Britain has fought the Americans twice. The first occasion we know about: it was the war that secured the colonists' independence (1775-83). Mark Urban's book is about the experiences of one British regiment - the Royal Welch Fusiliers - in that campaign. (Most of them weren't Welsh, incidentally.) The second war scarcely anyone in Britain has heard of, and even Americans seem to be hazy about it. It ran from 1812 to 1815; the peace that formally settled it was signed on Christmas Eve 1814, but because news took so long to travel not everyone knew this until April the following year. It was during this war that British troops burned down the presidential mansion in Washington - the one thing most Americans are aware of - and it ended with the restoration of the status quo ante, which makes it look pretty pointless. In some American history books it is known as the Second War of Independence, which is nonsense. Britain wasn't threatening that independence in any serious way: only US trade, temporarily, and insofar as it was seen to be aiding Britain's major enemy at the time - Napoleon's France.

LRB 21 February 2008 | PDF Download