Why is the war of 1812 a forgotten war?

Answer 1

The war of 1812 is KNOWN as "the forgotten war" but is was never really forgotten. It's popularity is just not up there with: WW1,WW2,Civil War, etc... Probably because it didn't change the world and/or nation. Or maybe because the casualties weren't drastically high.

Or maybe even because a lot of schools never teach it. The war of 1812 did not last very long either, British troops tried to invade America somewhere in the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, but failed,and it was after the revolutionary war which was also fought against Great Britain.

Another reason may be that the United States started the war, invaded its neighbour, and lost. Much larger American forces crossed into Upper and Lower Canada, which was defended by only 5200 British solders and roughly three times as many natives and Canadian militia. The invaders were decisively defeated in a series of battles, and retreated, not only back over the border, but beyond, surrendering Detroit, Buffalo, and Fort Dearborn (Chicago).

The British went on the offensive, taking Washington and burning the White House. However, at no time did they attempt to retake the United States. In fact, weary of war after defeating Napoleon, the British rather generously turned back all the American territory it had conquered and signed the Treaty of Ghent, which ended the war.

Ironically, the American invasion, the second since an American army attacked Canada in 1775, brought English and French speaking Canadians together, and began talk of nationhood, which began a reality in 1867.

Which may explain why a lot of schools never teach it.

Answer 2

Nobody won anything, so everybody tried to ignore it.

And it was our first war of aggression, capture of American merchant sailors into the Royal Navy and trade restrictions. The Capital was burned down who wants to remember that.

Answer 3

because World War 1 was overshadowed by World War 2. World War 1 yes, is deadlier in casualties and brutality but world war 2 was a war for the world. If we lost world war 2, the world could have gotten taken over by the Germans. It was a war over "good and evil" THat's why there are multitudes of movies, video games, and entire sections of book stores dedicated to world war 2 and why only you'll find 3 books on world war 1. World War 1 was a stationary war and people got "bored" with it, I'm not justifying it and frankly I get infuriated when people forget this war because there was an entire generation gap dead and it was the bloodiest war in all of history. 11 million dead, that's a mighty lot of battle deaths. World War 2 had 61 million deaths, civilian and battle. Also the fact that the Soviets use of "charge the MG-42's" facilitated millions of deaths(8 million total) So that's why World War 1 is forgotten.

That's a general summar, widely general. There were many factors, political(winston churchill's screw up on Gallipoli, the fact it was a stationary war, the German's pissed off)

There are many books, none I can think of off-hand but if you look around you'll find better answers.

Hope this helped man, peace out

Answer 4

Short answer from An American. The USA was beaten by the British. They burned Washington D. C. to the ground. We defended Baltimore, and won the Battle of New Orleans, but, the war for the most part went badly for the USA. We got our national anthem from the war, but, it was a war most Americans would like to forget, like Vietnam.

Answer 5

Americans wanted to forget the war; it was not popular before, during or after it was fought, and for good reason.

The War Hawks, legislators from the south and west, lobbied intensely for an attack on Canada. The seven New England states couldn't believe their ears; they depended on trade, and most of that trade was with Britain and Canada. But the War Hawks knew they could use impressment, trade embargoes, and seized ships as excuses to invade a neighbour who had one-twentieth the population. Thomas Jefferson called it "a mere matter of martching".

Unfortunately, they stampeded the president into declaring war. That caused riots in Baltimore and elsewhere, but the worst ws yet to come.

Canada, while outnumbered on the battlefields by as much as ten to one, thrashed the invaders, and sent them retreating not only back over the border, but beyond: US forces surrendered Detroit, Buffalo and Fort Dearborn (Chicago) in the process. For the Canadians and the natives, who jointly made up two thirds of the defense, with the British regular forces providing the core, it was a huge victory in a situation in which defeat would have meant the end of Canada.

Things went so badly for the US that the seven New England states publicly discussed seceding from the Union. That discussion continued right up until the end of the war. Vermont spent the war selling vital war materials to the Royal Navy.

The British went on the attack, taking large portions of US territory, and, famously, burning the White House. There were a few American victories, mostly at sea, but the US Navy could not stop the Royal Navy from blockading American ports, and devastating the economy.

Then, back in Europe, Britain won its war against Napoleon, and while it suddenly had the capacity to send very large numbers of battle-hardened troops to North America, the British were weary of war, and had no desire to hold onto the American territory they had already taken. The Americans knew they could never hold off that many troops, so when the British offered a return to the old borders, the Americans quickly agreed. This, by the way, destroys the notion that the war was "a Second Revolutionary War", since Britain's actions make it perfectly clear that it had no desire to undo the revolution when it could have easily used those troops to do so.

The Treaty of Ghent offered absolutely no concessions on ANY of the US grievances -- in fact, it didn't even mention them -- but the Americans were quick to sign, knowing the alternative.

Today, textbooks say very little about the war, and less than half of Americans known the the US started the war, or that the US invaded Canada. One recent documentary on 1812 only covers the period from 1814 on, when Americans "were threatened by invasion", not quite getting around to mentioning the invasion of Canada that brought the British army to Washington.

Answer 6

It's name after the forgotten war pizza pie in new york.

Answer 7

1) Our national anthem was written by Frabcis Scott Key

2) British impressment on American soldiers

3) British supplying and supporting Native Americans with guns.