DBWI: An Anglo-American war circa 1812?

One of my friends recently shared with me an opinionif his, which stunned me, that Britian and the USA may have entered a war during the 1810's. He said such a war could have been sparked by the US if it's anger over Britian's trade restrictions, impressment of US citizens into the British Navy, and aiding Native Americans agianst US expansion had reached a slightly higher point than it did. I highly dought the the US would have done this though b/c even though it may have desired land in Canada it doubt it had the military power to fight Britian at the time. Also the British had Napoleon to worry about during this time so I have not reason to believe they would have given the Americans much bother if they wanted war and may have handled problems more politicaly so that they could keep more military men in Europe. Since no such war actually occured how might America, Britian, and the world be different from today if it had?

OOC: This is my first DBWI :D
 
One of my friends recently shared with me an opinionif his, which stunned me, that Britian and the USA may have entered a war during the 1810's. He said such a war could have been sparked by the US if it's anger over Britian's trade restrictions, impressment of US citizens into the British Navy, and aiding Native Americans agianst US expansion had reached a slightly higher point than it did. I highly dought the the US would have done this though b/c even though it may have desired land in Canada it doubt it had the military power to fight Britian at the time. Also the British had Napoleon to worry about during this time so I have not reason to believe they would have given the Americans much bother if they wanted war and may have handled problems more politicaly so that they could keep more military men in Europe. Since no such war actually occured how might America, Britian, and the world be different from today if it had?
The joke is that some of the causus belli were due to Britian fighting that Borneparte chappie and the moment he abdicated they ended. Then again it freed up redcoat veterans who if been more competently generalled would have given the Americans a damned good thrashing at the Battle of Plattsburgh.

Greater British successes could have led to the creation of a buffer Indian state, at least in the short term. In the long term, they (the Indians) would have been thrown to the (American) wolves because they were becoming an undesirable burden to British policymakers. There was more value trading with the USA than stirring up trouble with a few natives.
 
Well there were some hotheads in Congress who wanted war to get territory in what was then British Canada (I guess they never considered the idea that continued trade would eventually lead to a peaceful union)

One of the main reasons the tensions relaxed was that the British repealed a number of the laws that upset the Americans.

Now lets say for some reason those laws were not repealed or the repeal was delayed long enough for hotheads in Congress to push for war.

Who knows, with a war we might not see the Canadian territories join the US in the 1830s & 1840s. With that we might not have had the resources to fund the conquest of Mexico.

Without the extra lands and resources we might not have had a peaceful transition out of slavery.

Who knows, instead of a Mexican war we might have had that Civil war people talk about.

Admittedly this is pretty far fetched, but you never know.

We might even have more than one nation on the North American continent, would we still be the USNA ?
 
Well there were some hotheads in Congress who wanted war to get territory in what was then British Canada (I guess they never considered the idea that continued trade would eventually lead to a peaceful union)

One of the main reasons the tensions relaxed was that the British repealed a number of the laws that upset the Americans.

Now lets say for some reason those laws were not repealed or the repeal was delayed long enough for hotheads in Congress to push for war.

Who knows, with a war we might not see the Canadian territories join the US in the 1830s & 1840s. With that we might not have had the resources to fund the conquest of Mexico.

Without the extra lands and resources we might not have had a peaceful transition out of slavery.

Who knows, instead of a Mexican war we might have had that Civil war people talk about.

Admittedly this is pretty far fetched, but you never know.

We might even have more than one nation on the North American continent, would we still be the USNA ?

Nah, the British Empire was pretty high up in the proverbial food chain back then, and it was on its way upward. The Americans could have been kept at bay for the year until Napoleon's defeat and death at Lützen, and then the British could give them a real whooping. Of course, since they didn't know about Napoleon's illness, they might have just settled with the Americans. If that happened, the Americans would be either humiliated by their ineffective military or emboldened by Britain's concession. Neither of these things are conducive to peace. No, a war in 1812 would be the first of many between the US and Britain, and that would have eventually destroyed the US. We should thank our lucky stars that it never happened.

Also, I don't know what convention they use where you are, but where I live at least the Caribbean nations are still considered part of the North American continent, meaning there are altogether five sovereign states on the continent, even if four of them are really tiny.
It's a pet peeve of mine when people imply that small countries like those "don't count."
 
Nah, the British Empire was pretty high up in the proverbial food chain back then, and it was on its way upward. The Americans could have been kept at bay for the year until Napoleon's defeat and death at Lützen, and then the British could give them a real whooping. Of course, since they didn't know about Napoleon's illness, they might have just settled with the Americans. If that happened, the Americans would be either humiliated by their ineffective military or emboldened by Britain's concession. Neither of these things are conducive to peace. No, a war in 1812 would be the first of many between the US and Britain, and that would have eventually destroyed the US. We should thank our lucky stars that it never happened.
On a military front, I would say that honours were about even and as it was a war that Britain did not reckon they had much to gain, the result on OTL was a draw.

If the British though had won more battles and the British Prime Minister Spencer Percevial had not been assassinated the more practical Lord Liverpool take over then Britian would have at very least gained territorial concessions. Later on, I would expect the US-Canadian border to be further to the south.

For the USA to take Canada with their militia, that going to take lots of luck given that the British can ship in veterans and if necessary the Duke of Wellington himself to take command. They can also impose a blockade on New England, giving those colonies the option of being ruined of seceeding.

We could then see the USA partitioned into the "CSA" and New England along with the Nation of the First Nations (sse my earlier post). Business in terms of trade would be resumed as normal. Expansion west however, is going to be a three cornered contest between the Indians, the "CSA" and New England. Potentially the two American countries could unify, but it is going to take a great politician to achieve this peacefully.
 
Personally, I see this as being part of the successful changes in revolutionary government. While the French revolution devolved into chopping the heads off of business men and drowning parish priests before setting up an Emperor, the "Patriots" of New England came together with the British in the views of trade being key to the prosperity of all, as well as showing that White settlements need not have strong official government from the Home Country to prosper.
 
On a military front, I would say that honours were about even and as it was a war that Britain did not reckon they had much to gain, the result on OTL was a draw.

If the British though had won more battles and the British Prime Minister Spencer Percevial had not been assassinated the more practical Lord Liverpool take over then Britian would have at very least gained territorial concessions. Later on, I would expect the US-Canadian border to be further to the south.

For the USA to take Canada with their militia, that going to take lots of luck given that the British can ship in veterans and if necessary the Duke of Wellington himself to take command. They can also impose a blockade on New England, giving those colonies the option of being ruined of seceeding.

We could then see the USA partitioned into the "CSA" and New England along with the Nation of the First Nations (sse my earlier post). Business in terms of trade would be resumed as normal. Expansion west however, is going to be a three cornered contest between the Indians, the "CSA" and New England. Potentially the two American countries could unify, but it is going to take a great politician to achieve this peacefully.

OOC: This is a DBWI; please use out-of-character tags if you're writing from the perspective of OTL. It's confusing otherwise.
 
Also, I don't know what convention they use where you are, but where I live at least the Caribbean nations are still considered part of the North American continent, meaning there are altogether five sovereign states on the continent, even if four of them are really tiny.
It's a pet peeve of mine when people imply that small countries like those "don't count."

Sorry about that, I meant no offense.

Though to be fair a pretty big chunk of the Caribbean is part of USNA (Cuba, Bahamas, Dominica, Puerto Rico, etc).

But I should have recognized Jamiaca, Trinidad, Southern Leewards and Western Antillies as four nations of North America)
 
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