The War of 1812 was a bloody conflict that was fought between the meager forces of the U.S. and the supreme power of Great Britain and being the Second American War for Independence, it goes down in history as it will not be forgotten. The war was fought from June 1812 and it climaxed in the spring of 1815 with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, although the battle failed to solve the issues that had made it to take place. The mainland battle during the warfare took place along the Canadian border. In addition, the opposing forces also engaged in extensive actions at the sea. Since the U.S. decided to enter the war with confused goals and divided allegiances, these failures have made the war to be sometimes called “America’s worst-fought war.” The U.S. instigated the war on the supreme British Empire because of a number of reasons. First, there was growing trade tensions between the U.S. and Britain. Before the war, Britain had established a number of trade restrictions that prevented the U.S. from trading with other countries. Therefore, the United States challenged these trade limitations as not valid according to the international law. Second, the Americans were addressing their grievances about the continuing impressment of their sailors into the British Navy for manning its ships (Raatma, 6). The U.S. saw that the seizure of its sailors as well as the unwarranted search of its merchant ships contravened its national sovereignty and denied it its ability to control its territorial waters. Another reason was that the British Empire was thwarting America’s intentions of expansion in the Northwest Territory by giving military assistance to the Native Americans who were confronting the American settlers who had moved to the Northwestern region. This action by Britain further escalated the tensions. Lastly, some historians believe that the U.S. still had some degree of resentment from the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, which they were enthusiastic of taking out on the Great Britain. Even though the occurrence of the conflict had been preceded by bitter diplomatic disagreements, neither the Americans nor the British had adequate preparations for it. A significant section of the British forces was engaged in other wars elsewhere (Turner, 33). On the other hand, the U.S. was inadequately prepared for the war. The government presumed that the state militias could gain easy victory in Canada and there was no adequate funding for the war. On July 12, 1812, General William Hull, leading a troop of about one thousand inadequately equipped militia, crossed the Detroit River and assumed the control of the Canadian town of Sandwitch, and about two months later, Hull’s men returned to Detroit and surrendered to British-friendly forces, which cost the U.S. the village of Detroit and most of the Michigan territory. The conflict involved a show of naval strength. In 1813, the United States forces prevailed in the Battle of Lake Erie in which they took charge of the waters there. Consequently, they interrupted British and native troops in the west from accessing their supplies located in the area. At the Battle of Thames in October 1813, American militia, led by General William Harrison, became tri