Was Churchill a war criminal?

The claim that the British held fortifications on the US side of the border before the war is incorrect, the forts which were retained after the Treaty of Paris as a bargaining ploy over the non-payment by the USA of assets seized from loyalists (as agreed in the treaty) were abandoned after the Jay Treaty of 1794.
Jay Treaty - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The fact that the war of 1812 made the USA feel more like a nation doesn't really have any relevance on who won the war

It should also be pointed out that the British had ratified the treaty on their side on the 24th December 1814, and that the battle did not alter the terms of the treaty in any way what so ever.

 

There's no way the raid can be classed as area bombing. British bombers were under strict orders, if they couldn't find their target, they had to bring their bombs home, or jettison them at sea. IIRC less than half the aircraft sent to Berlin that night actually bombed.

And daylight bombing was just as inaccurate. On 10 May Germany launched air attacks across western Europe. One of those raids, 3 bombers sent to attack an airfield at Dijon, actually dropped their bombs on the German city of Freiburg. Instead of an airfield they bombed a town 150 miles away. And that was in broad daylight.

The first deaths in London were also in daylight. On 15 August a Luftwaffe raid on Croydon airfield managed to hit a perfume factory, killing 60 civilians. A day or 2 later an attack on an electricity substation in Wimbledon killed another 15.

Apart from Poland, the Luftwaffe bombed towns across Norway. Take the attack on Kristiansund as an example. The Luftwaffe destroyed about half the town in a single attack. It was a long way behind the lines and contained no military targets.

There was also Luftwaffe bombing of towns in Britain before the first raid on Berlin. In July 1940 about 250 British civilians were killed by German bombing. In August over 1,070. The first raid on Berlin was on the 25 August.

No, there was an analogous situation; naval bombardment. Hague 1907 laid down the limits for naval bombardment:

Note the "undefended" bit.

The Laconia order also went further than ordering submarines not to aid their victims: