Post by Ingo SiekmannGuten Abend,
let's say Napoleon Bonaparte is killed at the battle of Laon in march of
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Laon
How would this affect the war between the US and Great Britain that was
going on that time?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_1812
Would it come to an earlier end, or would it simply go on? The "peace
talks" in Ghent only began in August.
Bye
Ingo
Well, Napoleon was already getting beaten up very badly by that stage, and was forced to abdicate in April, anyway. The key point in the War of 1812 of course was that Napoleon invaded Russia almost immediately after Madison started the War, thus freeing up enormous British forces that were deployed with great effect in the American theater. Otherwise, the Americans would certainly have taken much of Canada.
But, I suppose Napoleons early death would have caused an almost immediate collapse of French morale, and would consequently have increased British prestige and power at the time. So, I suspect the British might have continued the War somewhat longer, and pressed for better terms. The much touted victory of the Americans in Louisiana in 1815 in the Battle of New Orleans was simply a case of the British overreaching, the British controlled the seas and had the military advantage, on the whole. Still, the Americans were an emerging power, and the British were astute enough to realize this. They wouldn't have pressed too hard, I don't think, so, probably, a fairly similar outcome.