Poll: Why is it that some Americans believe they won the war of 1812?

[The Cheezy One]

Does it matter who won? The end result is that the British then began to respect the United States and saw them as viable nation. Ever since then the US and Britain have been the best of allies.

[HEADING=1]HAHAHAHA[/HEADING] or are you being sarcastic?
sorry, but relations have been the coldest since we last had a war
its mainly in part to the fact that america culturally owns the planet, and refuses to accept that they had anything to with britain, abandoning the language to create their own "english-US" its only a matter of time until they start calling it american
also, friendly fire incidents in iraq and afghanistan, including when a british journalist in a truck was shot by an american tank, which was clearly targeting them
edit(cant find a clip on youtube, but its there somewhere)
its not onesided, but its the way it is
britain doesnt believe america should have as much power as it does, and america doesnt believe britain has any power
the stereotypes - americans are gungho kids with guns, shouting macho phrases till their first battle, where they get a bullet in their heads, and britain are all upper class snobs or dirty scots, and entirely useless

America didn't lose the Vietnam "war" because there was never a formal declaration. The last formal declaration of war against a foreign power (and not an obtuse idea like poverty, terrorism, or hunger) declared by the legislature was World War 2. Everything else has been contingency operations on the sole discretion of the president.

wow, thats a good excuse, but admit it, you didnt win and it wasnt a draw
is there now a form of losing that involves winning
you were no respected by the peoples, and the laws YOU put in ironically made more of them hate you. 5 years after leaving, most of the country was anti-american
you would have lterally been fighting anyone that could hold a gun, or even a sharp stick
but you gave yourself permission to go there, so its alright is it?


OT: america lost more resources and men, but gained the ground
its like in North africa in ww2, montgomery gained the ground, but most of the german army didnt sit still long enough to take hits, so rommel escaped and dealt more damage to the british then vice versa
its a matter of opinion really

 

[Brett Alex]

America didn't lose the Vietnam "war" because there was never a formal declaration. The last formal declaration of war against a foreign power (and not an obtuse idea like poverty, terrorism, or hunger) declared by the legislature was World War 2. Everything else has been contingency operations on the sole discretion of the president.

That's looking at it from an awfully technical standpoint there.

 

[dududf]

*snip*

I'll put it bluntly I dislike it when people do not contribute and just ***** and or go off topic as we are now. No matter how I'd respond to you I'd still get more annoyed as it is off topic. I have listened, I have learned my goals for this discussion were met a while ago, all of your posts are just being annoying, and of course annoyance grows into agression when further provoked, as you are doing.

Frankly I am a nice guy, but you're just bugging the shit outa me. Also me putting a direct question as the title should not effect the content, as I was speaking DIRECTLY to Americans asking what their knowlledge of the event was in comparison to mine. That was the goal It's been met.

Best course of action is to just say something informative, then leave, or hell look into something and post again. But this conversation here? Pointless. It's making you look like an ass and it's making me look like an ass. It's basically lose/lose (not the game that deletes files) So stop, or go on topic. Your choice.
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*snip*

You have a point, and the Ego option was more for comedic value at the time. I figured that people would just read the OP got what I was saying and post, but I of course forgot that not everyone is some sort of freaky telechenetic who can read my thoughts (I hope?)

I'll try to make my points more clear, and bias free in the future, but as I said countless times it's hard to be unbiased when you only KNOW one side.

 

[dududf]

I say: There is only one way to find out!
Let's repeat the war, from 200 year ago mind you, step by step.
Bomb Canada, burn the white house and sink some ships goddammit!

Oh god win. This cracked me up.

 

[OriginalError]

America didn't lose the Vietnam "war" because there was never a formal declaration. The last formal declaration of war against a foreign power (and not an obtuse idea like poverty, terrorism, or hunger) declared by the legislature was World War 2. Everything else has been contingency operations on the sole discretion of the president.

That's looking at it from an awfully technical standpoint there.

Be that as it may, I'm relatively sure that it is accurate. In fact, the recent American "War on Terror" has been reclassified by the Pentagon as an "Overseas Contingency Operation." I'll take what you said in the spirit it was given, though... as a compliment.

//J.

 

[axia777]

How could they have lost when they repelled an attacking force who was invading and then chased them back into their territory? They lost nothing, but they didn't gain anything either. It wasn't really that important of a war as far as American History goes and is barely even touched on compared to the Revolution or the Civil War because it didn't have any real consequences for the nation. At the time the British were still sour at the American's for their revolution and the Americans hated anything British, it was just a big dick measuring contest that really had no political ramifications except the building of a new Washington. As far as wars go it was kind of a joke.

This.

I third this. Also, this thread is a fucking flame fest.

 

[Mstrswrd]

Because of American ego (Im in Vermont, and am from New York). Also, probably bad memory, because I was very explicitly told that neither side won, over and over throughout the years. It was a tie. Some battles were won for both sides, some discussions and other crap occured, the war ended, it had no victor. On the other hand, what I was always told is that's they war where the United States and Britain gained some respect for each other.

 

[Fearzone]

Please sir, get your facts straight:

In 1814 we took a little trip
Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip
We took along some bacon and we took along some beans
and we caught the bloody British in a town called New Orleans.

We fired our guns and the British kept a' coming.
There wasn't quite as many as there was awhile ago.
We fired once more and they begat to running
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico...

They ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles
They ran through the bushes where a rabbit wouldn't go
They ran so fast that a hound couldn't catch 'em
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico...

 

[LongAndShort]

It was a British victory, as it was a successful British defence of British interests, along with severe damage to American interest. Just because they decided to leave at the end doesn't show loss, it shows at its worst laziness.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

The way I was taught the war of 1812 was as follows: Britain tried to take America by force, America was able to fend them off. Not saying that's what actually HAPPENED, but that's what I was taught about it. I really haven't looked too far into it because I'm not even remotely interested in that period of history.

 

[Brett Alex]

Be that as it may, I'm relatively sure that it is accurate. In fact, the recent American "War on Terror" has been reclassified by the Pentagon as an "Overseas Contingency Operation." I'll take what you said in the spirit it was given, though... as a compliment.

//J.

Ah I see what you mean. From that perspective then, it would be correct to say the only reason we didn't lose the war was because it wasn't a war.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

are you being sarcastic?
sorry, but relations have been the coldest since we last had a war

Oh yeah America and Britain hate each other! That's why in World War I we cut off trade with them completely and joined the Germans! That's also the reason why we where on the axis side in world war II! And remember when we helped those rascally Russians take over Berlin and invade the rest of Europe? Yeah fuck the UK. I sure am glad we're in hostile standings with them and have no part of those faggy groups like NATO. Now if you'll excuse me I have a flight to catch and my submarine leaves in 600 parsecs.

 

[Fearzone]

It was a British victory, as it was a successful British defence of British interests, along with severe damage to American interest. Just because they decided to leave at the end doesn't show loss, it shows at its worst laziness.

My my, what a bunch of little revisionist historians we have here at the Escapist.

In the defense of their empire, "lazy" does not characterize the Brits.

 

[manaman]

*snip*

I'll put it bluntly I dislike it when people do not contribute and just ***** and or go off topic as we are now. No matter how I'd respond to you I'd still get more annoyed as it is off topic. I have listened, I have learned my goals for this discussion were met a while ago, all of your posts are just being annoying, and of course annoyance grows into agression when further provoked, as you are doing.

Frankly I am a nice guy, but you're just bugging the shit outa me. Also me putting a direct question as the title should not effect the content, as I was speaking DIRECTLY to Americans asking what their knowlledge of the event was in comparison to mine. That was the goal It's been met.

Best course of action is to just say something informative, then leave, or hell look into something and post again. But this conversation here? Pointless. It's making you look like an ass and it's making me look like an ass. It's basically lose/lose (not the game that deletes files) So stop, or go on topic. Your choice.
_________________________________________

*snip*

You have a point, and the Ego option was more for comedic value at the time. I figured that people would just read the OP got what I was saying and post, but I of course forgot that not everyone is some sort of freaky telechenetic who can read my thoughts (I hope?)

I'll try to make my points more clear, and bias free in the future, but as I said countless times it's hard to be unbiased when you only KNOW one side.

Are you a skimmer?

Cause the point of my mini rant was that your topic is biased. What makes it more confoundedly confusing is that you responded to another poster in the same post and admitted to the very things I was trying to impress upon you.

I did say something informative. I have a point. Your bias is showing and it has influenced the posters. Therefore anything you wish to objectively see from the results of the post or their responses is going to be compromised by that little sticky fact. So there you go. That was it, how you are not getting that and why you keep attacking my personage rather then my opinion has me all metagrobolized.

 

[Fearzone]

If the British has won the war of 1812... we'd all be speaking... English?

 

[crypt-creature]

its mainly in part to the fact that america culturally owns the planet, and refuses to accept that they had anything to with britain, abandoning the language to create their own "english-US" its only a matter of time until they start calling it american

Sometimes I wish they would change it to something else when dealing with 'english-US vs. english-Brit', just to let the two languages go their own ways and so maybe people would stop bickering about it (small chance, probably).
Would it piss off Brits and maybe cause them hate Americans a little more? Probably. But the 'our language is more superior than yours' arguments are getting real old, real fast.
I've actually used the 'american language' idea once when talking to a Brit, he got rather upset about that.
Though I think he might have assumed I'd been trying to 'one up' him and say 'America created it, its our version' instead of just separating the two versions and giving them their own names so people could start making a real distinction between the two.

 

[dukethepcdr]

Who cares? What matters is that The United States has the land now. That makes them the 'winners' no matter what the history revisionists say.

 

[Nepeccel]

In 1812, britain was fighting for Portugal in the Peninsular war. France had invaded Spain and replaced it's King and was trying to do the same for Portugal. The Royal navy had to blockade ALL French ports and the ports of it's allies (the US for instance).

The US did not like this and declared war on Britain (yes that's right, the USA declared war on Britain not the other way round). With the new US frigates (USS Constitution) outclassing the British frigates and 4th rates around the US the Americans got a few early naval victories. Well, until the British 3rd, 2nd and 1st rate ships turned up!

The war then resulted in victories for both sides, but in the end only one side achieved their objectives. USA had declared war on Britain, where are the closest British? Canada. No Canadian terriatory was lost and therefore all British objectives were met. The USA had been defeated.

All those saying it was a US victory need to look past their ego really. Saying the British lost is like saying the British lost in the battle of Britain (the objectives there were to stop the Luftwaffe from getting air superiority and launching an invasion of Britain, somethng that did not happen)

 

[JaredXE]

I was never really taught about the war of 1812 until after I left high school, but when I did, it sounded like it was a tie. America failed in it's invasion, but still kept it's lands and borders. Pretty tie-like to me.