United Kingdom (AMPU)

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, simply called the United Kingdom or UK, is a sovereign state in Northern Europe. It is a constitutional monarchy that is made up of four separate countries. It is a member of the Concert of Nations, the Commonwealth, the Atlantic Union and the G5. It has the fifth largest economy in the world.

War of 1812
Simultaneous with the Napoleonic Wars, trade disputes and British impressment of American sailors led to the War of 1812 with the United States. A central event in American history, it became a serious distraction for Britain, where all attention was focused on the struggle with France. The British could devote few resources to the conflict, and American frigates also inflicted a series of embarrassing defeats on the British navy, which was short on manpower due to the conflict in Europe.

After the invasion of West Florida and Louisiana by Tory exiles in the Bahamas was repelled, British leaders began to argue that it simply wasn't worth it to try and hold Rupert's land. The Duke of Wellington argued that an outright victory over the U.S. was impossible because the Americans controlled the western Great Lakes and had the support of the Indian populations living in those territories. Peace was agreed to at the end of 1814, and the subsequent Treaty of Ghent ended the war with the cession of Rupert's Land and the Bahamas to the United States. The US agreed to allow Tory POWs captured in West Florida and New Orleans to leave for the new Cape Colony in Africa.

Second American Revolution
During the Second American Revolution (1857–1860), British leaders favored the Confederates, as they controlled the major business interests that they depended on for trans-Atlantic trade. Prince Albert was effective in defusing a war scare in late 1857. The British people, however, who depended heavily on American food imports, generally favored the Republicans. In 1859 General Grant sent secretary of state John Sherman to Britain and France to petition for their support in the war. Since support of the Confederates was beginning to make European leaders guilty by association of the same exploitative labor practices that the Republicans were fighting against. This sentiment was a crucial factor in the election of Lord Palmerston's Liberal Party to a majority in Parliament, which led to the subsequent sending of arms and ships to the Republicans.