The History of the Department of Defense
by themoneyoffice2.com@gmail.com March 1, 2024 · History
The U.S. declares war on Great Britain due to naval blockades it imposed on the U.S. and the fact that the British were taking seamen from U.S. merchant ships and conscripting them into the British navy. This was the beginning of the War of 1812.
During the War of 1812, the War Department building is burned during the Burning of Washington. All books and records are saved, having been removed earlier in the week.
President James Madison accepts the ratified Treaty of Ghent, officially ending the War of 1812.
The Naval School, a precursor to the Naval Academy, is established in Annapolis, Md.
The U.S. fights a war with Mexico, aptly called the Mexican-American War, that began over a boundary dispute between the U.S. and Texas.
Civil War is waged between the U.S. and the Confederate States of America, which were 11 southern states that left the Union after President Abraham Lincoln’s election. By the war’s end, the rebel states were readmitted to the U.S., and the institution of slavery was abolished.
Establishment of the U.S. Military Academy
The United States Military Academy was established in 1802, and West Point had a major role in our nation’s history during the American Revolution. Both the American patriots and the British realized the strategic importance of the prominent plateau on the west bank of the Hudson River. Gen. George Washington considered West Point to be the most important strategic location in America and in 1778 selected Thaddeus Kosciuszko, a Polish engineer, to design the fortifications for West Point. Washington later transferred his headquarters near West Point in 1779. American Continental Line soldiers constructed forts, gun batteries, redoubts and installed a 65-ton iron chain across the Hudson to block British invasions along the river. Fortress West Point was never captured by the British, despite Maj. Gen. Benedict Arnold’s treasonous attempt to turnover the garrison to the British in 1780. Today, West Point is the oldest continuously occupied regular Army post in the United States.
War of 1812
On June 18, 1812, the United States formally declared war on Great Britain due to that nation’s continued attempts to restrict trade on the high seas, the Royal Navy’s impressment of American seamen and the United States’ desire to expand territory.
The Burning of Washington
Ultimately, the British occupied Washington and burned most of the public buildings, including the War Department, Capitol and White House. The Washington Navy Yard was burned to prevent its capture by the British.
The Treaty of Ghent
Efforts to reach a peace began almost as soon as the war had begun in 1812. Czar Alexander I of Russia had offered his services as mediator, but this was rejected by the British. They instead proposed direct negotiation. James Madison appointed John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay and Albert Gallatin as peace commissioners in late 1813, but the delay of distances and the wavering of fortunes in battle prevented the two sides from meeting in serious negotiation until the summer of 1814. The treaty restored Canadian and western U.S. territories to their pre-war status-quo. Since the war between Britain and France had ended, the wartime restrictions on trade and the impressment of sailors had become irrelevant. The document was ratified by the U.S. Senate in February 1815, making it official.
The Naval School
The Naval School, now known as the Naval Academy, opens in Annapolis, Md. with 50 midshipmen and seven professors.
The Mexican-American War
On May 13, 1846, the United States declared war on Mexico, beginning the Mexican-American War. The Mexican-American War is one of the least known pivotal moments in U.S. history. It paved the way for so many other important events, from the expansion and dispossession of indigenous people, the California Gold Rush and American Civil War. It added the states of California, Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming to the United States. American success in the war solidified belief in the concept of Manifest Destiny, confirming the idea that the United States had been destined by divine entities to expand into a continental empire resembling the present-day nation.
The Naval Academy
In 1850 the Naval School became the United States Naval Academy. A new curriculum went into effect requiring midshipmen to study at the Academy for four years and to train aboard ships each summer. That format is the basis of a far more advanced and sophisticated curriculum at the Naval Academy today. As the U.S. Navy grew over the years, the Academy expanded. The campus of 10 acres increased to 338. The original student body of 50 midshipmen grew to a brigade size of 4,000. Modern granite buildings replaced the old wooden structures of Fort Severn.
The Civil War
As the spring and summer of 1861 wore on, hundreds of thousands of white men, most of them ill-trained and unprepared for war, poured into the armed forces of both sides. Anticipating a day when their services would be accepted, African American men in the North formed military training companies, while women on both sides labored on the home front after their men left for war. Most Americans assumed the war would be over by Christmas, but the bloody battle at Manassas, Va, and the Union naval blockade of the Confederate coastline suggested otherwise. As the conflict extended into 1862, the North and South readied their armies for a longer fight.
The Eisenhower Executive Office Building
The Eisenhower Executive Office Building is located next to the West Wing, and houses a majority of offices for White House staff. Originally built for the State, War and Navy Departments between 1871 and 1888, the impressive building commands a unique position in both national history and architectural heritage.
The Spanish-American War
The Spanish-American War of 1898 ended Spain’s colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere and secured the position of the United States as a Pacific power. U.S. victory in the war produced a peace treaty that compelled the Spanish to relinquish claims on Cuba, and to cede sovereignty over Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines to the United States. The United States also annexed the independent state of Hawaii during the conflict. Thus, the war enabled the United States to establish its predominance in the Caribbean region and to pursue its strategic and economic interests in Asia.
The Philippine-American War
After its defeat in the Spanish-American War of 1898, Spain ceded its longstanding colony of the Philippines to the United States in the Treaty of Paris. On Feb. 4, 1899, just two days before the U.S. Senate ratified the treaty, fighting broke out between American forces and Filipino nationalists led by Emilio Aguinaldo who sought independence rather than a change in colonial rulers. The ensuing Philippine-American War lasted three years and resulted in the death of over 4,200 American and over 20,000 Filipino combatants. As many as 200,000 Filipino civilians died from violence, famine and disease.
