The War of 1812 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The War of 1812 - Essay Example At the same time, these military campaigns are considered to have had serious influence on the development trajectories of both Russia and USA: whereas Russia had proved to be the ruler of destinies in Europe, USA began expansion westwards. The set of causes and preconditions that had triggered the outbreak of war between United States and its former metropolis, British Empire, is rather rich. These were primarily maritime and commercial reasons related to the Napoleonic War in Europe (Tucker). Americans treated Britain with contempt, while the British disapproved their former fellow citizens for betraying the king and didn’t take the new state seriously. The period preceding the warfare was marked by the military campaign between France and British Empire, and USA keeping neutrality got between two fires. America had commercial relations with many countries including the two warring parties at that time; and American merchants got into trouble finding themselves between the Napoleonic Continental System and the British Orders in Council that did their best to prohibit the trade with the enemies (i.e. they tried to damage trade systems of each other) (Tucker). British Empire blocked French ports and demanded an additional fee from the American merchants to enter them (America’s Library). The escalation of the conflict was triggered by the search of American commercial ships and impressment of the sailors by the British Navy (McNamara). In 1807, British hostility went as far as to attacking the naval frigate Chesapeake in the coastal waters of Virginia with the intention to capture â€Å"deserters†: three sailors were killed and eighteen were wounded in this attack (Heidler). This incident triggered the outburst of cries for vengeance in the United States, and the majority demanded to declare the war to British Empire.