The War Of 1812: The Justification Of War

The War of 1812 was a small war compared to other wars with around 20 000 deaths in total, it was fought between the United States of America and Britain during the height of the Napoleonic war. The British-Canadian forces were aided by their Native American allies. The United States has its own reasons for declaring war such as British Trade Restrictions, impressment of “American” navy with British accents in the royal navy, incitement of the Natives, interest in expanding to the west. The British did everything they could to avert the war but with no avail. Due to Napoleon's tactics and his forces being able to capture large British forces with smaller ones, British morale was very low. The last thing they needed was an invasion of Canada. The Justification of War states that a war is said to be just if it is a last resort, redressing a wrong, has a reasonable chance of success, possessing right intention, begun with legitimate authority and re-establishing peace at the end of the war. It is important that a government consults the Just War Theory before deciding to wage war on anyone as it is important to make sure there is no personal agenda, there is a reasonable chance of winning and to question themselves about the point of this war and is it going to do them any good or will it just bring ruin to the country. If they don’t, they are placing the lives of their people, their country and their soldiers at stake. The purpose of this paper is to show how the war of 1812 is completely and utterly unjustified. …show more content…
The War of 1812 was not justified as it did not have a reasonable chance of success, it was not redressing a wrong, the last resort or possessing any right intention to attack the Royal Crown of Britain justly in any way, shape or