(i fixed the link above to the 1812 war thread of June 00)
well its not really a different war, its more of another part of it..
from the US perspective, we didn't like there brits boarding US ships and taking sea men off (and the sea men, being no fools were taking jobs on US ships rather than be drafted into the british navy), since brittan was at war with the french... and secondly, the brits were trying to blockade american from trading with france.. but since france was at war, they were willing to pay higher prices (and good yankee traders was going to take advange of that!) and with out the french trade, the brits would have had a serious monopoly on US trade, and could drive prices down!
a monopoly on trade would have been a head i win, tails you lose, case for the Brits in the matter of trade with the fledgling US.
at the same time, the US thought it was a good time to invade and attempt a take over of Canada, since they figured the brits were busy else where, ie, fighting with the french!
i don't really know what other european countries were involved.. but from you comment, i am guessing Russia was involved too...
it sounds more and more like the war of 1812 was a general free for all--were there decisive winners in europe?
