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Louisbourg |
Quebec City |
Fort Rodd |
Halifax Citadel |
Prince of Wales |
Fort MacLeod
Fort Steele |
Fort Henry |
Fort Anne
As Europe exploded
everywhere in 1812 with Napoleon invading Russia, Spain
descending into chaos, Britain and France in a death
grip with each other and Germany awakening to a new
nationalism, relations between Britain and the United
States also began to fall apart. The War of 1812 opened
with several actions along the current Canada US boarder
and both sides scrambling to prepare for the fight.
In Upper Canada, the
strategic location at the end of the Great Lakes and the
beginning of the St Lawrence River became a key point
along the front. The British began almost immediately to
construct a Fort at Point Henry which was located close
to the Royal Navy Dockyard which hosts the Royal
Military College today. If the US had captured this
area, the British colonies in North American would
effectively be cut in half. By 1814 Fort Henry was
completed but at wars end it was intact and secure.
As the British
colonies continued to grow the Rideau canal was pushed
through, 1826 - 32, from Kingston to Bytown
(present day Ottawa) and connected the Great Lakes and
the St Lawrence with the North. The location of Kingston
and Fort Henry had become the strategic focal point of
the entire transportation system in British North
America.
It was decided that
Fort Henry needed to be upgraded and the current Fort
Henry was begun in 1832 and finished in 1837. It is the
largest fortification west of Quebec city d cost 70,000
pounds to build or about 42,000,000 in today's funds.
The British moved out of the Fort in the 1870's and in
August of 1938 it was opened as a museum.
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