![]() ![]() They felt that Napoleon was a far greater danger to the world than any minor acts of interference (as they saw it) they might have committed with regard to American trade. The fact of the Napoleonic wars also helped determine the way in which the British fought the war. ![]() The war, in other words, was fought on the American side largely over neutral rights, although issues such as national pride, economics and regional politics certainly played a part in the decision to declare war. The War of 1812 began as a result of the fighting in Europe, which left America, a neutral nation, besieged by major players France and England as it tried to carry on normal trade in abnormal times. The second reason why the confusion with the events in Russia in 1812 is understandable is that the two events were in fact related. Added to that overshadowing is that fact that with a few notable exceptions, the Americans did not always fight well, even allowing their capital to be burned by the British in 1814. In addition, the end of the war coincided with the end of the Napoleonic wars (the War of 1812 ended six months before Waterloo) and was thus overshadowed by the greater events going on in Europe. ![]() Part of the reason for that vagueness may be that the war changed very little in America: The end of the war restored the status quo ante bellum, that is, it left everything the way it had been when the war began. Some may also associate the burning of the White House or the writing of the Star Spangled Banner with the war, but only vaguely. Few Americans know very much about the War of 1812 beyond the fact that it was fought with the British and that there was a Battle of New Orleans involved. In the first place, the War of 1812 has often been called a forgotten war, with good reason. That faulty connection, however, is not as wrong as it may seem. In fact, the work was written by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky to celebrate Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in that year. Many Americans probably think that the “1812 Overture” was written to commemorate the war of 1812, especially since it is often performed on the 4th of July to the accompaniment of bells and cannon. ![]()
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