1812 The American Distraction

The first episode of a mini arc on the War of 1812.  This covers origins and how the British got unto a war they had no interest in.  The Americans had a variety of motives.  The surface reasons usually discussed in popular history and podcasts seem a little crazy, not fitting in with te reality of the early 19th century very well.  But there is a deeper reason, fighting a second war of Independence to avoid a world were Britain makes all the decisions.  We explore this aspect of the origins with regard to the context provided by the Dutch in 1780 and the Danes in 1801.

And then the preparations for the war were dismally poor.  The invasions of Canada were unbelievably badly planned.  For modern people this will be a difficult idea to accept, but we will go through it.