jjares reviewed The War of 1812: A Captivating Guide to the Military Conflict between the United States of America and Great Britain That Started during the Napoleonic Wars on + 3299 more book reviews
Historian H W Brands states that the American war hawks considered the War of 1812 to be the second war of independence with Britain. The most serious problem was the outrage of British impressment of American sailors, to the tune of almost 10,000 men. The Napoleonic Wars were still ongoing and the British and French established edicts against the Americans from trading with each other. America saw this as undermining America's independence.
Readers have to feel sorry for the American Indians; they were pulled into the fracas, on both sides. The British continued to arm the Indians (with guns) while the Americans did not want them to have the weapons (to fight the removement of Indian tribes from valuable lands). Over 10,000 Indians were killed in this war, while the main combatants had considerably fewer casualties. This was the first time I'd heard that the Spanish entered the war on the side of the British.
The author's use of the timeline was most helpful in keeping the battle-rich text straight. By having the date and location, it was easier to keep the action and leaders straight, as they moved from one battle to another. I don't think I can overemphasize the value of the timeline in helping the reader keep the battles and incidents straight when there were a great number of battles taking place.
Overall, this is a fine piece of research and writing. The author clearly gave the incidents leading up to the war, the battles and other actions of the war, and the results. Tragically, after all that death and destruction, not much changed after the War of 1812 except that the largest contingent of participants to die were 10,000 Indians.
Readers have to feel sorry for the American Indians; they were pulled into the fracas, on both sides. The British continued to arm the Indians (with guns) while the Americans did not want them to have the weapons (to fight the removement of Indian tribes from valuable lands). Over 10,000 Indians were killed in this war, while the main combatants had considerably fewer casualties. This was the first time I'd heard that the Spanish entered the war on the side of the British.
The author's use of the timeline was most helpful in keeping the battle-rich text straight. By having the date and location, it was easier to keep the action and leaders straight, as they moved from one battle to another. I don't think I can overemphasize the value of the timeline in helping the reader keep the battles and incidents straight when there were a great number of battles taking place.
Overall, this is a fine piece of research and writing. The author clearly gave the incidents leading up to the war, the battles and other actions of the war, and the results. Tragically, after all that death and destruction, not much changed after the War of 1812 except that the largest contingent of participants to die were 10,000 Indians.
