That reminds me of the background history of the Team Fortress 2 Soldier:

@Mafoo. I'd say that saying the British 'surrendered' is a bit of a laugh, or that the Americans won. The war ended in a stale-mate with most of the fighting ending up in American territories, more American soldiers died and Washington DC was burnt. The end result was a treaty which essentially stated status quo ante bellum.

Considering the Americans had invaded Canada they hardly won given that they gained no territory and had the public buildings in their capital razed.

By that metric the US won vietnam, no?

For several reasons no. Firstly I never claimed Britain won the war of 1812, they merely didn't lose and they certainly didn't surrender. Secondly Britain didn't invade America in 1812, America invaded British territories. America did attempt to invade North Vietnam and got beaten up. Thirdly the war of 1812 ended with a treaty agreeing to status quo ante bellum, whereas Vietnam war not only ended with a clear defeat for one side it also ended with massive territorial changes so the status was highly different from the start of the war - America lost an ally.

The war of 1812 was started to achieve 3 main goals

1) Stop impressment

2) Stop the british from impeding their trade.

3) Stop the british from supporting the Indians.

By the time the peace treaty was signed 1&2 were moot since the war with France was over.

When they signed the treaty the british agreed to no longer support the indians as a buffer to the west.

The British lost allies in those tribes.

It really wasn't the status quo.  No property changed hands, however the English did agree to stop agiating America.

A similar comparison would be if Israel and Iran fought a war in which nothing changed hands... but Israel agrees to stop funding Iranian extremists.

You'd say Iran won that right?

I really don't say how you can claim the Americans won because the British stopped supporting the Indians. Its a fairly slim claim. The British stopped doing that because it was politically useful, after the war of 1812 they saw America as a useful market more than an enemy.

In any case you forgot one of the seemingly main aims of America, to successfully invade Canada.

"The acquisition of Canada this year, as far as the neighborhood of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching, and will give us the experience for the attack on Halifax, the next and final expulsion of England from the American continent."

Essentially I don't think America or Britain won or lost, I think the Canadians won and the Indians lost and everybody else came out about neutral.

It was a goal after declaring war.  Not a reason for the war.

i dont know what to believe anymore.