Things might be a little strained between the US and the UK over Syria. But relations are nowhere near as bad as in 1814 when a British force attacked Washington

That tired old special relationship with the White House is under strain these days – with Britain and the US out of step on Syria. But we're still a long way short of what our relations with the White House were like 200 years ago when we Brits set fire to it. A British army scattered an American force outside Washington, marched in and burned both houses of Congress, the war and state departments, the treasury – and the White House.

It was the only time other than 9/11 that outsiders have struck at America's capital. The US had rather foolishly declared war on Britain, then the world's greatest naval power, over control of the seas. The trouble was we Brits were fighting Napoleon at the time. So it wasn't until we had packed him off to Elba in 1814 that the opportunity came – as Whitehall put it – "to give the Americans a good drubbing".

Off across the Atlantic went 4,500 grizzled veterans who had defeated the French in Europe. They landed on the coast of Maryland and trudged in the appalling August heat to Washington. America's fourth president, James Madison, sent his barely trained militiamen to face them – and in anticipation of an American victory, he and his wife Dolley ordered a lavish dinner to be prepared.

But no sooner was the table laid than news of the defeat arrived and Dolley bundled what belongings she could on to a cart and fled across the Potomac river. Not long after, the British burst into the presidential mansion and were delighted to find 40 places neatly laid, with meat roasting on spits and Madison's best wine on the sideboard in handsome cut glass decanters. The British commander, Maj Gen Robert Ross, reported that the meal intended for the Americans was "voraciously devoured by John Bull", and a toast "to the success of his Majesty's arms … was drunk in the best wines".

After dinner, Ross coolly ordered the chairs to be piled on the table and the building set alight. It was the single most destructive act committed by either side in the almost forgotten war of 1812. It left America utterly humiliated and bitterly resentful and was the lowest point in a relationship that was rebuilt – much like the gutted interior of the White House – into the one that we call "special" today.

Peter Snow's When Britain Burned the White House: The 1814 Invasion of Washington is published by John Murray, price £25. To order a copy for £20 including UK p&p, go to guardianbookshop.co.uk