Customer Reviews

The History Channel Presents The War of 1812

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I had hoped, before I got a look at the contents listed on the back of the box, that this might be a miniseries, similar perhaps to the History Channel's "Founding Fathers," dealing with this all-too-often forgotten conflict. What you get instead is a single program about the war, plus several ancillary items going into (slightly) greater depth on specific aspects of the conflict. (There's also one program that has no business at all in this set, but more on that in a moment.)

The centerpiece of this set is "First Invasion: The War of 1812," an engaging overview (running roughly 80 minutes) of the entire history of the war. It's a typical History Channel affair: brisk narration, interesting input from a handful of scholarly talking heads, the customary "reenactments," and so on. (Unfortunately, the reenactments feature a comically inappropriate James Madison: in place of the small, thin, withdrawn Madison of history, we get a robust, portly young man with his hair dyed grey. Nobody watches these shows for the actors, naturally, but this poor fellow was so flagrantly miscast that I found it a little distracting.) The content of TV programs of this sort is nearly always very watered down, but this one is relatively informative. The account of the defense of Fort McHenry -- which inspired Francis Scott Key to pen the words to our national anthem -- is very effective and actually rather moving.

The set also contains an hour-long program on the Battle of New Orleans, which despite its length doesn't really add too much to the coverage of this remarkable engagement offered in "First Invasion." In addition, there's a very good episode of "Biography" covering the life of that battle's hero, Andrew Jackson, from which the controversial president emerges as a complex and fascinating figure, and unquestionably (whether you love or hate him) a great American. There's also an OK program about "The Star Spangled Banner" -- meaning the poem written by F.S. Key, the song to which his words were set, and the actual flag, flown over Fort McHenry, that inspired those words in the first place. There's a recap of the events that led up to the composition (again adding fairly little to the presentation given in "First Invasion"), a history of the poem from then until it became our official national anthem during the Hoover administration, and a parallel history of the flag itself, including recent efforts to prevent its deterioration. Competently done, but these topics didn't hold as much interest (for me anyway) as most of the other items in the set.

Roger Daltrey is on hand for an episode of "Extreme History" describing life on an 1812 battleship. This is entertaining enough (thanks mainly to some surprisingly off-color humor from Mr Daltrey), if pretty light on actual information.

Finally (and bizarrely), the set includes an episode of "The Great Ships" entitled "The Ironclads," which the box calls "a revealing look at the battleships put to sea in the War of 1812." Actually, the War of 1812 is never so much as mentioned: this program deals with the bizarre iron-clad warships used during the American Civil War, some fifty years later! It's actually quite an interesting program, but what on earth is it doing in a collection dealing with the War of 1812? The only thing I can figure is that somebody confused "ironclad" with the 1812-era nickname given to the U.S.S. Constitution: Old Ironsides. This is a pretty embarrassing mistake, though, if you call yourself "The History Channel."

The set is pretty good as far as it goes. But it would be nice if somebody would put together a good three-or four-hour miniseries about this very interesting, and ultimately crucial, period in American history.

I purchased this to view with my students while discussing the War of 1812. It did a fantastic job of laying out the second war with Britain and its implications. The students were able to listen to noted historians on the subject, and view "film footage" created to re-enact the various major moments of the war.

The film did an admirable job of laying out the blunders and lack of good judgement that was often associated with this particular war. It also brought into its story the creation of the poem "The Battle of Fort McHenry" written by young lawyer (Francis Scott Key) that would later become our national anthem, and the unforgetable battle of New Orleans that made Andrew Jackson an icon and helped to push our country into the "Era of Good Feelings".

Well written and interesting. There were a few "dry spots" but they did not last over long. Great for someone who is studying this particular aspect of American History.

The main 1 1/2 Hour documentary about the War of 1812 was informative, entertaining and well done. I also enjoyed the biography episode about Andrew Jackson that was included. Although I have no particular criticism of the documentary about the Ironclads, I am puzzled about what it is doing in this DVD set about the War of 1812 since it talks mostly about the Civil War era. More frustrating is the fact that the specifications make you think you are getting more documentary than you really are. The Battle of New Orleans and the Star Spangled Banner are both covered in good detail in the main documentary only to have the footage reused and repackaged as two additional seperate documentaries on these topics. Survining an 1812 Battleship, at a paultry 20 minutes, spends a good portion of its time letting the host make bad or profane jokes.
Would I still have purchased the DVD set? Maybe, but I might have waited for a used copy at a lower price if I had known how much repetition of footage there was.

I am really sick of the many negative reviews this documentary has been given. In case you didn't know The History Channel is a channel that makes it's shows for the GENERAL AUDIENCE. It is not a channel made for historians only. I love history, and I love studying it. Yes, the show was a bit short and I do not like the fact that they didn't talk much about the war on the frontier (especially how they only briefly mentioned the capture of Fort Mackinac in Michigan.) But for god's sake! If they made this show into an 8 hour long historian's dissertation they would first run out of money, and two only attract historians. I think that shows like these are supposed to be used as staring points in terms of getting into history. So, I recommend this show for new history buffs, new amateur historians, the general public, and grade school and high school classrooms.

As an American history buff, I thought I knew enough about the War of 1812, but after watching "First Invasion: The War of 1812" on the History Channel, I found out I didn't know nearly as much as I should. The War of 1812 was a very pivotal moment in this country's history, and this DVD does the most amazing job of presenting the war as just that: a pivotal moment, not a "footnote" as it is so often presented in many history books. It never really dawned on me just how big a victory the Battle of New Orleans was for the United States; a rather "ragtag" group of American soldiers soundly defeated the greatest army in the world, the same army which had just defeated Napoleon! It's no wonder Andrew Jackson became such a larger-than-life figure to so many Americans after that battle. The DVD contains not just the excellent History Channel documentary, but several other programs related to the War of 1812. I especially enjoyed the episode of "Extreme History" with Roger Daltrey and the biography of Andrew Jackson. I highly recommend this DVD to anyone who loves American history!

If you do not, like most people, know anything about the War of 1812-the so-called- `forgotten war'- or even if you are familiar with its details then this History Channel presentation will give you more than you will ever want to know about that event. I know, despite my intense love of the study of history, that I had had enough once I got through this two volume four hours plus work. Mercifully it is broken up into sections so, for the faint-hearted, you can pick and choice. In any case, the section entitled First Invasion is must viewing to get an overall sense of the conflict.

So what is all the bother about? Well the short answer, very short is that this war against old Mother England was the definitive moment when the seemingly improbable American victory announced to the world that fragile as the Republic was, and as isolated and uncomplicated its people that it was now a factor, if at that time a small factor, in the international scheme of things. Not bad for a `forgotten war'. Remember if the bloody British had been victorious America would have a name like, say, the United States of Canada. The History Channel's presentation shows that this victory was a near thing. Suffering defeats, the torching of the capital, internal dissension and an apparently inevitable defeat at New Orleans after a peace treaty was signed this motley group of American yeomen and women broke through to preserve a slender democracy.

No look at the War of 1812 is complete without acknowledging the role of two men of opposing temperaments, James Madison under whose presidency the issues became clarified and the causes of war outlined and Andrew Jackson whose victory at New Orleans sealed the fate of the country. By this last point I do not mean merely Jackson's military victory but the rush toward a plebian democracy that the forces who fought the war unleashed. Later in the century the children and grandchildren of those fighters would be lost in the scramble to make an America a capitalist fortress but back then the American world was young and fresh. Take a look.

I thought this a solid documentary that informed me about nearly everything I wanted to know about The War of 1812. It is not spectacular but certainly is a valuable primer on a period of time often overlooked. It uses the same partial reenactment method which has made countless other History Channel productions resonate thoroughly over the years. The segments on the siege of Baltimore and the Battle of New Orleans are very well done. Indeed, I wanted to go out and read a biography of Andrew Jackson as soon as it was finished. For the amateur historian who is unfamiliar with the period this DVD will entertain and educate.

The program covers the the war with good segments on the beginning of the war and the end of the war, but with hardly a mention of what happened in between. There is hardly any mention at all of the Great Lakes reason and Oliver Hazard Perry, but most incongruently there is a segment on Civil War ironclads, which doesn't belong here at all. The segment with Roger Daughtry was amusing and did touch on life aboard ship, but still doesn't give a lot of historical information. I agree with the other reviewers that the portrayal of Madison is terrible (sort of like the movie where John Boy Walton played the part of Hank Williams Jr.), but the portayal of General Andrew Jackson was quite well done and believeable.

An excellent presentation on the "forgotten war" of 1812, with lots of background information, a very interesting and not so common view of Andrew Jackson, and some interesting material on Francis Scott Key and the Star Spangled Banner. A very, very informative and entertaining presentation of a more or less ignored period of our history.

Had this been a one disc set, the review here would have been much better. Instead this set is a jumble of clips compiled into a rather peculiar set. First and foremost is the film entitled "The Invasion" which is a good account of the war. Viewers who are familiar with the War of 1812 will be disappointed as it has its limitations. Those who are discovering this war for the first time will find it informative. Granted, there are aspects of the war that are overlooked (military personalities, the Great Lakes battles) but by and large it is a good "high school caliber" documentary. I do agree with others who say the person portraying James Madison is ridiculously cast. Where they found this unemployed linebacker is beyond any comprehension of who Madison was (especially since the narrator described him as small in stature but large in intellect).

As said, if the program ended here it would have been adequate (but would not have justified the price). So mini documentaries on the Star Spangled Banner, the Battle of New Orleans, and inronclad ships also made their way into the package. OK the Battle of New Orleans segment was very good. The Star Spangled Banner piece was at least time period appropriate, but the ironclads film was way off the mark. Ironclads had no role in 1812, so why include it in the program? This piece of editing more or less flaws the entire set and leaves the historian wondering what is going on?

For my money I would have preferred The Invasion and the Battle of New Orleans as they are the most fitting and do the subject the most justice. The others were fill-ins and should have been left out. Clearly the producer had no historical knowledge of what he was trying to assemble.