War has played a key role in the history of the United States, from the nation's founding

right down to the present. War made the U.S. independent, kept it together, increased its

size, and established it as a global superpower. Understanding America's wars is essential for understanding American history.

Welcome to Key Battles of American History,

a podcast in which we discuss American history through the lens of the most important battles of America's wars.

Here is your host, James Early.

Thank you. your host, James Early. Hello, and welcome back to Key Battles of the War of 1812.

I'm your host, James Early, as always.

And in our last episode, you may recall that we kind of pushed pause on the military narrative,

and we stopped to kind of zoom down to ground level and see what was the life of a common soldier on both sides.

We focused more on the American side, but then we learned what it was like to join the army and to campaign and to be in camps

and to fight in combat. What did you eat? What did you drink? What happens if you got captured as a

prisoner? So hope you enjoyed that episode. Now we're going to resume the overall military narrative.

I have with me my good buddy, Steve Gwara, as always. Steve,

how are you doing, sir? I am great and ready to find out what's next on this war, ups and downs.

Yeah, what is next, Steve? Why don't you kind of set us up a little? You think the Americans, surely

they've given up on that pipe dream of taking Canada by now.

I know.

Yes.

Strap yourself in because it's going to be another wild ride.

And maybe you can get us set up a little bit into what's going on in early 1814.

We've moved on a year or so, and let's jump into the new year.

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