Quoted: www.angelfire.com/fl2/htf/bladebg.html It is rather clear to historians why the Americans lost the battle and the reasons are typical;   1. the civilian "head honcho" (Secretary of War) didn't believe the enemy would attack where they did,   2. the head general on the field lost confidence in all his men, and perhaps himself.   3. Another political civilian (Secretary of State) meddled with the arrangement of troops on the field without consulting with the military,   4. Some of the citizen soldiers lost their nerve.   5. Buraucratic delays withheld additional troops,   6. Understandible (and some foolish) decisions in troop deployment caused delays. Any other links about this war?  NPR just profiled this battle and drew a parallel to what is happening now. No, I normally do not listen to NPR.

Newsflash: America did NOT win the War of 1812. It and Britain came to a draw, at best. The USA declared war on Britain, who did not want war- the British were trying to fight off Napoleon, in a situation much like 1940. The battle for Washington, DC, was typical of the battles of the American war: poor leadership, unwilling soldiers, made up of the sweepings of society, and a country divided. By the time the war came to them, the Americans were not ready, and overconfident of their abilities. they had already tried to invade Canada several times, only to be bloodily rebuffed each time.

The Battle of New Orleans? Fought after the war was over, and the treaty signed. Had ZERO effect on the outcome of the war.

IIRC, The US had invaded and burned some British goverment buildings in present day Toronto.

This was just payback.

I live a couple of miles from where the Battle of Bladensburg took place.  A handful of Marines did fight a brilliant delaying action near there.  Not long after the burning of DC a force of regular Army and militia beat the British soundly at the Battle of Baltimore.

GunLvr

aww jeez, not this sh*t again,,,,,,,,

Didn't GW visit troops in Iraq last Thanksgiving Day?

Quoted: Any other links about this war?  NPR just profiled this battle and drew a parallel to what is happening now. No, I normally do not listen to NPR.

Why not?  As you can see, you always learn about people and things you never knew about on NPR, that's why I like it so much.

Beats listening to Rush, who is great, but never tells me anything I didn't already know from reading political blogs (and Arfkom).

NPR's current string of shows on the crusades makes me sick.  It's like they are rooting for the other side.  And I'm paying for that crap.  

As to the Battle for New Orleans, Johnny Cash did a good cover.  Worth listening to.