USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -A Most Magnificent Ruin: The Burning of the Capitol during the War of 1812. In retaliation for the Americans’ recent burning of the Canadian capital at York (Toronto), British troops descended on Washington, D.C., to set fire to much of the city.

Detailed explanation-2: -On August 24, 1814, during the War of 1812 between the United States and England, British troops enter Washington, D.C. and burn the White House in retaliation for the American attack on the city of York in Ontario, Canada, in June 1813.

Detailed explanation-3: -Washington, DC, was the most strategic and vulnerable city in the Union during the Civil War. Sandwiched between the Confederate state of Virginia to the west and the border slave state of Maryland to the east, Washington sat astride the Civil War’s most critical and active military front, the Eastern Theater.