The United States lost the War of 1812

The reason I didn't define 'losing a war' is due to the idea that losing a war was such a commonly understood concept. You lose when you fail to achieve the objectives that a nation goes to war to achieve. It was also to be expected that I wasn't saying that we lost due to unconditional surrender nor conditionally surrendered. However, being that there have been two definitions offered. Lose a war: By surrender or capitulation. or Lose a war: By failing to achieve the objectives that a nation goes to war to achieve. We'll have to let the voters decide which is the best and most appropriate definition to use in this scenario. The American Civil War campaign that my opponent is talking about was going well for the Union then ended with them retreating, cause McClellan lost his initiative and it displeased Lincoln. The objective was to capture the Confederate capitol Richmond and since it ended with them NOT capturing Richmond it was a loss for the Union. https://en.wikipedia.org... https://en.wikipedia.org... I define loss as failing to achieve the objectives one goes to achieve. That is why despite taking less casualties the Union still lost. You've seem overlook my criteria. From least to most important, casualties, victories on the battlefield, achieving objectives that one felt was important enough to go to war to achieve. I still believe it be the case besides your attempt to define it to such a degree. Its also understood that since North Korea invaded the South with only one objective, to conquer South Korea. That 63 years later there still stands a nation called South Korea and you having the ability to call a US embassy in South Korea instead of it being a Korea under communism with no US embassy that one wouldn't call it a draw but a victory for South Korea. Would you call World War 1 a defeat for the Allies since Hitler took power afterwards and started World War 2? I mean Germany did surrender but a madman with the goal of conquest and death took root afterwards and then negated near all concessions in Versailles. The United States took more casualties, lost more battles, and failed to achieve the objectives that they set out to achieve. War with Britain was about by the actions at sea. The war was set to be won by taking Canada. Britain would not have gone to war with their important trade partner for their Native American allies. The the United States government was quite vocal about the reasons for war and how they intended to win it. The United States did not defeat the British on the battlefield nor did the win at the negotiating table. The British wanted an end to the fighting cause their efforts in Europe took priority. The United States having 40,000 square km of territory less, less victories on the ground, more dead, and financially exhausted was in no position of strength to make any demands. Their win against their Native American enemies doesn't constitute a defeat for Britain. The United States didn't force Britain to concede anything. As you said, Napoleon's defeat brought about changes, not American war machine. Peaceful negotiations 3 years later brought about a deal that again had nothing to do with the reasons for declaring war in the 1st place. The exact same things would have happened had the United States not declared war against the British. The British would have ended its violations against the United States after Napoleon's defeat like it did and the United States would have still defeated the Native Americans and the British wouldn't have hampered American expansionism to the extent that they did during the War of 1812. Since Status Quo Ante Bellum put everything to the way it was before the war and since it was the United States that declared war in order to force change on the British and since the British didn't concede to the United States. that it was other circumstances that brought the change, the United States didn't win. The British ceased its violations on their terms not on the Americans terms. You don't claim victory against the British when the only objective that the United States achieved was against the Native Americans. The United States didn't achieve the war aims of the acquisition of Canada to achieve the objectives to force concessions from the British. Based on the observations that the United States went to war to force the British to stop what they were doing ended with all territorial and political rights restored to pre war conditions in the treaty of Ghent. That the British ended their policies due to their terms and not due to the American war machine. That the British achieved the objectives that were established on the ground in those battlefields more than not, that they inflicted more death upon their enemy, that they put their enemy in financial ruin. Leads any rational person to conclude that America's war for concessions ended in failure due to the British not conceding anything that the peace treaty ended with Britain still having the rights to do exactly what they did that made the United States declare war. Draws are when neither side achieves none of their goals. Or when each side comes out with equally acceptable terms. Neither of these describes the outcome of the War of 1812. America's goals for concessions didn't come to fruit and they accepted pre war conditions which pre war conditions is what caused the United States to go to war.