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1812: The War That Forged a Nation (P.S.)

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1812: The War That Forged A Nation, by Walter R. Borneman, is a comprehensive, if somewhat superficial, look at the war that gave the United States a national identity, even as it ended in essentially a stalemate. Borneman is mostly known for history books dealing with the western United States, and he even mentions in his Acknowledgements how this book seems to be out of his field. However, Borneman maintains that the war set the United States on a course that would result in the western expansion that is his bread and butter, and thus deserves to be looked at more closely. It's a very interesting book that covers the entire war that tells everything that happened, though it doesn't quite go into as much detail as I would have liked.

Borneman sets the stage for the war by discussing the relations between Great Britain and the United States in the first decade of the 1800s, including one of the main reasons for the United States to go to war: the impressments of American sailors into British naval service on the high seas. The United States was still considered an extremely minor power and was bullied by pretty much everybody. While the French didn't impress sailors, they did do other things, and some hawks in the American government actually advocated going to war with both Britain and France! One other reason for the war, not as popularly known, was that many westerners wanted to steal Canada out from under Great Britain while they were distracted by Napoleon on the continent. They didn't see any reason why Canada shouldn't be part of the United States, by force if necessary.

Thus, the war drums were beaten, and war was declared. Borneman does a great job showing us all of the machinations that went on behind the scenes to get the declaration of war passed in Congress, along with a couple of incidents that almost got the war started before it really did. While this information is obviously well-known to history buffs who have studied the era, it was information that I hadn't known before and I liked how Borneman laid it all out for us. He shows how Madison went along with all of this, though he was almost hoping that Congress would bail him out of the course he had set for the country.

Once the fighting starts, Borneman also explains all the battles that happened during the war, sometimes in very vivid detail. He tells us about the horribly executed three-pronged invasion of Canada that resulted in the loss of Detroit to the British, as well as the first major US victories on the high seas before the British finally started taking this upstart navy seriously. The level of detail is amazing sometimes, though for some reason I felt a bit removed from all of the action. I'm not sure if it's because he is sometimes unable to give reasons for what happened or if it's his style, but while the prose is detailed, I felt like something was missing. Perhaps it's because the book comes in two modes: detailed battle information and the reasons behind some of the events in the war, but these two modes never really mingle. Instead, we get some battle detail, then we get some "big picture" information, and then we go back to the battles, etc.

I do have to give Borneman credit, however, for making a (for lack of a better word) "boring" war very interesting to read about. He has obviously done his research and he gives descriptions of tactics in each battle (including wonderfully rendered maps!). These descriptions make you feel like you are right there on the battlefield, hearing the explosions and feeling musket balls whistle past your ear. Sometimes his descriptions make it seem impossible that so few (relatively speaking, of course) men actually died in these battles. He describes men being mown down by rows of musket fire and then we hear casualties of 81 killed and 500 wounded or the like. Of note is his account of the Battle of New Orleans, a battle that was fought after the armistice had been signed but before news had reached the participants, and could have resulted in a resumption of hostilities if the British had won. This battle is even more lovingly described than the rest of them and he really shows Andrew Jackson's leadership and tactical expertise in this chapter.

The War of 1812 was a war that some in the United States wanted for their own purposes, but one that almost to a man it was desperate to get out of as Napoleon surrenders and the British are able to concentrate on this annoying gnat of a country. Nothing was resolved officially, but it turns out to be the war that would cement the feeling of "America" on an infant country that was just trying to find its feet in the world. Borneman does a great job showing how this occurred, with Jackson's resounding victory of a battle-hardened British army being the final piece of the puzzle. While there may be more comprehensive books on the War of 1812 out there, 1812: The War that Forged a Nation is a wonderful starting point.

David Roy

The War of 1812 is often passed over very quickly in American history class because it is supposedly neither very interesting nor important. Walter Borneman seems to have taken exception to this idea and has set about to show his readers just how interesting and important this war was. His writing style and his ability to guide the reader along through a maze of events and people in a clearly understandable way help him to accomplish his first goal. I think however, that he may have overreached on the importance of the war, at least when it comes to national unity.

Borneman writes much like a novelist and his prose keeps the story of this conflict going in a quick paced and highly engaging manner. He is in fact, a little too conversational at times and although I did find this to be a little distracting it wasn't a big problem at all. The most amazing aspect of Mr. Borneman's writing style is that he manages to tie all of the action into the bigger picture with what appears to be very little effort. This is no small feat when one considers that this was a war that was pretty much divided into at least five separate little wars that were connected only tenuously to each other. Add to that the several Indian Nations involved, most of which sided with the British but not all, and one tribe that divided up and fought each other and one has the makings of a convoluted mess. Borneman somehow manages to tie it all together without getting his readers completely lost and on top of that he keeps it interesting. Not only interesting I might add, but fascinating.

Borneman's main contention is that the War of 1812 made the United States into a confident and united nation. He proves his point about American confidence fairly well and also shows that this war gained a good deal of respect for the U.S. among the powers of the world. The Monroe Doctrine would surely not have been possible before 1812 for no European nation would have paid it any attention at all.

On the other hand Mr. Borneman falls short in his argument about the new unity of the United States as a result of the war. One of the chief handicaps that hampered American plans during the war was that the states didn't work well with the Federal Government or with each other for that matter. State militia units were constantly refusing to cross out of their states or into Canada, and Vermont and New York farmers were selling tons of supplies to the British. While the outcome of the war did no doubt strengthen American unity somewhat, there was still a long way to go and no matter Mr. Borneman's claims, the United States remained a plural term for many of it's citizens for many years to come.

While the author's main thesis is not all that well supported by this book this is still an excellent short history of the War of 1812. It is highly readable, easy to follow and solidly researched. There is little or no new scholarship to be found here but for anyone who has a limited knowledge of this era of American history I would highly recommend this book. I would also think that even a student of this time period might find out a few new things within these pages for Mr. Borneman has brought a fairly complicated subject to life and has given it a focus.

1812 is a riveting account of a dangerous time in our country's history. For a nation only 20 years of age, one whose economic health was so dependent on overseas commerce, to emback so impetuously in a war with the world's greatest maritime power--a power who nearly was succesful in stillbirthing the nations's inception--seems foolhardy at best. The justifiable goals of war: impressmant of U.S. citizens for duty on Her Majesty's ships, the equally unreasonable Orders in Council, that forced the world's seagoing traders to pay protection to the crown, was laudable. But the American rallying cry for Canadian lands today smacks of hypocrisy, given our colonial past, and Jefferson's embargos caused more financial pain --self-inflicted-- than any policy Great Britain had imposed.
As with the Revolution, this war put our national life fully on the line. In 1812, grievances that might have been successfully addressed with patience and diplomacy in the end, through war, built a national character--a sense of collective state's self-- that indeed forged a union that made the coming civil dispute a two-party war and not chaos between 18? states.
I knew none of this, appreciated none of the fragility of our fledgling union before reading this book. Borneman writes compellingly, conversationally, and has a tremendous capacity for building a broader context for events and personalities that ultimately makes sense for what might otherwise be a cocophany of battles, places and people. I highly recommend 1812 The War That Forged a Nation for anyone wanting to add depth to their picture of our nation's formative years. The book belongs on the same shelf as McCullough's John Adams, Ambrose's Lewis and Clark, and Franklin's biography.

Why can't history text books be this well written? If they were, I and most of my fellow citizens might not be so pathetically ignorant about our American heritage! 1812, The War That Forged A Nation by Walter R. Borneman is an historical account that weaves in the passion and intrigue of our forefathers to create a tapestry of human drama. With the detail of an historical researcher and the skill of a story-teller, the author presents the reader with a living, breathing understanding of this event. An enjoyable and informative read, that I highly recommend.

If you have a casual interest in American history or know very little about the War of 1812 this might be a good read. This book is brief and uncomplicated, but its scholarly merits are practically zero. Borneman used basically no primary source material. There is no real original analysis of the war. I did not really care for his writing style, which seemed overly familiar and conversational.
Not terrible by any means, but only of casual interest

I picked up this book to learn more about the gap in time between my favorite segments of American history: colonial/Revolutionary history and the Civil War. I only knew bits and pieces from my visits to New Orleans, Baltimore, and D.C. (where a trace of fire damage can still be seen on the White House).

This book stringed everything together very well from W.H. Harrison's battles in Ohio to New Orleans and provided a larger and more panoramic view of other events that helped set the stage for this conflict (e.g. Aaron Burr and General Wilkinson's antics, etc.). The book was easy to read and provided enough information to generally understand what happened.

The only negative comment is the lack of maps within the book. Some maps are present in the book, from general "theater of action" maps to a battlefield map of New Orleans. But, I really think it would have been more effective to provide battlefield maps for each discussion of the various battles. For some reason, the last 2-3 books I've read about the Revolution or, in this case, the War of 1812 seem to lack that element that so many comparible Civil War books put to good use.

The War of 1812 proved a great trial for the young United States. Not only did it include an effective British blockade on American shipping -- especially in the last year of the war -- but the Embargo Act of 1807 passed in Jefferson's second term led to a 90% decline in American exports before the war ever started. Across the country, wharves and warehouses were piled high with American goods and foodstuffs with nowhere to go.

Who really wanted the war in the first place? It wasn't New England: Even while U.S. forces were engaged fighting the British in Canada, New England farmers made a good business selling beef to the enemy. The government in Washington was angry that American ships were being boarded by British warships and having crew members taken off because they "looked" like British deserters. The South was worried because the British forbade shipping cotton to Napoleon's France or to any of the mainland European countries he now occupied.

Primarily, however, it was the West, which in those days meant Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio, which wanted to fight. The very thought that the British could interdict shipping down the Mississippi to the Port of New Orleans was a threat to the very existence of the newest of the United States. Henry Clay bragged in Congress that he could take 300 Kentucky militiamen and conquer Canada.

That was not to be. The war on the ground took place in four theaters. It was the attempt to take Canada that was perhaps the biggest failure. Several U.S. armies came to grief because of bad military leadership, the unwillingness of militias to cross a national boundary, the inability to take advantage of a military victory (as at Lundy's Lane), and various other causes typical of green and poorly led troops. In time, good military leaders did emerge, especially Winfield Scott, but by then the focus was gone from Canada.

The only real victories -- up until the very end -- were at sea. The duels between Old Ironsides and the Guerriere and Java stunned the British Admiralty. At Put-in-Bay on Lake Erie, Oliver Hazard Perry bested a flotilla put together by the British; and Commodore McDonough did the same at Plattsburg, NY, on Lake Champlain.

The other two war theaters were Chesapeake Bay, in which the U.S. capital at Washington was put to the torch and Fort McHenry was bombarded, though little else of note occurred, and New Orleans. The latter, the only decisive victory by U.S. ground troops over British regulars (who had fought in Spain against Napoleon) took place after the peace treaty of Ghent was signed, but before the news of the signing had reached American shores.

Borneman does a creditable job retelling the events of the War and the events leading up to it, complete with maps, footnotes, a useful bibliography, and illustrations of the major players. His conclusion that the war led to a national consciousness coming into existence, whereas before Americans thought of themselves primarily as residents of their states, comes at the tail end of the book. I would have liked to see a more detailed discussion of his hypothesis.

By and large, however, I enjoyed the book enough to want to look into Borneman's other work. There are relatively few contemporary works about the period, and this one does do justice to its subject matter.

Author Walter Borneman follows successfully in the footsteps of David McCullough and Stephen Ambrose in writing this highly readable, popular account of the War of 1812. Indeed, "1812: The War That Forged A Nation" is not only the best popular account I have read on this war, but is one of the finest popular histories on the early history of the United States I have encountered so far. To his credit, Borneman traces the origins of the war back to Aaron Burr's infamous conspiracy to create a new "Western Empire" in the frontier country of Ohio and the remainder of the Northwest Territory, and the desires of some Westerners eager to add Canada and Florida to the United States. Perhaps these, more so than British impressment of American sailors, were the root causes behind the War of 1812, which Borneman implies in the opening chapters of the book. And he reveals - at least to me - a hitherto unknown dimension of the war itself, noting how close both the United States Congress and President James Madison came to not declaring war against Great Britain. Once war is declared, Borneman does an elegant job describing all of the major campaigns in Canada and along the western and southern frontiers; he correctly notes the bravery of Canadians defending themselves from the American invaders as well as the gross incompetence of most American generals, with the notable exceptions of Brown, Scott, and especially, Jackson. He also makes a very persuasive case that the American victory at the Battle of Lake Champlain was the most important naval battle of the war, not the Battle of Lake Erie or any of the brilliant frigate duels won by the likes of Captains Hull and Decatur. He also provides sympathetic portrayals of British generals such as Brock and Ross during their respective campaigns in the Great Lakes and Maryland (And yet, I can't help but notice just how incompetent much of the British military - as well as American military - leadership was during the conduct of this war.). I found this splendid one volume history of the War of 1812 hard to put down.

Even if you have never found history to be of any interest you may enjoy this book thanks to the good writing techniques of Mr. Borneman. He definitely keeps you interested in the story throughout the book. You even find yourself at times hanging on at the end of a chapter as if you were reading a novel.

This book has many unique features which places it above your average history book. For example, as the book progresses Mr. Borneman provides detailed background of all the major personalities involved in the war in a real Stephen King-like fashion which thus adds more depth and interest to the characters as the narration continues. Another entertaining facet of the book is that he is able to arrouse enough interest in the personalities so that you can easily follow their actions as the war progresses. It is rare that you find yourself looking back in the book because you forgot a name or couldn't follow the story.

The only thing that prevents me from giving this book a 5 star rating is the few flaws that slightly mar the book. Granted they are forgiveable, nonetheless flaws are present. I doubt they will deter you from purchasing this book, but in case they are of concern, I feel it necessary to mention them. First of all I was disappointed with the quality of the maps. I have ready plenty of history books and one of the most interesting things you find in them is that they are replete with maps of major military campaigns and battles. This book was "very" sparce on them with the exception of some naval battles. Also I feel that the conclusion of the book was a little rushed and lacking. For instance, one of the key reasons for going to war was over sailor impressment. Yet the concluding remarks does little to enlighten the reader as to how this issue was resolved after the war. Perhaps Mr. Borneman may consider rewriting the concluding remarks of the book with more details. Otherwise by the end you feel you need to look in an encyclopedia after reading the book to answer some questions that are still on your mind.

All in all I enjoyed the book. It was quite easy to read and I would highly recommend it for parents or teachers who are encouraging children and students to develop an interest in history. At the same time I would recommend it as highly to history buffs and thoughtful intellectuals.

Lost between the Revolution and the Civil War, the war of 1812 has always seemed to me to have been a somewhat silly kind of war. This new book does an excellent job of explaining the why as well as the what happened. No less important was the after effect of the war. As a result of this war, the United States was no longer a group of eighteen states but a country. And it was a country that turned its eyes westward to building a nation where before was the Louisiana Purchase. This book is sub-Titled: The War That Forged a Nation. After this, the European powers paid much more attention to these ex-British colonies.

The famous Battle of New Orleans was fought after the signing of the Peace Treaty. Little known is that the treaty provided for peace to be established in phases as the distance from Ghent (Belgium) increased. So while the treaty had been signed, the war was still going on in New Orleans because the sailing ships of the day hadn't had time to get there. It was reading the Treaty of Ghent (on a slow boat with a limited library) that C. S. Forester came up with the idea of a story based on changing orders being given to a ship captain as new orders cought up with him. This fictional ship captain was Horatio Hornblower.