As it wasn't a war of conquest your point is null

All the territories occupied were returned - the Brits had other things on their mind, they did not want an ongoing war weakening their diplomatic hand at the Congress of Vienna. So all the occupied territories were returned.

Though America initially put up a good fight and at sea excelled beyond their supposed capabilities once the war in France was settled it went swiftly downhill and their were only so many major U.S cities that the redcoats could (and did destroy) including the capital.

having "mostnukes, most tanks and equipment, largest budget than anyone on military" and not ever fighiting against oppponent of even same strength clearly pushes usa down to 2nd/3rd place
:(

Hey, we were talking about the French, right?
They did get partly conquered by the British in the Hundred Years' War, and only after 112 years they got it back. The French got the most trouble from it, because every time the British conquered another province, there was murder, rape and pillage.

Ska2D2, your point is also null. I said we have only technically ever lost 1 one war, which was vietnam, The war of 1812 was victory. Did we lose alot of battles? yes. However in the end Britain retreated and returned our land.

Sasha Grey, how about our war of independence? We fought a superior enemy who was at the time one of the largest European empires. Besides, no one has the same strength as us. Also, if we are currently at 2nd/3rd, who's 1st/2nd?

56,000 soldiers and 78 ships. yeah superior enemy

If it was never a war of territory then giving up conquered lands does not make it a defeat. Read the point. The Brits never wanted the territory. Well obviously they did formerly. But by that point the desire to conquer / own the U.S had gone.

The Americans - who were the aggressors in that war gained none of their pre-war reasons for declaring. The British were fighting a defensive war - not a war of conquest - that they conquered American land, and destroyed cities was in aid of convincing the American government that their aggresive war was not in that nations favour.

How ignorant can U.S.Americans be if they fail to realize how much they should be grateful to France in gaining their independence.
Your national symbol of freedom and liberty in New York even, is a gift of france to you.
But instead of being grateful, you fall for the neoliberal, neoconservative propaganda that france did not join you in an injust and illegal war for oil in some middle east country, which was sold to you as a war against terror.
If you would start to read more and watch less TV, think more and start to listen less, you might be able to stop your plutocratic governments from exploiting people in the usa and killing people all over the world.

Ska2D2, They were impressing American Sailors into the British military, what are we going to do, sit there and do nothing?

Sasha Grey, compared to our 11,000 soldiers and 0 ships?

Myhand, 1. Your a sneaky ninja. 2. The french were key in our independence, without the french navy we never would of won. In fact one of the reasons for the war of 1812 was because the British we're keeping American ships from trading with the french. I agree the most Americans don't even realize that the Statue of Liberty was a gift from France, nor would they believe you if you told them it wasn't originally green.

Vapor - I am not condoning Britain's pre-war behaviour or condemming America's declaration.

I mentioned that America was the aggressor to stress that Britain was fighting a defensive war, which at least according to Clausewitz (and I would say common sense also) has different measurements of success than a war of expansion.

Normally in a defensive war one does not burn down the aggresors capital.

Why is there even a thread about this nationalistic BS?

Normally in a defensive war one does not burn down the aggresors capital.

Which is partly why I said America lost.

"How ignorant can U.S.Americans be if they fail to realize how much they should be grateful to France in gaining their independence."

Not all of us do/say what the media tells us to do. I for one have no problem with French people, without them it is possible that we would have lost our war for Independence. Thanks France ;)

@Ska, It was neutral really; everything just returned the way it was before.

Well of course France only supported the US in their war to weaken Britain's position, and not at all out of some noble democratic sentiment (as was itself still suffering from the rule of an absolute monarch by that time)...

What is the one aspect that makes the U.S a superior fighting force above all others?

Just one? We haven't lost a war that ceded any land, territory or power to another nation. Our power has only grown over time. We probably lost Vietnam and basically losing Afghanistan, but in both cases we're just going to take our tanks and troops home. We don't have to give up California and Hawaii to Afghanistan like France did when they lost wars.

Another factor is how large our military is in terms of number of nukes, aircraft carriers, troops, guns etc relative to the rest of the World (many of these categories have us with more resources than the rest of the World combined i.e. aircraft carriers).

"having "mostnukes, most tanks and equipment, largest budget than anyone on military" and not ever fighiting against oppponent of even same strength clearly pushes usa down to 2nd/3rd place
:("

lol? In terms of pound for pound or dollar for dollar effectiveness we're probably not even in the top 20. But that doesn't matter because of sheer volume. It can't be debated we are the strongest military on Earth.

Hallelujah