Description
The War of 1812: Which One Was That?
June 15, 2012
Two hundred years ago, the United States was engulfed in a war that had seen Washington, D.C. attacked and burned, and the nation’s independence seriously threatened. Today, few people remember who we were even fighting in that conflict — the War of 1812 — much less what we were fighting for. But despite its forgotten status, the War of 1812 was hugely influential in shaping the nation we live in today. And so in this episode, we go beyond the trivia, and explore some of the war’s deeper legacies. We look at why the war loomed so large in novels and poems of the post-war years, how it redefined government policies toward American Indians, and why the conflict nearly led to a civil war within the U.S. Through it all, we set out to answer the most fundamental questions about the War of 1812: What did we win, what did we lose, and why should we care?
MAKING WAVES Host Brian Balogh talks with Rear Admiral Herman Shelanski about the U.S. Navy’s campaign to raise its profile by trumpeting the key role it played in the War of 1812.
1812: THE MOVIE Host Peter Onuf pitches next summer’s blockbuster: the who, what, when, where, and how of the war that was forgotten.
BORDER PATROL Host Brian Balogh talks with Brian Merrett of the 1812 Legacy Council about how the war is taught and understood differently just across the border in Canada.
SECRETS AND LIES Pulitzer-Prize-winning historian Alan Taylor speaks with host Brian Balogh about how the War of 1812 was essentially a spy story worthy of Le Carre.
RIPPLE EFFECT The History Guys riff on what about the war reverberates to this day.
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS Host Peter Onuf chats with NYU professor Nicole Eustace about how, in the years following the War of 1812, there was a spate of novels, poems, and songs that conflated a love of country with a love of sex.
TOGETHER APART Adam Jortner speaks with Ed about Tecumseh, the Shawnee leader who organized Native Americans against the U.S. during the War of 1812, and the effects of this confederacy on future settler-Native American relations.
FACETIME Hosts Peter Onuf, Ed Ayers, and Brian Balogh answer questions submitted via Facebook.
AMERICA THE BRAWNY Ed talks with country music scholar Bill C. Malone about how “The Battle of New Orleans” became a #1 hit on the 1959 Billboard charts.
