See also plan red: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Plan_Red
U.S. Forces Failed to Conquer Canada 200 Years Ago (2012)
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Re: U.S. Forces Failed to Conquer Canada 200 Years Ago (2012)
#22What I find amusing about both countries is that neither spends time on what was bloody obvious at the time. Namely that the reason why the US picked then to start a war was that Great Britain had their hands full with Napoleon.
Still the outcome was that Washington was burned to the ground, the US sued for peace, Great Britain granted it because the US had already proven to be ungovernable. However it was the last war where natives could fight open battles against the US, and with the decimation of the Iroquois the Western border was open. Also Andrew Jackson's victory in New Orleans (after the peace treaty was signed but before anyone knew about it) meant that the USA kept Louisiana rather than possibly giving it back to France.
So it was a net loss at the time, but set the stage for westward expansion.
Incidentally one of the things that the USA was upset about is now international law. Namely the pressing of US citizens into the British navy. But today if a US citizen visits a country that also considers him a citizen, and that country drafts him into the military, the USA has nothing to say about it.
Re: U.S. Forces Failed to Conquer Canada 200 Years Ago (2012)
#23French Canadian here... My impression on the 1812 war is that if the French had won the 1759 Battle of Quebec ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Plains_of_Abraha... ) then they would likely have lost to the Americans in 1812 ... There would be no Canada today. But of course, this is just speculation.
If the French had won something in 1759, it's entirely possible that the American Revolution in 1776 would never have happened or would have played out completely differently.
Re: U.S. Forces Failed to Conquer Canada 200 Years Ago (2012)
#24> The Americans also captured York (now Toronto) and burned several government buildings there, an act the British reciprocated the following year (1814) in Washington, D.C. The Canadian version sounds better: "Yeah! We burned down the White House!".
It's amazing how many Americas have no clue the White House was burned down by an invading army.
Interesting what the US history books choose to leave out.
Re: U.S. Forces Failed to Conquer Canada 200 Years Ago (2012)
#25What I find amusing about both countries is that neither spends time on what was bloody obvious at the time. Namely that the reason why the US picked then to start a war was that Great Britain had their hands full with Napoleon. Still the outcome was that Washington was burned to the ground, the US sued for peace, Great Britain granted it because the US had already proven to be ungovernable. However it was the last w…
The US will also happily draft non-citizens.
https://www.sss.gov/About/History-And-Records/Non-Citizens-a...
Re: U.S. Forces Failed to Conquer Canada 200 Years Ago (2012)
#26What I find amusing about both countries is that neither spends time on what was bloody obvious at the time. Namely that the reason why the US picked then to start a war was that Great Britain had their hands full with Napoleon. Still the outcome was that Washington was burned to the ground, the US sued for peace, Great Britain granted it because the US had already proven to be ungovernable. However it was the last w…
> But today if a US citizen visits a country that also considers him a citizen, and that country drafts him into the military, the USA has nothing to say about it.
I imagine that they might have something to say about it if the other country considered all US citizens to also be citizens of that other country. It's been a long time since I got this in school, but I also seem to recall that they weren't conscripting US citizens visiting Britain, they were boarding US merchant ships at sea to conscript the sailors.
Re: U.S. Forces Failed to Conquer Canada 200 Years Ago (2012)
#27French Canadian here... My impression on the 1812 war is that if the French had won the 1759 Battle of Quebec ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Plains_of_Abraha... ) then they would likely have lost to the Americans in 1812 ... There would be no Canada today. But of course, this is just speculation.
Well in 1812 the US army wasn't in good shape compared to the Armies on the continent.
Re: U.S. Forces Failed to Conquer Canada 200 Years Ago (2012)
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's nothing stopping Canadian companies from paying the same wages as American companies.
There's one thing stopping them, not enough Canadian programmers are willing to vote with their feet. So the supply is too high in the labor market. I do my part, whenever a recruiter contacts me on linked-in for a domestic position, I reply thanks but I don't work for Canadian companies.
I like it. Do you work remotely for US companies in Canada?
Re: U.S. Forces Failed to Conquer Canada 200 Years Ago (2012)
#29> The Americans also captured York (now Toronto) and burned several government buildings there, an act the British reciprocated the following year (1814) in Washington, D.C. The Canadian version sounds better: "Yeah! We burned down the White House!".
It's amazing how many Americas have no clue the White House was burned down by an invading army. Interesting what the US history books choose to leave out.
Did they? I remember studying about that in Elementary school. Maybe most people forget history from Elementary school I suppose? We went over the Civil War and the World Wars for quite a while in Elementary school.
Re: U.S. Forces Failed to Conquer Canada 200 Years Ago (2012)
#30The War of 1812 is a fascinating study in the ways we record and teach history. The US teaches it as a US victory because the US got everything it went into the war looking for and repulsed a British invasion. Canada teaches it as a British/Canadian victory because they too got everything they went into the war looking for and repulsed an American invasion.
I was taught ( in the US - Pennsylvania) that the US lost just about everything - in fact, the only victory was the Battle of New Orleans (?) that was actually fought AFTER the war was over but before word had reached the Americas. Plus there's that whole burning of the capital. That said, it wasn't taught as a loss that we should learn any lesson from. Much like the Revolutionary War, it was just "oh heck, those cra…
The US didn’t lose any territory.