' Rights." These issues seem arcane today. Moreover, the only way that the United States to strike at Great Britain was by attacking Canada, and that made it look like a war of territorial aggression. Even today Canadians are likely to see the war in this light, and who can blame them? A war fought to secure maritime rights by invading Canada strikes many people as curious. If the causes of the war are obscure, so too are the consequences. The United States has won most of its wars, often emerging with significant concessions from the enemy. But the War of 1812 was different. Far from bringing the enemy to terms, the nation was lucky to escape without making extensive concessions itself. The Treaty of Ghent (which ended the conflict) said nothing about the maritime issues that had caused the war and contained nothing to suggest that America had achieved its aims. Instead, it merely provided for returning to the status quo ante bellum – the state that had existed before the war.
 * Why is this war obscure? **

** what was the cause of war 1812? ** Having won its independence in 1783, the United States soon found itself a minor power without the protection of the British flag. With the security of the Royal Navy removed, American shipping soon began falling to privateers from Revolutionary France and the Barbary pirates. These threats were met during the undeclared [|__Quasi-War__]  with France (1798-1800) and First Barbary War (1801-1805). Despite success in these minor conflicts, American merchant ships continued to be harassed by both the British and the French. Engaged in a life-or-death struggle in Europe the two nations actively sought to prevent the Americans from trading with their enemy. In addition, as it depended upon the Royal Navy for military success, the British followed a policy of impressment to meet its growing manpower needs. This saw British warships remove American sailors from their ships for service in the fleet. Though angered by the actions of Britain and France, the United States lacked the military power to halt these transgressions.

** What were some consequences of this war? ** The United States has won most of its wars, often emerging with significant concessions from the enemy. But the War of 1812 was different. Far from bringing the enemy to terms, the nation was lucky to escape without making extensive concessions itself. The Treaty of Ghent (which ended the conflict) said nothing about the maritime issues that had caused the war and contained nothing to suggest that America had achieved its aims. Instead, it merely provided for returning to the status quo ante bellum – the state that had existed before the war.In some ways, the War of 1812 looked more to the past than to the future. As America's second and last war against Great Britain, it echoed the ideology and issues of the American Revolution. It was the second and last time that America was the underdog in a war and the second and last time that the nation tried to conquer Canada. It was also the last time that Indians played a major role in determining the future of the continent. In this sense, the War of 1812 was the last of the North American colonial wars. The war was unusual in generating such vehement political opposition and nearly unique in ending in a stalemate on the battlefield. Although most Americans pretended they had won the war – even calling it a "Second War of Independence"–they could point to few concrete gains – certainly none in the peace treaty – to sustain this claim.It is this lack of success that may best explain why the war is so little remembered. Americans have characteristically judged their wars on the basis of their success. The best-known wars – the Revolution, the Civil War, and World War II – were all clear-cut successes. Although many people remembered the War of 1812 as a success, it was in a very real sense a failure, and perhaps this is why it attracts so little attention today.


 * What was the Chesapeake-Leopard affair? **

Three years later, the impressment issue resulted in a serious incident between the two nations. In the spring of 1807, several sailors deserted from HMS Melampus (36 guns) while the ship was at Norfolk, VA. Three of the deserters then enlisted aboard the frigate [|__USS Chesapeake__] (38) which was then fitting out for a patrol in the Mediterranean. Upon learning of this, the British consul at Norfolk demanded their return. This was refused by Madison who believed the three men to be Americans. Subsequent affidavits later confirmed this, and the men claimed they had been impressed. The tensions were heightened when rumors circulated that other British deserters were part of Chesapeake's crew. Learning of this, Vice Admiral George C. Berkeley, commanding the North American station, instructed any British warship that encountered Chesapeake to stop it and search for the men.

On June 21, 1807, HMS Leopard (50) hailed Chesapeake shortly after it cleared the Virginia Capes. Sending a messenger to the American ship, Captain Salusbury Humphreys demanded that the ship be searched for deserters. This request was flatly refused by Commodore James Barron who ordered the to ship be prepared for battle. As the ship possessed a green crew, this procedure moved slowly. After several minutes of shouted conversation between Humphreys and Barron, Leopard fired a warning shot, then a full broadside into the unready American ship. Unable to return fire, Barron struck his colors with three men dead and eighteen wounded. Sending across a boarding party, Humphreys removed the three men as well as Jenkin Ratford who had deserted from HMS Halifax (18). Taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Ratford was later hung while the other three were sentenced to 500 lashes each (this was later commuted).

In the wake of the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair an outraged American public called for war and President Thomas Jefferson to defend the nation's honor. Pursuing a diplomatic course instead, Jefferson closed American waters to British warships, secured the release of the three seamen, and demanded an end to impressment. While the British did pay compensation for the incident, the practice of impressment continued unabated. On May 16, 1811, [|__USS President__] (58) engaged HMS Little Belt (20) in what is sometimes considered a retaliatory attack for the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair.


 * Who was more involved in world war 2? **

The victor side: The Opposition side:
 * Soviet union
 * United States
 * United Kingdom
 * China
 * Poland
 * France
 * Canada
 * Australia
 * New Zealand
 * South Africa
 * Belgium
 * Netherlands
 * Greece
 * Yugoslavia
 * Norway
 * Germany
 * Japan
 * Italy
 * Romania
 * Hungry
 * Finland
 * Thailand
 * Bulgaria
 * Croatia
 * Slovakia
 * Iraq
 * Vichy France


 * H o w m a ****n **** y **** p e o p l e d i e d i n ** w ** o rl d w a r 2 ? **

 No one is 100 percent certain of the number of people who died in World War 2 but it experts believe the figure is around the 50-70 million people killed in as a result of World War 2.


 * Germany the overall total is given as just under 7.4 million.
 * Soviet soldiers roughly around 8.7 million Soviet soldiers died in World War 2.
 * British 700,000 military casualties and 60,000 civilian deaths
 * Estimated USSR losses now stand at 26.6 million.
 * Poland’s dead at between 5.6 and 5.8 million.
 * German military dead and missing at 5.3 million.

United State military dead is around 416,800 people.

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