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media type="youtube" key="w2AfQ5pa59A" height="315" width="560" A funny video about the war of 1812. Note: almost nothing said is accurate or factual

T he war of 1812 occurred during James Madison’s presidency. The citizens of America were angered by the British ships cutting off American ships from trading with France. Britain also armed Indian tribes in the Northwest Territory and encouraged them to attack settlers. So the British were in an area and encouraging Indians in that area to attack citizens trying to settle that area when the British were not even supposed to be in that area.They were also impressing American sailors into the British navy. war was declared by US on June 18 1812. When the war started, there were 7,000 Regular troops, 3,049 Rangers, 458,463 Militia (some of which would only serve in their own state), 6 US Navy Frigates, 14 other vessels and 125 Choctaw Native American allies with an unknown number of other Native American allies. The British numbers stand at; 5,200 Regulars, 10,000 Provincial Regulars, 4,000 Provincial Militia, 11 Ships of the Line, 34 Frigates 52 other vessels, 9 Provincial Marine ships, and 10,000 Native American alliesThe U.S. won many early victories against the british fleet, until Napoleon's army was defeated in europe, this allowed the british to send more troops to attack. The Americans suffered many losses including the battle of Bladensburg,in which the British defeated an army 50% larger, and were able to burn down Washington in August of 1814. Throughout the war, The US suffered a total of about 15,000 casualties while the British suffered about 8,600 casualties. Early in the war, the US won battles in Canada and the Great Lakes because the British were still fighting with France and they couldn’t really send any troops over. The reason American ships were winning in the battles of the Atlantic were because our ships were more powerful and had better trained crews. On the ground, on July 12, 1812,General William Hull led an invading force into Canada. One month later, they are forced to retreat to Detroit only to surrender and lose control over most of the Michigan territory. However, in 1813, the Americans won control over Lake Erie in the Battle of Lake Erie. Also, the Native American leader Tecumseh was killed during the Battle of the Thames and most Native Americans stopped fighting with the British. Back over water, Americans decided to defend the ports with several small gunboats, which failed, and the British attacked the Chesapeake Bay and managed to capture and burn Washington D.C. Because of these actions, the current Secretary of War was dismissed from office. The Americans were much more successful at sea battles with the help of several hundred privateers. in 1814, Napoleon abdicated which allowed the British to send veteran armies to fight the American army who, by that time, also learned how to fight. The Americans won the Battle of Plattsburg and the Battle of New Orleans which lead to the Treaty of Ghent and a long period of good relations with the British. media type="youtube" key="F0Kbn8hFT1Q" height="315" width="420"A more serious video on the War of 1812