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The War of 1812 is often characterized as a defining episode in Canadian history, but the battles on the soil of Upper and Lower Canada were just part of a much larger conflict, rooted in the struggle between American and native groups in the interior and on the west coast, as well as the longstanding maritime rivalry with the British. The interactive map entitled Logistics of the War, 1812-1814 shows how major communication links affected the war effort in the larger theatre of the war, the entire eastern seaboard and Great Lakes basin. Lines of communication and supply, as in most wars, were key to military success. The graph page illustrating the British Naval Blockade, shows the effect of more than 120 vessels attempting to strangle American commerce, the interactive map: Logistics of the War, 1812-1814 also shows the British naval raids on American coastal installations.
Strategic Thrusts by Year, 1812-1814 is a series of interactive maps which illustrate battles and troop movements along the Great Lakes-St-Lawrence frontier itself. The American objectives were Québec, Montréal, Kingston and Niagara; although the maps show the various attacks made over the 2 and a half-year period of the war, British defenses generally held, and the American offensives failed. Illustrations such as the pen-and-ink drawing of The Battle of Lundy's Lane, by the well-known Canadian artist, C.W. Jeffreys, have been created to celebrate the famous battles; in this case, drawn in the 1920s, to illustrate a textbook of Canadian history.
