The Historian Channel's Documentary: "The War of 1812" History Documentary, The War of 1812 -- Full Documentary

The War of 1812 was a military conflict that lasted from June 18, 1812, to February 18, 1815, fought between the United States of America and the United Kingdom, its North American colonies, and its North American Indian allies. Historians in the United States and Canada see it as a war in its own right, but Europeans often see it as a minor theater of the Napoleonic Wars. By the war's end in early 1815 the key issues had been resolved and peace came with no boundary changes.

Re-enactors (in UK uniforms) fire muskets toward the "Americans" in this annual commemoration of the June 6, 1813 Battle of Stoney Creek

The United States declared war for several reasons, including trade restrictions brought about by the British war with France, the impressment of as many as 10,000 American merchant sailors into the Royal Navy, British support for Native American tribes fighting American settlers on the frontier, outrage over insults to national honor during the Chesapeake–Leopard Affair, and American interest in annexing British territory, and expanding the United States further north. The primary British war goal was to defend their North American colonies; they also hoped to set up a neutral Indian buffer state in the Midwest that would impede American expansion in the Old Northwest and to minimize American trade with Napoleonic France, which Britain was blockading.

The war was fought in three theaters. First, at sea, warships and privateers of each side attacked the other's merchant ships, while the British blockaded the Atlantic coast of the United States and mounted large raids in the later stages of the war. Second, land and naval battles were fought on the U.S.–Canadian frontier. Third, large-scale battles were fought in the Southern United States and Gulf Coast. At the end of the war, both sides signed and ratified the Treaty of Ghent and, in accordance with the treaty, returned occupied land, prisoners of war and captured ships (though neither side returned the other's warships due to frequent re-commissioning upon capture) to its pre-war owner and resumed friendly trade relations without restriction.

With the majority of its land and naval forces tied down in Europe fighting the Napoleonic Wars, the British used a defensive strategy until 1814. Early victories over poorly-led U.S. armies demonstrated that the conquest of the Canadas would prove more difficult than anticipated. Despite this, the U.S. was able to inflict serious defeats on Britain's Native American allies, ending the prospect of an Indian confederacy and an independent Native American state in the Midwest under British sponsorship. U.S. forces took control of Lake Erie in 1813, and seized western parts of Upper Canada. However, an American attempt to capture Montreal was repulsed in November 1813. Despite the major U.S. victory at Chippawa on July 5, 1814, serious attempts to fully conquer Upper Canada were ultimately abandoned following the bloody Battle of Lundy's Lane on July 25, 1814, which led to the Siege of Fort Erie and the final major battle fought on the Canadian side of the border.

In April 1814, with the defeat of Napoleon, Britain now had large, seasoned armies to use. It adopted a more aggressive strategy, sending large invasion armies and tightening their naval blockade. However, with the end of the Napoleonic Wars, both governments were eager for a return to normality and peace negotiations began in Ghent in August 1814. In the Deep South, General Andrew Jackson destroyed the military strength of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. In September 1814, the British won the Battle of Hampden, allowing them to occupy eastern Maine, and the British victory at the Battle of Bladensburg in August 1814 allowed them to capture and burn Washington, D.C. They were repulsed, however, in an attempt to take Baltimore and Fort Bowyer. An American victory in September 1814 at the Battle of Plattsburgh repulsed the British invasions of New York, which, along with pressure from merchants on the British government, prompted British diplomats to drop their demands at Ghent for an independent native buffer state and territorial claims that London previously sought. As it took six weeks for the ship carrying news of the peace treaty to cross the Atlantic, it did not arrive before the British suffered a major defeat at New Orleans in January 1815.

In the United States, late victories over invading British armies at the battles of Plattsburg, Baltimore (inspiring the United States national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner") and New Orleans produced a sense of euphoria over a "second war of independence" against Britain.The war ended on a high note for Americans, winning the final major and minor engagements of the war and bringing an "Era of Good Feelings" in which partisan animosity nearly vanished in the face of strengthened American nationalism. The war was also a major turning point in the development of the U.S. military. The poor performance of several U.S. militia units, particularly during the 1812–13 invasions of Canada and the 1814 defence of Washington, convinced the U.S. government of the need to move away from its Revolutionary-era reliance on militia and focus on creating a more professional regular force. Spain was involved in fighting in Florida but was not an official belligerent; some Spanish forces fought alongside the British during the Occupation of Pensacola. The U.S. took permanent ownership of Spain's Mobile District.

In Upper and Lower Canada, British and local Canadian militia victories over invading U.S. armies became iconic and promoted the development of a distinct Canadian identity, which included strong loyalty to Britain. Today, particularly in Ontario, memory of the war retains its significance, because the defeat of the invasions ensured that the Canadas would remain part of the British Empire, rather than be annexed by the United States. The government of Canada declared a three year commemoration of the War of 1812 in 2012; numerous events have taken place including re-enactments of specific battles. These are intended to commemorate the war, offer historical lessons and celebrate 200 years of peace across the border.

The conflict has not been commemorated on nearly the same level in the modern-day United States, though it is still taught as an important part of early American history, and Dolley Madison's and Andrew Jackson's respective roles in the war are especially emphasized. The war is scarcely remembered in Britain, being heavily overshadowed by the much larger Napoleonic Wars occurring in Europe.

Credits: Wikipedia

The Historian Channel: How the French and Indian War changed the fate of America, History Documentary. The Seven Years' War: French and Indian War (1754–1763), Documentary

The French and Indian War changed the fate of America by initiating questions over Britain's authority to restrict westward movement into the western frontier of the Ohio River Valley (The Proclamation of 1763) and to begin to the increase of taxes on the colonies to pay for the cost of this North American military struggle.

Map of the French and Indian War (1754–1763)

The French and Indian War (1754–1763) comprised the North American theater of the worldwide Seven Years' War of 1756-1763. The war pitted the colonies of British America against those of New France, with both sides supported by military units from their parent countries of Great Britain and France, as well as by Native American allies. At the start of the war, the French North American colonies had a population of roughly 60,000 European settlers, compared with 2 million in the British North American colonies.[3] The outnumbered French particularly depended on the Indians. Following months of localised conflict, the metropole nations declared war on each other in 1756, escalating the war from a regional affair into an intercontinental conflict.

The name French and Indian War, used mainly in the United States, refers to the two main enemies of the British colonists: the royal French forces and the various indigenous forces allied with them. British and European historians use the term the Seven Years' War, as do English speaking Canadians. French Canadians call it La guerre de la Conquête (the War of the Conquest) or (rarely) the Fourth Intercolonial War.

Fighting took place primarily along the frontiers between New France and the British colonies, from Virginia in the south to Nova Scotia in the north. It began with a dispute over control of the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, called the Forks of the Ohio, and the site of the French Fort Duquesne (within present-day Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). The dispute erupted into violence in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in May 1754, during which Virginia militiamen under the command of 22-year-old George Washington ambushed a French patrol.

In 1755, six colonial governors in North America met with General Edward Braddock, the newly arrived British Army commander, and planned a four-way attack on the French. None succeeded, and the main effort by Braddock proved a disaster; he lost the Battle of the Monongahela on July 9, 1755 and died a few days later. British operations in 1755, 1756 and 1757 in the frontier areas of Pennsylvania and New York all failed, due to a combination of poor management, internal divisions, effective Canadian scouts, French regular forces, and Indian warrior allies. In 1755, the British captured Fort Beauséjour on the border separating Nova Scotia from Acadia; soon afterwards they ordered the expulsion of the Acadians (1755-1764). Orders for the deportation were given by William Shirley, Commander-in-Chief, North America, without direction from Great Britain. The Acadians, both those captured in arms and those who had sworn the loyalty oath to His Britannic Majesty, were expelled. Native Americans were likewise driven off their land to make way for settlers from New England.

After the disastrous 1757 British campaigns (resulting in a failed expedition against Louisbourg and the Siege of Fort William Henry, which was followed by Indian torture and massacres of British victims), the British government fell. William Pitt came to power and significantly increased British military resources in the colonies at a time when France was unwilling to risk large convoys to aid the limited forces it had in New France. France concentrated its forces against Prussia and its allies in the European theatre of the war. Between 1758 and 1760, the British military launched a campaign to capture the Colony of Canada. They succeeded in capturing territory in surrounding colonies and ultimately the city of Quebec (1759). Though the British later lost the Battle of Sainte-Foy west of Quebec (1760), the French ceded Canada in accordance with the Treaty of Paris (1763).

The outcome was one of the most significant developments in a century of Anglo-French conflict. France ceded its territory east of the Mississippi to Great Britain. It ceded French Louisiana west of the Mississippi River (including New Orleans) to its ally Spain, in compensation for Spain's loss to Britain of Florida (Spain had ceded Florida to Britain in exchange for the return of Havana, Cuba). France's colonial presence north of the Caribbean was reduced to the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, confirming Britain's position as the dominant colonial power in eastern North America.

Source: Wikipedia

History Documentary: The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) How Britain Lost The American Colonies (Full Documentary). The Historian Channel: American Independece War, Documentary

History Documentary:  The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) How Britain Lost The American Colonies (Full Documentary). The Historian Channel's American Independece War, Documentary.

This iconic 1846 lithograph by Nathaniel Currier was entitled "The Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor"; the phrase "Boston Tea Party" had not yet become standard. Contrary to Currier's depiction, few of the men dumping the tea were actually disguised as Indians

 

The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), also known as the American War of Independence and the Revolutionary War in the United States, was the armed conflict between Great Britain and thirteen of its North American colonies, which had declared themselves the independent United States of America. Early fighting took place primarily on the North American continent. France, eager for revenge after its defeat in the Seven Years' War, signed an alliance with the new nation in 1778 that proved decisive in the ultimate victory. The conflict gradually expanded into a world war with Britain combating France, Spain, and the Netherlands. Fighting also broke out in India between the British East India Company and the French allied Kingdom of Mysore.

The American Revolutionary War had its origins in the resistance of many Americans to taxes, which they claimed were unconstitutional, imposed by the British parliament. Patriot protests escalated into boycotts, and on December 16, 1773, the destruction of a shipment of tea at the Boston Tea Party. The British government retaliated by closing the port of Boston and taking away self-government. The Patriots responded by setting up a shadow government that took control of the province outside of Boston. Twelve other colonies supported Massachusetts, formed a Continental Congress to coordinate their resistance, and set up committees and conventions that effectively seized power. In April 1775 the battles of Lexington and Concord, in Middlesex County, near Boston, began open armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen of its colonies. The Continental Congress appointed General George Washington to take charge of militia units besieging British forces in Boston, forcing them to evacuate the city in March 1776. Congress supervised the war, giving Washington command of the new Continental Army; he also coordinated state militia units.

On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress formally voted for independence, and issued its Declaration on July 4. However, it was not until August 2, 1776 that the Declaration of independence was taken into place and first signed by Delaware. Meanwhile, the British were mustering forces to suppress the revolt. Sir William Howe outmaneuvered and defeated Washington, capturing New York City and New Jersey. Washington was able to capture a Hessian detachment at Trenton and drive the British out of most of New Jersey. In 1777 Howe's army launched a campaign against the national capital at Philadelphia, failing to aid Burgoyne's separate invasion force from Canada. Burgoyne's army was trapped, and surrendered after the Battles of Saratoga in October 1777.

This American victory encouraged France to enter the war in 1778. Spain joined the war in 1779, as an ally of France under the Pacte de Famille.

In 1778, having failed in the northern states, the British shifted strategy toward the south, bringing Georgia and South Carolina under control in 1779 and 1780. However, the resulting surge of Loyalist support was far weaker than expected. In 1781, British forces moved through Virginia and settled at Yorktown, but their escape was blocked by a French naval victory in September. Led by Count Rochambeau and Washington, a combined Franco-American army launched a siege at Yorktown and captured more than 8,000 British troops in October.

The defeat at Yorktown finally turned the British Parliament against the war, and in early 1782 they voted to end offensive operations in North America. The war against France and Spain continued, with the British defeating the Great Siege of Gibraltar, and inflicting several defeats on the French in 1782. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris ended the war and recognized the sovereignty of the United States over the territory bounded roughly by what is now Canada to the north, Florida to the south, and the Mississippi River to the west. France gained its revenge and little else except a heavy national debt, while Spain acquired Great Britain's Florida colonies.

Source: Wikipedia

History Documentary: The New World, Colonial history of the United States of America; American History, Full Documentary, Historian Channel

History Documentary: The New World, Colonial history of the United States of America; American History, Full Documentary, Historian Channel.

Colonial Williamsburg,  View of the reconstructed Raleigh Tavern
on Duke of Gloucester Street

This documentary traces the discovery of America and early voyages by European explorers. It shows Indian civilizations encountered by the Spanish, Spanish colonization, English freebooters on the Spanish Main, and the life of early settlers in New England and the South.

The colonial history of the United States covers the history of European settlements from the start of colonization of America until their incorporation into the United States. In the late 16th century, England, France, Spain and the Netherlands launched major colonization programs in eastern North America. Small early attempts often disappeared; everywhere the death rate of the first arrivals was very high. Nevertheless successful colonies were established. European settlers came from a variety of social and religious groups. No aristocrats settled permanently, but a number of adventurers, soldiers, farmers, and tradesmen arrived. Diversity was an American characteristic as the Dutch of New Netherland, the Swedes and Finns of New Sweden, the English Quakers of Pennsylvania, the English Puritans of New England, the English settlers of Jamestown, and the "worthy poor" of Georgia, came to the new continent and built colonies with distinctive social, religious, political and economic styles. Non-British colonies were taken over and the inhabitants were all assimilated, unlike in Nova Scotia, where the British expelled the French Acadian inhabitants. There were no major civil wars among the 13 colonies, and the two chief armed rebellions (in Virginia in 1676 and in New York in 1689–91) were short-lived failures. Wars between the French and the British—the French and Indian Wars and Father Rale's War—were recurrent, and involved French support for Wabanaki Confederacy attacks on the frontiers. By 1760 France was defeated and the British seized its colonies.

On the eastern seaboard of what would become the United States, the four distinct British regions were: New England, the Middle Colonies, the Chesapeake Bay Colonies (Upper South) and the Lower South. By the time European settlers arrived around 1600–1650, the majority of the Native Americans living in the eastern United States had been ravaged by new diseases, introduced to them decades before by explorers and sailors.

Colonizers came from European kingdoms with highly developed military, naval, governmental and entrepreneurial capabilities. The Spanish and Portuguese centuries-old experience of conquest and colonization during the Reconquista, coupled with new oceanic ship navigation skills, provided the tools, ability, and desire to colonize the New World. England, France and the Netherlands started colonies in both the West Indies and North America. They had the ability to build ocean-worthy ships, but did not have as strong a history of colonization in foreign lands as did Portugal and Spain. However, English entrepreneurs gave their colonies a base of merchant-based investment that needed much less government support.

English colonies:

England made its first successful efforts at the start of the 17th century for several reasons. During this era, English proto-nationalism and national assertiveness blossomed under the threat of Spanish invasion, assisted by a degree of Protestant militarism and the energy of Queen Elizabeth. At this time, however, there was no official attempt by the English government to create a colonial empire. Rather, the motivation behind the founding of colonies was piecemeal and variable. Practical considerations, such as commercial enterprise, overpopulation and the desire for freedom of religion, played their parts. The main waves of settlement came in the 17th century. After 1700 most immigrants to Colonial America arrived as indentured servants—young unmarried men and women seeking a new life in a much richer environment. Between the late 1610s and the American Revolution, the British shipped an estimated 50,000 convicts to its American colonies. The first convicts to arrive pre-dated the arrival of the Mayflower.

New England:

New England is the oldest clearly defined region of the United States. While New England was originally inhabited by Indigenous peoples, English Pilgrims and especially Puritans, fleeing religious persecution in England, arrived in the 1620-1660 era. They dominated the region; their religion was later called Congregationalism. They and their descendants are called Yankees. Farming, fishing and lumbering prospered, as did seafaring and merchandising.