Key Battles of American History Parthenon

Soon after war was declared, U. S. President Madison and Secretary of War Eustis decided to launch a three-pronged assault on Canada. American forces would cross the Detroit, Niagara, and St. Lawrence Rivers and attack much smaller British and Canadian forces in three strategic locations. The plan seemed solid…but would it work? Join Steve and James as they discuss the 1812 American invasion of Canada.

At the time of the War of 1812, the United States was deeply divided between Republicans, most of whom supported the war, and Federalists, who opposed the war. This division broke out into violence in the Baltimore Riots of the summer of 1812. In this mini-episode, Steve and James discuss the Baltimore Riots, the war aims of the British and the Americans, the war aims of each side, and the critical US presidential election of 1812, which served as a sort of referendum on the war.

The 1783 Treaty of Paris formally ended the American War for Independence, but it left many issues between the United States and Great Britain unresolved. In addition, Britain’s war with Napoleon and his allies motivated the British Navy to increasingly interfere with American shipping and even to impress American sailors into the British Navy. This, plus British support for Indian attacks in the American northwest, led many Americans to demand war with Britain.
In this episode, Steve and James discuss the long series of events that led to the War of 1812.

In this episode, James kicks off Season 4 of Key Battles of American History. This new season will include discussions of the United States’ three most significant wars between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War: The War of 1812, the Texas Revolution, and the Mexican-American War. Over the next few weeks, James and new cohost Steve Guerra (host of the History of the Papacy and Beyond the Big Screen podcasts) will discuss the events leading to the War of 1812, the war itself, and the war’s aftermath and impact on American history.

In this special bonus episode, James interviews Chris Mowery, host of the Vlogging Through History YouTube channel and the podcast of the same name, which is the newest podcast in the Parthenon Podcast Network.

In 1942, the United States government launched the Manhattan Project, a top-secret effort to build an atomic bomb for use against the Axis powers. In this episode, James and Sean discuss the 1989 film Fat Man and Little Boy, a fictionalized version of the attempt to build the bombs that focuses on the relationship between the project’s director General Leslie Groves and its lead scientist Robert Oppenheimer.