markk's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
In July 1812, the Western District of the British province of Upper Canada was inundated with pamphlets heralding the impending arrival of an invasion force from the United States. Issued by General William Hull, the governor of Michigan Territory and the commander of American forces preparing to take the district, the pamphlets promised that the Americans came not as conquerors, but as liberators. Though they sought the neutrality of the locals, they welcomed their aid, and promised that anyone helping the British – particularly alongside any of their Native American allies – would receive the harshest possible treatment.
While intended to minimize local resistance to his intended occupation of the district, Hull’s pamphlet also reflected the view that many Americans held of Canada as a last remnant on the continent of the oppressive empire whose yoke they had recently thrown off, populated by discontented colonists yearning for the same freedom. This view convinced many that conquering Canada in the recently-declared war between the United States and Britain would require only a modest effort. As Alan Taylor demonstrates in this nuanced and perceptive study, such beliefs were shaped by the many commonalities between the settlers in the region and the porous nature of the border between the U.S. and Canada, which combined to create a loose and fluid community in the region. Yet Americans built upon this several untenable assumptions that shaped their agenda during the war, assumptions which were proven false by years of bloodshed that transformed the region permanently.
Taylor begins by detailing the origins of this divided community in the aftermath of the American Revolution. With Britain’s concession of independence to the thirteen colonies, Canada received an influx of Loyalists who had been turned into refugees in the process. Many of them settled in the ample borderlands adjacent to the United States, where they nurtured their resentments towards their neighbor while rebuilding their lives. They were aided by British policies intended to maintain their remaining colonies in North America. Low taxes and generous land grants made Canada an attractive destination for many Americans, where the cost of war had driven up both taxes and the cost of land. The price of this generosity, however, was a government in which power was firmly concentrated in a conservative elite, which drove some Canadians to seek greater freedoms south of the border. This fluidity continued into the early 1800s, as settlers to the region frequently shopped around to find the balance of conditions that they preferred.
For all of their remoteness, however, the inhabitants of the region could not escape the political conflicts further east. As war in Europe between Britain and France contributed to political polarization in the United States, and influx of Irish emigrants disaffected by their failure of their revolution in 1798 fueled hostility towards the British. This was exacerbated by the pursuit of deserters from the British armed forces, which led to frequent incidents that challenged concepts of citizenship and national identity. When combined with the American lust for lands in the region occupied by Native Americans, the parameters of the war were set. The conflict Taylor describes is one in which identities were often clouded, allies in previous causes found themselves on opposite sides, and people often switched allegiances given the circumstances. While his labeling of this as a “civil war” may stretch the term further than it is traditionally defined, he demonstrates convincingly the internecine dimension of the conflict.
The majority of Taylor’s book recounts the War of 1812 as it was waged on the front between Detroit and Montreal. He describes a conflict in which relatively small groups of men clashed across vast amounts of territory. Though Hull’s pamphlets succeeded in depleting the forces of the Canadian militia, the Americans soon discovered that the Canadians were far from welcoming, a reception to which their own actions soon contributed. Taylor shows how the subsequent looting and assaults by the invading forces, often by men acting contrary to the orders of their superiors, turned indifferent Canadians against their ostensible liberators. Throughout the war, such behavior exacerbated the differences between the two sides, strengthening an identity among Canadians that undermined the goals of the war for American leaders. While Americans succeeded in winning a victory at the negotiating table that they could not win on the battlefield, they ended the war having alienated the very people whose allegiance they believed they were liberating.
In this way, the War of 1812 consummated the divorce begun with the American Revolution, and on terms that proved beneficial to British goals. By fitting the war into the larger context of the history of the American-Canadian borderlands, Taylor provides an extremely valuable study of the conflict and its impact on the history of both countries. His focus on individuals often overlooked contribute to the value of his work, demonstrating its impact not just on political and international history, but on communities throughout the region. Though the text suffers from minor errors, this in no way detracts from the value of his work as a study of the War of 1812 in the borderlands and its legacy for both countries. It is a book that is necessary reading for anyone interested in the war and its legacy for both countries.
noswadyllib's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
5.0
Excellent book, written well and agree that the war of 1812 was in essence a civil war. I will definitely read more books written by Mr Taylor.
doruga's review
5.0
Alan Taylor proves once again that he is an exceptional historian. The amount of research and care it must have taken to write this book is telling. Also, Taylor's ability to show all sides of a controversial historical argument using quotes, analysis, and his own opinions is amazing. You can certainly tell which side Taylor goes with - the book is most certainly defending a thesis after all - but Taylor makes sure you know every possible aspect of the problem before giving his own opinion on the matter, so then the reader can deduce their own impressions of the matter. Excellent as always. Wish there were more popular mainstream historian writers like this.
quintusmarcus's review against another edition
4.0
Either I was out the day it was covered in class, or I just plain forgot that the War of 1812 was about a heck of a lot more than the impressment of American sailors and the sack of our capitol. Turns out the war was really a civil war of sorts, pitting Americans versus loyalist Americans who had fled to Canada. Throw in the British and their native American allies and the result was a pretty complex and nasty conflict.Who knew? The author lays out in great detail the ethnic and political composition of Canada, and the very close relations Canadians had with their American friends, families, and political sympathizers across the border. The war itself was a colossal series of failures and blunders on the American side--it is nothing short of a miracle that our capitol is not in London. I had no idea how perilously close to collapse the nation came at the end of the war, and how in the end the US was saved only by the renewed threat of war on the continent. The British desire to extricate themselves from the fight in Canada, which was for them merely a side show, was our saving grace. Excellent book, fully supported by scholarly apparatus, but highly readable and not overly academic.
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