<Li> Valparaiso (Capture of USS Essex) </Li> <Li> Action of 9 May 1814 </Li> <P> The War of 1812 (1812--1815) was a conflict fought between the United States, the United Kingdom, and their respective allies . Historians in Britain often see it as a minor theater of the Napoleonic Wars; in the United States and Canada, it is seen as a war in its own right . </P> <P> Since the outbreak of war with Napoleonic France, Britain had enforced a naval blockade to choke off neutral trade to France, which the United States contested as illegal under international law . To man the blockade, Britain impressed American merchant sailors into the Royal Navy . Incidents such as the Chesapeake--Leopard Affair inflamed anti-British sentiment . In 1811, the British were in turn outraged by the Little Belt Affair, in which 11 British sailors died . British political support for a Native American buffer state, which conducted raids on American settlers on the frontier, hindered American expansion . On June 18, 1812, President James Madison, after receiving heavy pressure from the War Hawks in Congress, signed the American declaration of war into law . Senior figures such as Lord Liverpool and Lord Castlereagh believed it to have been an opportunistic ploy to annex Canada while Britain was fighting a war with France . The view was shared in much of New England . </P>

Who were involved in the war of 1812