[Poohbah]

Please remember that England was bankrolling a significant campaign against that Bonaparte chap, including most of the Russian Army. They even had significant land forces committed to the Peninsular War (had it not been for the Peninsular War, there never would have been a Waterloo--at least, not one that played out as it did, because the PW was where Wellington made his reputation). BTW, Wellington turned down an offer of overall command in North America precisely because it was a punitive war of little strategic importance and not the main theater of British military action. One common complaint you can gather from reading British SITREPs is that there never were enough troops or supplies to bring the war to a decisive conclusion.

Absent hip-deep involvement in the Napoleonic Wars, Britain would have had the resources available to commit FAR more troops and brown-water naval forces to North America, both British forces and continental mercenary units. As it was, the War of 1812 was not one of America's more glorious moments--and it was bad enough that it could be described (loosely) as a war of national survival for America. Had it been on London's front burner, it would have turned into a REAL war of national survival, with a high chance of unfavorable outcome.

There's a precautionary tale in the War of 1812 for statesmen everywhere: if you're going to deliberately start a war, make sure you can win it. But in a nation with as messianic a teleology as we have, serious introspection and study of history is not ever going to happen--especially when you consider the fact that the war was started by the DemocRATS.

[Jeff Head]

I do not believe the English could have pulled it off at that stage, with our without the Napoleanic war. I do not believe they would have been able to subjugate the continent. But, that's just my opinion. Heck, in both wars (Revolutionary and 1812) they took the Capital and it in the end it netted them the same in both instances ... nada.

WRT:

But in a nation with as messianic a teleology as we have, serious introspection and study of history is not ever going to happen--especially when you consider the fact that the war was started by the DemocRATS

I aree. This was one of the contributing reasons for my writing of my book, Dragon's Fury - Breath of Fire.