Causes of the War of 1812. The War of 1812 occurred between the United States and Great Britain between 1812 and 1814. ... Great Britain began stopping American sea vessels and forcing subjects on the vessels into the British military. This practice was called "impressment."
The primary causes of the War of 1812 began with the Orders in Council, a statute passed by Britain in 1807 that placed restrictions on trade between the United States and France. Next, the British Navy conducted impressment on U.S. ships. Lastly, British support of Native Americans angered Americans.
The immediate causes of the War of 1812 were a series of economic sanctions taken by the British and French against the US as part of the Napoleonic Wars and American outrage at the British practice of impressment, especially after the Chesapeake incident of 1807.