What could lead to a war Bewteen US and Britain

[GeneralInTheShell]

SO I was wondering is there any way that a third war between the US and Britain could have come about between the end the war of 1812 and the begining of the twentyth century?

If you think the Idea is completely frivalouse please don't be to demeaning when responding, thanks.

 

[wilcoxchar]

Oregon, Civil War, Venezuela, plenty of opportunities.

 

[GeneralInTheShell]

Oregon, Civil War, Venezuela, plenty of opportunities.

excluding the civil war cause I want to write a timeline about it but i don't want it wo involve a fractured America. Oh and thanks for the others but could you be a little bit mor specific, and name a few specific things that could lead up to the war.

 

[Kome]

Oregon as in American rhetoric might lead to a war. Aroostook crisis escalating could also result in a war.

 

[araraya]

The Caroline affair could also lead up to a war.

 

[GeneralInTheShell]

if either of those events had led to war how would it have panned out?

 

[Domoviye]

Almost any war up to the early 1900's would involve Canada burning, and the Americans being swept from the sea.
Canada was the only place the US could realistically hurt the British. A lot of Americans would also love to gain the new territory. So Canada is in for a world of hurt.
But the Americans did not have the Navy that could stand up to the British. So all American trade outside of the US and Mexico pretty much stops. Also expect the British to attack up and down the two coasts, raiding cities and towns. The US wouldn't be seriously hurt physically, unless the British manage to hit one of the large cities and destroy its factories and loot its banks. But economically the US is going to be in pain.
The British won't be happy either. They'll lose a huge market, have to spend a huge fortune maintaining the fleet in a war, and they'll lose, possibly temporarily possibly permanently, a big resource producing colony or dominion.
THe best hope the British have of getting Canada back is to hope the Americans run out of gun powder. I know that during the civil war almost all of the salt peter in the US was imported. I'm not sure if the US ever became self sufficient. So a British blockade could see the US running out of gunpowder. At that point the US would have to negotiate. But that could take a long time, depending on how forcefully the British attack. A long embargo with few battles means less gunpowder used. So a series of heavy engagements even if the British lose them would be best from a British perspective, forcing the Americans to expend their rapidly dwindling salt peter supplies.

 

[Krases]

I think during the civil war and the decade afterward, a war was one major incident away.

British warship gets blown close to an American fort after a storm. While the ship is getting repaired that night, a magazine of gunpowder touches off and explodes. American fort responds by firing like mad into the fog, damaging the ship severely. British ship runs away, gets chased by a few American ships and a sea battle between a few British ships and a few American ships results in one side or the other winning.

America, with its military beefed up after the war, goes wild.

 

[Dure]

Aroostook war
Caroline Affair
British suppression of the slave trade
54 deg. 40min in the Oregon
Advocation of Manifest Destiny
Mexican-American war
Pig war
Neutral's rights in the ACW
Resolution of Alabama claims
Fenian raids
Hawaii
Venezeula
USA policy on the Guano trade

There are a good few others but those are the ones off the top of my head

 

[yourworstnightmare]

Oregon most likely.

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

SO I was wondering is there any way that a third war between the US and Britain could have come about between the end the war of 1812 and the begining of the twentyth century?

If you think the Idea is completely frivalouse please don't be to demeaning when responding, thanks.

Your question does not explicitly state a PoD after 1814. I haven't gotten there yet, but there will be a war between the US and Britain ~1845 in my TL (see sig). Of course, this is a TL where the US loses the War of 1812 badly and wants revenge/"her" land back.

 

[Andrew Hudson]

The most obvious and probably nearest one would be intervention in the Civil War arising from the Trent incident but as other scenerios are sought then around 1845 is the most promising one. If the Monroe doctrine had been opposed by Britain there may have been a war between the USA and Britain and Spain but that is rather implausible.

There may have been one over the Fenian raids or Britains granting of political asylum to Sitting Bull and the Lakota nation

 

[GeneralInTheShell]

So I have decided to have the war start because of the Carolina Affair. How does to war go?

 

[lothaw]

So I have decided to have the war start because of the Carolina Affair. How does to war go?

It would be a rather quick war in Britain's favor before the US begs to turn over the guilty parties and make ammends. Possibly northern Maine and all claims in Oregon.

 

[Uxi]

Meatgrinder in Canada, possibly conquered, and Britain rules the seas. What was the shipbuilding capability in the US like at the time?

 

[bm79]

No matter the POD, no matter the casus belli, any war between the US and the UK before the ACW will cause a rift in American politics. During the War of 1812 OTL, most of the New England states basically sat out the war, wouldn't release their militias, covertly traded with the Brits, and during the Hartford Convention even considered secession. Also, in the reign of King Cotton, most of the trade of the southern states was directed towards the UK. This is the reason for the Nullification Crisis in the early 1830s, when the Jackson administration tried to impose tariffs on the very imported manufactured goods from England that the Deep South relied upon.

Had I the time and the patience to develop it, I've always had a pet AH project in my heart:

"1846 -- The Great North American Clusterfuck:" the US at war with the UK and Mexico at the same time over Oregon and Texas respectively, with secessionist rumblings in both the Northeast and the South.

 

[fernerdave]

"1846 -- The Great North American Clusterfuck:" the US at war with the UK and Mexico at the same time over Oregon and Texas respectively, with secessionist rumblings in both the Northeast and the South.

yowza! wouldnt that be somthing!?

 

[Bob D]

They Call It Civilization!

Rex Britanniae's compelling treatment of a war between America and Britain in the late 19th century. (This one's about Venezuela.)

 

[NHBL]

Don't go too late...

Any time much after the US Civil War, it would, IMVHO, have to be a MAJOR POD. Britian didn't want--and knew it couldn't afford--a war with the United States. Canada's vulnerable, the Americans are right there, the American resources are climbing fast, and Britian's merchant marine is vulnerable to both privateers and single naval raiders. Britian could likely win--except that they always had at least one rival in Europe that would happily fish in trooubled waters...

The Carlone affair is clearly earlier than that, so might well work for you.

 

[GeneralInTheShell]

THis is just a rough undertaking of it from a broad view what do you think?

The year is 1903 and North America is about to blow up in a war the likes of which the world has never seen. Ever sense tasting defeat at the hands of the British in 1838 the Americans have had one thought on there minds revenge. After losing the War of 1838 the Americans directed there anger towards the natives Americans and so began the "Indian purges of the 1840" what would come to later be known as the "Slaughter of the Plains" The Americans all but wiped out the Natives in the land they controlled. The Americans would then direct there attention towards there neighbor to the south, Mexico. The war lasted from 1846 to 1849, and resulted in a massive gain of territory for the US. At first after the end of the war it seemed as if for the first time in a long time the Americans were without an enemy that they could stomp on, although they did find use for the military with the "Lesser Indian Purge of the 1850's". In 1856 James Buchanan would become the first Republican president. For America Life was starting to become a lot better the economy was growing and so was the infrastructure. It seemed that maybe there would never be another war again. Then in 1861 President Lincoln ended both slavery and the state of peace in America. The Great American Civil war was a war the likes of which no one on the earth had ever seen the brutality and loss of life was astounding. The British Empire would through out the war secretly send supplies to the Confederates which would cause the war to be dragged out until 1866. Lincoln was successfully able to prevent a simultaneous war with Britain although had stated "We shouldn't be at war with ourselves we should be at war with those dammed Limmeis. Trying to make America crumble, well one day we'll get them back ten fold." When the war ended Lincoln began an age of reconstruction to rebuild America so that one day they could fight there true "enemy". The American "Empire" would continue to grow through the purchase of Alaska from the Russians by Lincoln. In 1892 the Spanish American war began. It was a short war but it saw the rise of several big names, Teddy Roosevelt and George Custer being the most famous. Teddy would go on to be elected President. It is May first 1903 and President Roosevelt along with the congress has issued a declaration of war on the "True Enemy". This war will be more devastating then anything seen before, and the British Canadians have know idea that the American forces are armed with weapons the likes of which the Canadians have never seen weapons like the Gardner gun and Railroad cannons, and the traction engine powered Ironclad cavalry units massive armored “tractors” armed with Gardner guns and a range of different sized artillery pieces.