為什么美國沒有贏得1812年的戰(zhàn)爭?（二）

Steven Haddock
You know that second amendment thing? Where every American would be a soldier and the militia would become a regular fighting force?
Well, it turns out that organization is fraught with problems.
The first was political leadership. This was no-where more felt than at the Battle of Queenston Heights where the Americans had every advantage and lost big time.
After their humiliation without a shot being fired at Detroit earlier that year, the Americans mustered a force of 3,500 to invade the Niagara Peninsula. The commanding officer in Upper Canada, Isaac Brock, had 1,300 men to protect about thirty miles of border along the Niagara River. They had forts at either end (Eire on Lake Eire, and George on Lake Ontario) but they had no idea where the Americans would attack and there were several good crossings. Brock had been forbidden from entering American territory so the Americans had plenty of time to get their forces together and hatch a plan.

你知道那個第二修正案嗎？每個美國人都會成為一名士兵，而民兵將成為一支常規(guī)作戰(zhàn)力量？
嗯，事實證明這個組織充滿問題。
首先是政治領導力。這一點在昆斯頓高地戰(zhàn)役中表現(xiàn)得最為明顯，美國人在那場戰(zhàn)役中占據(jù)了所有優(yōu)勢，卻輸?shù)煤軕K。
當年早些時候，他們在底特律遭受了羞辱之后一槍未發(fā)，美國人集結(jié)了3500人入侵尼亞加拉半島。上加拿大的指揮官艾薩克·布洛克(Isaac Brock)率領1300人保護尼亞加拉河沿岸約30英里的邊界。他們在兩端都有堡壘(埃爾在埃爾湖上，喬治在安大略湖上)，但他們不知道美國人會從哪里進攻，而且有幾個很好的渡口。布洛克被禁止進入美國領土，所以美國人有足夠的時間把他們的部隊集合起來，制定一個計劃。

Enter this fellow
Winfield Scott, a young Colonel in the REAL American army. He was the ranking professional. However, in reality, this fellow carried more weight
Stephen Van Rensselear, who was a major-general (2 star) in the militia. He was in charge of many of the militia forces in the area. However, unlike General Hull, the loser in Detroit, he had no real military experience, something he shared with most of his men.
Anyway, the professionals came up with a plan to cross the river at Queenston, which was below the escarpment, and to take the British cannon on the nearby heights. The Americans knew the cannon only had a small detachment and he hoped to take the entire force across and, with overwhelming numbers, capture the cannon and have a defensible position by the time British forces showed up. The problem was that they took forever to agree on that plan and even then the various militia commanders were arguing with each other.

溫菲爾德·斯科特，一位年輕的美國陸軍上校。他是一流的專業(yè)人士。然而，事實上，這個家伙具有更大的影響力。
Stephen Van Rensselear，他是民兵中的一名少將（2顆星）。他負責該地區(qū)的許多民兵部隊。然而，與底特律的失敗者赫爾將軍不同，他沒有真正的軍事經(jīng)驗，這一點他和他的大多數(shù)士兵都一樣。
無論如何，專業(yè)人員想出了一個計劃，在懸崖下面的昆斯頓渡河，并在附近的高地上奪取英軍的大炮。美國人知道大炮處只有一支小分隊，他希望帶著整個部隊穿過昆斯頓渡河，以壓倒性的人數(shù)搶奪大炮，并在英國軍隊出現(xiàn)時占據(jù)防御地位。問題是，他們花了很長時間才就這一計劃達成一致，即使在那時，各種民兵指揮官也在相互爭論。

Scott accompanied a force of just over 1,000 people who came over the river in small boats one wave at a time. The cannon fired at the boats with little effect except to scare the rookies. However, it was clear after the first few waves that the rest of the militia had suddenly become reluctant to cross. Renssalear suddenly remembered that you couldn’t force militia to cross into foreign territory so he stayed on the New York side. He sent message to Scott that Scott was now in charge of the forces on the Canadian side and he wouldn’t be joining them.
The Americans on the Canadian side soon captured the cannon and established a defensive position and started to try to improve it. Round 1 to the Americans. When Brock arrived (alxed by the cannon fire) he threw his men headlong against the Americans, but he was shot dead and his troops retreated. Round 2 to the Americans.

斯科特陪同的隊伍只有1000多人，他們乘著小船一波一波地過河。大炮向船開火，除了嚇唬新手外，沒有什么效果。然而，很明顯，在最初的幾波之后，其余的民兵突然變得不愿意過河了。倫薩勒爾突然想起你不能強迫民兵進入外國領土所以他留在了紐約這邊。他給斯科特發(fā)信息說，斯科特現(xiàn)在負責加拿大方面的部隊，他不會加入他們。
加拿大一側(cè)的美國人很快就搶奪了大炮，并建立了防御陣地，并開始嘗試改進它，第一輪美國隊獲勝。當布洛克到達時(被炮火驚醒)，他帶領他的人沖向美國人，但他被槍殺，他的部隊撤退了，第一輪美國隊獲勝。

Brock’s replacement, Roger Hale Sheaffe, decided that a direct attack may not be the best approach and instead climbed up the escarpment about a mile west of the American position and came in from the side. He was soon joined by a group of native warriors that started raising a tremendous noise. Scott saw he was outnumbered and couldn’t improve his position so he tried to retreat towards the river and to create some protection for the troops. However, the onrushing British and Mohawk forces panicked the militia and they ran as fast as they could to the river, only to find out all the boats were all on the American side. Now outnumbered and completely in disarray, Scott surrendered. The British scored a 9–1 advantage in terms of killed, wounded and captured personnel.
The Americans learned their lesson and for most of the rest of the war relied on growing ranks of American “regulars”, but the militiamen were still a problem:

接替布洛克的羅杰·哈爾·謝菲(Roger Hale Sheaffe)認為，直接攻擊可能不是最好的辦法，于是他爬上了美軍陣地以西約一英里的懸崖，從側(cè)面切入。不久，一群當?shù)氐膽?zhàn)士加入了他的行列，他們開始發(fā)出巨大的噪音。斯科特發(fā)現(xiàn)自己寡不敵眾，無法改善自己的位置，所以他試圖向河邊撤退，為部隊提供一些保護。然而，突如其來的英國和莫霍克軍隊嚇壞了民兵，他們以最快的速度向河邊跑去，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)所有的船只都在美國這邊。由于寡不敵眾，形勢一片混亂，斯科特投降了。英軍在陣亡、受傷和被俘人員方面取得了9比1的優(yōu)勢。
美國人吸取了教訓，在戰(zhàn)爭剩余的大部分時間里，他們依靠的是不斷壯大的美國“正規(guī)軍”隊伍，但民兵仍然是個問題:

They tended to loot wherever they went, which meant the people on the Canadian side were hardly helpful to them.
They constantly were running into ambushes, and the natives soon learned that the Americans would constantly chase them into such ambushes.
They were terrified of native warriors and would often run or surrender at the hint they were coming.
With all the professionals in the Niagara Peninsula trying to hold ground, the rest of the country was entirely dependent on the militia. When the British entered the war full force in 1814, they met a larger American militia force at Bladensburg.
The lessons were pretty clear. You really couldn’t build an army out of militia, you needed people who knew what they were doing and who would respect the chain of command. You couldn’t have officers appointed due to political connections. The Americans eventually settled on a small army, but when the next war started in 1861 both built their armies around experienced professional officers and non-commissioned officers.

他們所到之處都要搶劫，這意味著加拿大方面的人幾乎沒有給他們提供幫助。
他們經(jīng)常遇到伏擊，當?shù)厝撕芸炀椭烂绹藭粩嗟匕阉麄冓s進這樣的伏擊中。
他們害怕當?shù)氐膽?zhàn)士，一聽到他們要來的暗示，就會逃跑或投降。
由于尼亞加拉半島的所有專業(yè)人員都在努力堅守陣地，該國其他地區(qū)完全依賴民兵。當英國在1814年全面參戰(zhàn)時，他們在布萊登斯堡遇到了一支規(guī)模更大的美國民兵部隊。
教訓非常清楚:你真的不能用民兵來組建軍隊，你需要知道自己在做什么并且尊重指揮系統(tǒng)的人。你不能因為政治關系而任命官員。美國人最終決定組建一支小規(guī)模的軍隊，但當1861年第二次戰(zhàn)爭開始時，雙方都以經(jīng)驗豐富的專業(yè)軍官和士官為中心組建軍隊。
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James Huffington
Because the USA did not have a military.
They had a rabble of citizen-soldiers.
The British meanwhile had trained, disciplined, professional soldiers.
The British, even with its other global commitments still possessed enough naval forces to blockade and interdict American trade along the Eastern Seaboard.
The fledging American Republic was fortunate that London lacked the political will to continue to prosecute the war after 20 years of dealing with Napoleon.

因為美國(當時)沒有軍隊。
他們是一群民兵。
與此同時，英國擁有訓練有素、紀律嚴明的職業(yè)士兵。
英國，即使在全球的其它地方有不得不做的事情，仍然擁有足夠的海軍力量來封鎖和阻斷美國在東海岸的貿(mào)易。
剛剛起步的美利堅共和國很幸運，因為在與拿破侖交戰(zhàn)20年后，倫敦缺乏繼續(xù)發(fā)動戰(zhàn)爭的政治意愿。

Mike Webster
In the War of 1812, could the US have conquered Canada?
No, they couldn’t. You seem to be unaware of the fact that they tried numerous times and failed every time. I’d bet that you are also unaware that British troops and Canadian military conquered and held Detroit and parts of Maine for the entire war and the United States only got them back when the British agreed to return them when the war ended.

在1812年的戰(zhàn)爭中，美國能征服加拿大嗎？
不，他們不能。你似乎沒有意識到他們嘗試了無數(shù)次，但每次都失敗了。我敢打賭，你也不知道這一信息：英國軍隊和加拿大軍隊在整個戰(zhàn)爭期間征服并占領了底特律和緬因州的部分地區(qū)，直到戰(zhàn)爭結(jié)束時英國同意歸還，美國才收回了這些地區(qū)。

Steven Haddock
Why did the US lose the War of 1812, even though they outnumbered the British by 10 to 1?
It was actually closer to 15 to 1, but I digress.
British leadership was better. British generals tended to be battle hardened career veterans, mostly in their late 30s and early 40s. American generals were often political appointees who perhaps had fought in the War of Independence thirty years before, but hadn’t kept up, and tended to be in their fifties - not the best age to be traipsing out in the wilderness. American militia generals kept screwing up and paying for it dearly. That being said, American professional officers were first rate, there just weren’t enough of them to both attack Canada and defend the very long Atlantic coast.

為什么美國輸?shù)袅?812年的戰(zhàn)爭——盡管他們的人數(shù)是英國的10倍。
事實上，人數(shù)差距接近15比1，但我跑題了。
英國的領導能力更好。英國將軍往往是久經(jīng)沙場的退伍軍人，大多在30多歲和40出頭。美國將軍通常是政治任命的，他們可能在三十年前參加過獨立戰(zhàn)爭，但經(jīng)驗沒有跟上來，而且往往已經(jīng)五十多歲了——這可不是在野外游蕩的最佳年齡。美國民兵將領把事情搞砸，并為此付出了高昂的代價。話雖如此，美國的職業(yè)軍官是一流的，只是還做不到既能進攻加拿大，又能保衛(wèi)很長的大西洋海岸。

Canadian militia units and native warriors were cool taking direction from the professional British officers. The York Volunteers were instrumental in holding Queenston Heights until reinforcements arrived even though their commander had been killed. Native warriors were fine being 90% of the force and still taking direction from the British at Beaver Dams (where a larger American force surrendered). Meanwhile, American militia commanders, who technically outranked the American regular officers, refused to be “bossed around”.
The Americans antagonized the Canadian civilians. A lot. After quickly forcing the British out of Fort York (in modern Toronto), the American troops spent the rest of the day burning and looting the city (one of the reasons the British burned Washington). That was not an isolated incident and happened throughout southwest and south central Upper Canada (modern Ontario) through the whole war - if there were no soldiers about, the Americans would just terrorize the populace.

加拿大民兵部隊和本土戰(zhàn)士在接受英國專業(yè)軍官的指揮時表現(xiàn)得很冷靜。盡管約克志愿軍的指揮官已經(jīng)陣亡，但他們在守住昆斯頓高地直到援軍到來方面發(fā)揮了重要作用。本土戰(zhàn)士占據(jù)了90%的兵力，并在比海貍壩接受英軍的指揮(在那里，一支更大規(guī)模的美軍投降了)。與此同時，嚴格說來，美國民兵指揮官的級別高于美國正規(guī)軍軍官，他們拒絕被“頤指氣使”。
美國人嚴重激怒了加拿大平民，在迅速將英軍趕出約克堡(現(xiàn)在的多倫多)之后，美軍在當天剩下的時間里焚燒和掠奪這座城市(這也是英國人焚燒華盛頓的原因之一)。這不是一個孤立的事件，在整個戰(zhàn)爭期間，它發(fā)生在上加拿大西南部和中南部（現(xiàn)代的安大略?。绻車鷽]有士兵，美國人只會恐嚇民眾。

They were unable to consolidate their gains. In 1813 the Americans won a major battle in Chatham (about 100km northeast of Detroit) before immediately having to return to Detroit before the terms of the enlisted men expired. They also conquered Newark (modern Niagara on the Lake) but were holed up in the fort because the natives were patrolling the surrounding land and killed any American who left. Running low on supplies, the Americans returned to Buffalo for the winter.
The communities along the American side of the St. Lawrence River were antagonistic to the American army. When trade between the Canadian Maritimes and New England plunged when the war started, it picked up on the New York/Upper Canada border at Ogdensburg/Prescott. That meant that the American army really couldn’t attack a crucial communication route between Upper and Lower Canada. Part of the reason was that the guy on the American side profiting from the trade was the guy who arranged the financing for the war and he was pretty untouchable. The locals were doing very well with cross-border trade and took steps to preserve it.

他們無法鞏固自己的成果。1813年，美國人在查塔姆（底特律東北約100公里）贏得了一場重大戰(zhàn)役，隨后不得不在入伍期限到期前立即返回底特律。他們還征服了紐瓦克（現(xiàn)代的尼亞加拉湖邊小鎮(zhèn)），但由于當?shù)厝嗽谥車耐恋厣涎策?，殺死了任何離開的美國人，他們被困在堡壘里。由于補給不足，美國人返回布法羅過冬。
圣勞倫斯河美國一側(cè)的社區(qū)與美國軍隊為敵。當戰(zhàn)爭開始時，加拿大沿海地區(qū)和新英格蘭之間的貿(mào)易急劇下降，在紐約/上加拿大邊境奧格登斯堡/普雷斯科特的貿(mào)易有所回升。這意味著美國軍隊真的無法攻擊上加拿大和下加拿大之間的重要交通路線。部分原因是，美國方面從貿(mào)易中獲利的人是為戰(zhàn)爭提供資金的人，他是不可撼動的。當?shù)厝嗽诳缇迟Q(mào)易方面做得很好，并采取措施保護它。

Natives Americans who lived in the United States fought with the British. They were awesome fighters and the Americans were terrified of them. At the Siege of Detroit, the hint that he might be captured by Natives convinced General Hull to surrender. Ironically, many of the native people took American prisoners into their community for the winter of 1812–13, hoping they would stay (almost all returned home).
The Americans tried to adjust by concentrating their professional units in Canada, using the militia for reserves, and did find some success. The problem was that when the British arrived in force the militia was useless against them. They were disorganized, undisciplined and their leaders made rookie errors. It soon became clear that the entire Atlantic seaboard was vulnerable to attack from the sea, with the British having easy re-supply at their bases at Halifax, Bermuda, and Barbados.

生活在美國的美國原住民與英國人作戰(zhàn)。他們是了不起的戰(zhàn)士，美國人都害怕他們。在底特律圍城戰(zhàn)中，他可能被當?shù)厝朔數(shù)陌凳菊f服了赫爾將軍投降。具有諷刺意味的是，在1812-13年的冬天，許多當?shù)厝税衙绹舴笌У剿麄兊纳鐓^(qū)，希望他們能留下來(幾乎所有人都回家了)。
美國人試圖通過將他們的專業(yè)部隊集中在加拿大進行調(diào)整，并利用民兵作為預備隊，確實取得了一些成功。問題是，當英國軍隊抵達時，民兵對他們毫無用處。他們沒有組織，沒有紀律，他們的領導犯了新手會犯的錯誤。很快就清楚了，整個大西洋沿岸都很容易受到來自海上的攻擊，因為英國人在哈利法克斯、百慕大和巴巴多斯的基地很容易得到補給。

The Americans had some success in their 1814 campaigns in the Niagara Peninsula, but couldn’t score a decisive victory. They had no luck at all in Quebec, largely due to the fact there was an obvious route between Plattsburg, NY, the US forward base, and Montreal that could be easily defended. Meanwhile, the British were burning Washington and launching attacks all over the Chesapeake Bay area. The British tactics were largely to hit the Americans hard and fast, then run to do it again a few days later, and the Americans couldn’t counter that.
And forget the local numerical advantage. After finishing off Napoleon in 1814 the British had thousands of battle hardened troops to face the Americans, who weren’t in any position to train more professionals in that short a time.

1814年，美國人在尼亞加拉半島的戰(zhàn)役中取得了一些成功，但未能取得決定性的勝利。他們在魁北克根本沒有運氣，很大程度上是因為在紐約普拉茨堡，美國前沿基地和蒙特利爾之間有一條明顯的路線，很容易防守。與此同時，英國人正在燒毀華盛頓，并在切薩皮克灣地區(qū)發(fā)動襲擊。英國的戰(zhàn)術(shù)主要是快速猛烈地打擊美國人，然后在幾天后再次進攻，而美國人無法反擊。
忘掉本地的數(shù)量優(yōu)勢吧。在1814年打敗了拿破侖之后，英國人有數(shù)千名久經(jīng)沙場的士兵來面對美國人，而美國人在這么短的時間內(nèi)根本無法培養(yǎng)出更多的專業(yè)人員。

Alana Pastynak
Some facts first:
The US wasn’t a world superpower until the 1900s, and Canada wasn’t a country until 1867. But the US did have a lot more people.
In 1812, the Loyalists (people living in what we now call Canada) did not gain land and did not do major damage to the US. The reason they won is because the US’s goal was to take over the Loyalist land. The US failed in their goal to take over and the Loyalists succeeded in their goal to gain territory.
The Loyalists had help from Aboriginals, who greatly increased their number. Americans were terrified of the Aboriginals, since they were good fighters. The Loyalists were a British colony at the time and therefore had some British support, too.

先說一些事實:
美國直到20世紀才是世界超級大國，加拿大直到1867年才是一個國家。但美國人口數(shù)量確實更多。
1812年，?；逝桑ㄉ钤谖覀儸F(xiàn)在所說的加拿大）沒有獲得土地，也沒有對美國造成重大損害。他們獲勝的原因是因為美國的目標是接管?；庶h的土地。美國未能實現(xiàn)接管的目標，而?；逝蓜t成功地實現(xiàn)了占領領土的目標。
?；逝傻玫搅嗽∶竦膸椭?，他們的人數(shù)大大增加。美國人害怕土著人，因為他們是優(yōu)秀的戰(zhàn)士。保皇黨當時是英國的殖民地，因此也得到了一些英國人的支持。
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://www.top-shui.cn 轉(zhuǎn)載請注明出處

The Loyalist generals in that war tended to be very smart. Here are examples:
Loyalist soldiers wore bright red. When American scouts were approaching, they’d conceal their uniforms. The scouts would come to try counting, then one group at a time, the Loyalists would reveal themselves. It would feel overwhelming to have enemies appearing out of nowhere, and the scouts would exaggerate how many Loyalist soldier there were.
When he was trying to capture a fort (I forget which) and was outnumbered, a Loyalist general told his soldiers, in their bright red uniforms, to go through a path in a forest, then circle around (away from the US scouts) and go through it again. They did this several times. The scouts reported there being several times more Loyalists than there were, and the US general surrendered the fort without a fight.

那場戰(zhàn)爭中的?；逝蓪④娡浅Ｂ斆?，下面是一些例子:
?；逝傻氖勘┲r艷的紅色衣服。當美國偵察兵靠近時，他們會把制服藏起來。偵察兵會來試著計數(shù)，然后保皇派會一個小組一個小組地暴露自己。不知從哪里冒出來的敵人會讓人感到不知所措，偵察兵會夸大?；逝墒勘臄?shù)量。
當他試圖占領一座堡壘（我忘了是哪座），但寡不敵眾時，一位保皇派的將軍告訴他的士兵，穿著鮮紅色制服，穿過森林中的一條小路，然后繞一圈（遠離美國偵察兵），再次穿過，他們這樣做了好幾次。偵察兵報告說，?；逝扇藬?shù)是原來的數(shù)倍，美國將軍不戰(zhàn)而敗地交出了堡壘。