History of War of 1812

   The War of 1812 lasted three years, during which Americans fought against the British as well as the Canadians and their Native allies.

   Neither side was able to gain a decisive victory. The Americans burned York (now Toronto) in 1813. The British burned Washington a year later. While Americans won victories at Moraviantown, Chippewa and Plattsburg, the British won theirs at Châteauguay, Burlington Heights and Chrysler's Farm. By late 1814 both sides were ready to settle their disputes, and the war ended with each side returning to the status quo.

   Both sides eventually agreed to meet in the Belgian town of Ghent in August of 1814. The Treaty of Ghent , in effect, meant that thousands of people had died for nothing: nobody won the war of 1812. The United States, though it achieved none of its stated war aims, did achieve the less openly stated aim of pushing the First Nations off their traditional territories, which were now open for white settlement. Britain could rest secure in the knowledge that Canada was safe from U.S. territorial ambitions for the foreseeable future. 

  The real losers were the First Nations. Their warriors had fought alongside Britain on the understanding that they would be rewarded with a country of their own, yet now that it had grown tired of the war, Britain reneged on its promise and retreated behind the meaningless phrase that the First Nations would be given “all the rights and privileges they enjoyed before the war.”

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