Napoleon, Waterloo, and the War of 1812

This past June I visited Waterloo, the preserved historic site, not far from Brussels in Belgium. The photo above is of the Waterloo battlefield as seen from the Lion's Mound - 41 metres and 226 steps above the ground. Besides Lion's Mound, the monument erected between 1824 and 1826, on the site there is the Panorama (a painted military masterpiece, a lifelike depiction of the battle presented in a circular building) a Wax Museum, and a Visitors' Centre showing two short movies. Out of the picture there is massive construction underway, presumably in preparation for the Bicentennial of this 1815 battle. This is definitely a worthwhile destination for any history buff. What do the Napoleonic Wars have to do with "the American War", as the War of 1812 was referrred to by the British? If Britain hadn't been involved in the titanic struggle with Napoleon there would have been no need for the naval blockade to prevent trade with Napoleon's Europe, nor a need for impressing British-born sailors from American merchant ships to keep the Royal Navy ships fully manned, actions that infuriated the United States and eventually led to their declaration of war. If Britain hadn't been focused on the war in Europe perhaps the fledgling United States might not have challenged Britain. If the French hadn't been defeated and Napoleon exiled in 1814 British troops in Europe would not have been freed up to fight in North America just as the United States was in ascendancy in the War of 1812. The Treaty Of Ghent, bringing an end to the War of 1812, was negotiated and ratified before Napoleon's escape from Elba, and his new campaign that ended on this battlefield in Waterloo.