From your same link:
Historians have differing and complex interpretations of the war.[203] They agree that ending the war with neither side gaining or losing territory allowed for the peaceful settlement of boundary disputes and for the opening of a permanent era of good will and friendly relations between the U.S. and Canada. The war established distinct national identities for Canada and the United States, with a "newly significant border".[204]
In recent decades the view of the majority of historians has been that the war ended in stalemate, with the Treaty of Ghent closing a war that had become militarily inconclusive. Neither side wanted to continue fighting since the main causes had disappeared and since there were no large lost territories for one side or the other to reclaim by force. Insofar as they see the war's resolution as allowing two centuries of peaceful and mutually beneficial intercourse between the U.S., Britain and Canada, these historians often conclude that all three nations were the "real winners" of the War of 1812. These writers often add that the war could have been avoided in the first place by better diplomacy. It is seen as a mistake for everyone concerned because it was badly planned and marked by multiple fiascoes and failures on both sides, as shown especially by the repeated American failures to seize parts of Canada, and the failed British attack on New Orleans and upstate New York. [205][206]
Most historians agree that the U.S. achieved enough of their war goals to claim they too won the war, while the Indians were the losing party.[207] The British won by losing no territories and achieving their great war goal, the total defeat of Napoleon. U.S. won by (1) seizing Fort Erie along the Upper Canadian coast in the third and most successful offensive to use as a bargaining chip at the Treaty of Ghent, and (2) securing her honor and successfully resisting a powerful empire once again,[c] thus winning a "second war of independence";[208] and (2) ending the threat of Indian raids and the British plan for a semi-independent Indian sanctuary—thereby opening an unimpeded path for the United States' westward expansion.[209]
Sources are important. And there ya go. Mic drop :)
