For most of the time since the war, historians have taken a somewhat nationalistic view of the causes, activities, and results. This was to be expected. Reading an American and a Canadian account of Lundy’s Lane would cause someone to be unsure if he was reading about the same battle. However, now that we can take a little more dispassionate perspective, a more balanced approach, perhaps it’s time to adopt a new construct for looking at the military operations. For example, “The war in the Northwest” means nothing to a Canadian or Brit. Read a history of the war written by a Canadian and try to find a mention of the Creek War. I propose using theaters of operations for two reasons. First, because it is less nationalistic and second, because military operations pretty much fell into geographic boxes. Theater of operations is a twentieth-century term which identifies a geographic area characterized by political or operational unity. Theaters of operations are often both physically and conceptually separated from neighboring theaters. Often the strategic commander will delegate responsibility for military operations to a single joint commander or to a land and a naval commander. The term theater of operations suggests an area large enough to warrant military operations on the order of major campaigns - sequences of related battles. Prevost and Madison delegated their military command authority along political boundaries, either state or provincial. However, in retrospect the military operations of the War of 1812 cry out for an analytical model which corresponds to factors, more geographical than political, which virtually determined where military activity might translate into strategic success. Four Theaters The North American theater of war subdivided into four theaters of operations. First is the Atlantic Theater of Operations which included the waters of the western Atlantic and the coast from Nova Scotia to Spanish Florida which drains into the ocean. This was the scene of naval warfare, blockade, and amphibious raids inland. Second is the Southern Theater, the setting of fighting for control of the American hinterland and America's access to the Gulf of Mexico. This theater is marked on the north by the Ohio River and includes the Gulf of Mexico in the south. The Western Theater of Operations encompasses the United States north of the Ohio River and that part of Upper Canada which drains into Lake Erie and the upper Great Lakes. The Central Theater of Operations, the scene of the largest operations, generally includes the land drained by the St. Lawrence River up to the southern mouth of the Niagara River. The precise borders of the analytical construct are blurred to be sure, yet they enclose the area of military activity as played out during the war. Why might this be interesting to a wargamer? Well, the War of 1812 had different goals in each theater and was therefore conducted differently in each. Thus, a wargamer might want to specialize in one area. I know I have more interest in operations in the Central Theater than in other areas. Also, it would be a lot easier to conduct a campaign game in a single theater than in North America as a whole. Likewise, for wargamers who like to cook up their own rules, it is more satisfying to tailor rules to the conditions of a single theater than of the war in general. Back to Table of Contents -- War of 1812 #1 Back to War of 1812 List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by Rich Barbuto. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com