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{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Napoleonic Wars
, partof = the
File:Napoleonic Wars.jpg, 300px, Napoleonic Wars
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Left to right, top to bottom:
Battles of
({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=05, day1=18, year1=1803, month2=11, day2=20, year2=1815) , place =
36
} in the Imperial and Royal Army, and also by a traditional army ("insurrectio"). The Hungarian Diet voted to join in war and agreed to pay one third of the war expenses., group=lower-alpha , {{flag, Liechtenstein, 1719 , {{flagicon image, Flag of the Prince-Bishopric of Montenegro2.svg
{{flagicon, French First Republic
{{flagicon, First French Empire
{{collapsible list , expand = yes , bullets = yes , title = French clients: , {{flag, Batavian RepublicFrom 1803 till 1806, when it became the
{{flagicon, Ottoman Empire, 1793 Sultan Mustafa IV
{{flagicon, Ottoman Empire, 1793 Sultan Mahmud II , {{flagicon, Netherlands
{{flagicon image , Flag of Agha Mohammad Khan.svg
351
, url-access=registration , French clients and allies: 500,000 regulars and militia at peak strength (1813) , Total: 2,000,000 regulars and militia at peak strength (1813) , casualties1 = {{Unbulleted list , {{flagicon, Austrian Empire Austria: 350,220 killed in action (500,000 total dead) , {{flagicon, Spain, 1785 Spain: more than 300,000 killed in action and more than 586,000 dead in total including civilians{{sfn, Canales, 2004 , {{flagicon, Russian Empire Russia: 289,000 killed in action{{harvnb, White, 2014 cites {{harvnb, Danzer (600,000 total dead including civilians) , {{flagicon, Kingdom of Prussia, 1803 Prussia: 134,000 killed in action (300,000 total dead including civilians) , {{flagicon, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland United Kingdom: 125,000{{harvnb, White, 2014 cites {{harvnb, Payne killed in action (300,000 total dead) , {{flagicon, Kingdom of Portugal, 1750 Portugal: up to 250,000 total dead or missing including civilians , {{flagicon, Napoleonic Italy Italy: 120,000 total dead or missing including civilians{{harvnb, White, 2014, loc=''Napoleonic Wars'' cites {{harvnb, Urlanis, 1971 , {{flagicon, Ottoman Empire, 1793 Ottoman Empire: 50,000 total dead or missing
Total: 4,000,000 total military and civilian dead or missing , casualties2 = {{flagicon, First French Empire French Empire: * 306,000 French killed in action{{sfn, White, 2014 * 65,000 French allies killed in action{{sfn, Philo, 2010 * 800,000 French and allies killed by wounds, accidents or disease{{sfn, Philo, 2010 * 600,000 civilians killed{{sfn, Philo, 2010
Total: 2,000,000 dead{{sfn, Bodart, 1916{{page needed, date=May 2021 , campaignbox = {{Campaignbox Napoleonic Wars {{Campaignbox Anglo-French wars {{OSM Location map , coord = {{coord, 48, 14 , zoom = 3 , float = right , nolabels = 1 , width = 300 , height = 240 , title = Napoleonic Wars , auto-caption=1 , shapeD=n-circle , shape-colorD=dark blue , label-colorD=dark blue , shape-outlineD=white , label-sizeD = 12 , label-posD = left , mark-sizeD=16 , mark-coord1 = {{coord, 49.13, 16.76 , mark-title1 =
193–194
} There are numerous opinions on the date to use as the formal beginning of the Napoleonic Wars; 18 May 1803 is often used, when Britain and France ended the only short period of peace between 1792 and 1814.{{sfn, Kagan, 2007, pp=42–43 The Napoleonic Wars began with the
51
} Tactically, the
The outbreak of the French Revolution had been received with great alarm by the rulers of Europe's continental powers, further exacerbated by the execution of Louis XVI, and the overthrow of the French monarchy. In 1793, 
Bonaparte returned to France from Egypt on 23 August 1799, his campaign there having failed. He seized control of the French government on November 9, in a bloodless coup d'état, replacing the Directory with the
193–194
} He further reorganised the French military forces, establishing a large reserve army positioned to support campaigns on the
Britain was irritated by several French actions following the
Beyond minor naval actions against British imperial interests, the Napoleonic Wars were much less global in their scope than preceding conflicts such as the
Britain gathered allies to form the Third Coalition against The French Empire after Napoleon was self-proclaimed as emperor.{{sfn, Schroeder, 1994, pp=231–86{{page range too broad, date=May 2021{{sfn, Kagan, 2007, pp=141ff In response, Napoleon seriously considered an invasion of Great Britain, massing 180,000 troops at 
In April 1805, Britain and Russia signed a treaty with the aim of removing the French from the 
Austria signed the Treaty of Pressburg (26 December 1805) and left the coalition. The treaty required the Austrians to give up Venetia to the French-dominated
In the next stage of the war, the French drove Russian forces out of Poland and employed many Polish and German soldiers in several sieges in
Britain's first response to Napoleon's Continental System was to launch a major naval attack against
In 1807, Napoleon created a powerful outpost of his empire in Central Europe.
243
} The Peninsular campaigns witnessed 60 major battles and 30 major sieges, more than any other of the Napoleonic conflicts, and lasted over 6 years, far longer than any of the others. France and her allies lost at least 91,000 killed in action and 237,000 wounded in the peninsula.{{sfn, Clodfelter, 2017, page=157 From 1812, the Peninsular War merged with the
Austria achieved some initial victories against the thinly spread army of Marshal Berthier. Napoleon left Berthier with only 170,000 men to defend France's entire eastern frontier (in the 1790s, 800,000 men had carried out the same task, but holding a much shorter front).
In the east, the Austrians drove into the Duchy of Warsaw but suffered defeat at the
The abdication of Kings
The Treaty of Tilsit in 1807 resulted in the Anglo–Russian War (1807–1812). Emperor 
The main Russian army was commanded by 
The French tried to reach Kaluga and swing through southern Russia, where they could find food and forage supplies. In the Battle of Maloyaroslavets, the replenished Russian army blocked the road to Kaluga. While an indecisive engagement, it nevertheless doomed the {{lang, fr, Grande Armée; with the Russians refusing to be dislodged, Napoleon was forced to retreat back down the Smolensk road along which he had already advanced, and which had already been denuded of supplies - most crucially, food.
The French supply chain, already in tatters from the attrition of wagons and horses, began to collapse completely. The lack of horses also rendered Napoleon's cavalry ineffective, leaving the {{lang, fr, Grande Armée vulnerable to sustained guerrilla warfare by Russian peasants and irregular troops. The {{lang, fr, Grande Armée was dealt a further catastrophic blow by the onset of the Russian Winter, which the underfed and undersupplied {{lang, fr, Grande Armée was unprepared to cope with.
When the remnants of Napoleon's army Battle of Berezina, struggled across the Berezina River in November with the Russian army in pursuit, only 27,000 fit soldiers survived, with 380,000 men dead or missing and 100,000 captured.{{sfn, Upshall, p=17, 1993 Napoleon then left his men and returned to Paris to prepare the defence against the advancing Russians. The campaign had effectively ended on 14 December 1812, when the last enemy troops left Russia. The Russians had lost around 210,000 men, but with their shorter supply lines, they soon replenished their armies. For every six soldiers of the {{lang, fr, Grande Armée that entered Russia, only one would make it out in fighting condition.
In the 
Napoleon succeeded in bringing the imperial forces in the region to around 650,000—although only 250,000 came under his direct command, with another 120,000 under 
Napoleon then fought a series of battles in France, including the Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube, but the overwhelming numbers of the Allies steadily forced him back. The Allies Battle of Paris (1814), entered Paris on 30 March 1814. During this time Napoleon fought his Six Days' Campaign, in which he won many battles against the enemy forces advancing towards Paris. During this entire campaign, he never managed to field more than 70,000 men against more than half a million coalition soldiers. At the Treaty of Chaumont (9 March 1814), the Allies agreed to preserve the coalition until Napoleon's total defeat.{{sfn, Dwyer, 2013, pp=464–498
Napoleon determined to fight on, even now, incapable of fathoming his fall from power. During the campaign, he had issued a decree for 900,000 fresh conscripts, but only a fraction of these materialised, and Napoleon's schemes for victory eventually gave way to the reality of his hopeless situation. Napoleon abdicated on 6 April. Occasional military actions continued in Italy, Spain, and Holland in early 1814.{{sfn, Dwyer, 2013, pp=464–498 An armistice was signed with the Allied Powers on 23 April 1814. The Treaty of Paris (1814), First Treaty of Paris, signed on 30 May 1814, officially ended the War of the Sixth Coalition.
The victors exiled Napoleon to the island of Elba and restored the French House of Bourbon, Bourbon monarchy in the person of
The Seventh Coalition (1815) pitted Britain, Russia, Prussia, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, the 
Napoleon took the reserve of the Army of the North, and reunited his forces with those of Ney to pursue Wellington's army, after he ordered Marshal Emmanuel, marquis de Grouchy, Grouchy to take the right wing of the Army of the North and stop the Prussians regrouping. In the first of a series of miscalculations, both Grouchy and Napoleon failed to realise that the Prussian forces were already reorganised and were assembling at the city of Wavre. The French army did nothing to stop a rather leisurely retreat that took place throughout the night and into the early morning by the Prussians. As the 4th, 1st, and 2nd Prussian Corps marched through the town towards Waterloo, the 3rd Prussian Corps took up blocking positions across the river, and although Grouchy engaged and defeated the Prussian rearguard under the command of Lt-Gen Johann von Thielmann, von Thielmann in the Battle of Wavre (18–19 June) it was 12 hours too late. In the end, 17,000 Prussians had kept 33,000 badly needed French reinforcements off the field.
Napoleon delayed the start of fighting at the Battle of Waterloo on the morning of 18 June for several hours while he waited for the ground to dry after the previous night's rain. By late afternoon, the French army had not succeeded in driving Wellington's forces from the escarpment on which they stood. When the Prussians arrived and attacked the French right flank in ever-increasing numbers, Napoleon's strategy of keeping the coalition armies divided had failed and a combined coalition general advance drove his army from the field in confusion.
Grouchy organised a successful and well-ordered retreat towards Paris, where Marshal Davout had 117,000 men ready to turn back the 116,000 men of Blücher and Wellington. General Dominique Vandamme, Vandamme was defeated at the Battle of Issy and negotiations for surrender had begun.
On arriving at Paris three days after Waterloo, Napoleon still clung to the hope of a concerted national resistance; but the temper of the Corps législatif, legislative chambers, and of the public generally, did not favour his view. Lacking support Napoleon abdicated again on 22 June 1815, and on 15 July he surrendered to the British squadron at
France's constant warfare with the combined forces of different combinations of, and eventually all, of the other major powers of Europe for over two decades finally took its toll. By the end of the Napoleonic Wars, France no longer held the role of the dominant historical powers, power in Continental Europe, as it had since the times of Louis XIV, as the
Until the time of 
The Battle of Marengo, which largely ended the War of the Second Coalition, was fought with fewer than 60,000 men on both sides. The 
The French army peaked in size in the 1790s with 1.5 million Frenchmen enlisted although battlefield strength was much less. Haphazard bookkeeping, rudimentary medical support and lax recruitment standards ensured that many soldiers either never existed, fell ill or were unable to withstand the physical demands of soldiering.
About 2.8 million Frenchmen fought on land and about 150,000 at sea, bringing the total for France to almost 3 million combatants during almost 25 years of warfare.
Britain had 750,000 men under arms between 1792 and 1815 as its British Army, army expanded from 40,000 men in 1793{{cn, date=April 2024 to a peak of 250,000 men in 1813. Over 250,000 sailors served in the 
Prussia never had more than 320,000 men under arms at any time. In 1813–1815, the core of its Prussian Army, army (about 100,000 men) was characterised by competence and determination, but the bulk of its forces consisted of second- and third-line troops, as well as Landwehr, militiamen of variable strength. Many of these troops performed reasonably well and often displayed considerable bravery but lacked the professionalism of their regular counterparts and were not as well equipped. Others were largely unfit for operations, except sieges. During the 1813 campaign, 130,000 men were used in the military operations, with 100,000 effectively participating in the main German campaign of 1813, German campaign, and about 30,000 being used to besiege isolated French garrisons.{{sfn, Leggiere, 2014
Spanish Army (Peninsular War), Spain's armies also peaked at around 200,000 men, not including more than 50,000 guerrillas scattered over Spain. In addition the Maratha Empire, the
Historians have explored how the Napoleonic wars became total wars. Most historians argue that the escalation in size and scope came from two sources. First was the ideological clash between revolutionary/egalitarian and conservative/hierarchical belief systems. Second was the emergence of
online
political and diplomatic context * Bruce, Robert B. et al. ''Fighting Techniques of the Napoleonic Age 1792–1815: Equipment, Combat Skills, and Tactics'' (2008
excerpt and text search
* Clausewitz, Carl von (2018). ''Napoleon's 1796 Italian Campaign.'' Trans and ed. Nicholas Murray and Christopher Pringle. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. {{ISBN, 978-0-7006-2676-2 * Clausewitz, Carl von (2020). ''Napoleon Absent, Coalition Ascendant: The 1799 Campaign in Italy and Switzerland, Volume 1.'' Trans and ed. Nicholas Murray and Christopher Pringle. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. {{ISBN, 978-0-7006-3025-7 * Clausewitz, Carl von (2021). ''The Coalition Crumbles, Napoleon Returns: The 1799 Campaign in Italy and Switzerland, Volume 2.'' Trans and ed. Nicholas Murray and Christopher Pringle. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. {{ISBN, 978-0-7006-3034-9 * Gates, David. ''The Napoleonic Wars 1803–1815'' (NY: Random House, 2011) * Gulick, E.V. "The final coalition and the Congress of Vienna, 1813–15," in C.W. Crawley, ed. ''The New Cambridge Modern History: IX. War and Peace in an age of upheaval 1793–1830'' (Cambridge University Press, 1965) pp. 629–668
online
* Markham, Felix. "The Napoleonic Adventure" in C.W. Crawley, ed. ''The New Cambridge Modern History: IX. War and Peace in an age of upheaval 1793–1830'' (Cambridge University Press, 1965) pp. 307–336
online
* Alan Palmer, Palmer, Alan. ''An Encyclopaedia of Napoleon's Europe'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1984) {{ISBN, 978-0-29778-394-7 * {{Cite book , last=Pope , first=Stephen , title=The Cassel Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars , publisher=Cassel , year=1999 , isbn=0-304-35229-2 * Ross, Steven T. ''European Diplomatic History, 1789–1815: France Against Europe'' (1969) * Ross, Steven T. ''The A to Z of the Wars of the French Revolution'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010); 1st ed. was ''Historical dictionary of the wars of the French Revolution'' (Scarecrow Press, 1998) * {{Cite journal , last=Rothenberg , first=Gunther E. , author-link=Gunther E. Rothenberg , year=1988 , title=The Origins, Causes, and Extension of the Wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon , journal=Journal of Interdisciplinary History , volume=18 , pages=771–793 , doi=10.2307/204824 , jstor=204824 , number=4 * Rothenberg, E. Gunther. ''The Art of Warfare in the Age of Napoleon'' (1977) * {{Cite book , last=Schneid , first=Frederick C. , url=http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0159-20101025334 , title=The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , publisher=Institute of European History , year=2011 , location=Mainz * Schneid, Frederick C. ''Napoleon's Conquest of Europe: The War of the Third Coalition'' (2005
excerpt and text search
* Schneid, Frederick C. ''Napoleonic Wars: The Essential Bibliography'' (2012
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121 pp
online review in H-FRANCE
* Smith, Digby George. ''The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book: Actions and Losses in Personnel, Colours, Standards, and Artillery'' (1998) * Stirk, Peter. "The concept of military occupation in the era of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars." ''Comparative Legal History'' 3#1 (2015): 60–84.
excerpt vol 1
* Elting, John R. ''Swords Around a Throne: Napoleon's Grand Armée'' (1988). * Forrest, Alan I. ''Napoleon's Men: The Soldiers of the Empire Revolution and Empire'' (2002). * Forrest, Alan. ''Conscripts and Deserters: The Army and French Society during Revolution and the Empire'' (1989
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* Gallaher, John G. ''Napoleon's Enfant Terrible: General Dominique Vandamme'' (2008)
excerpt
* Griffith, Paddy. ''The Art of War of Revolutionary France, 1789–1802'' (1998
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* Haythornthwaite, Philip J. ''Napoleon's Military Machine'' (1995
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* Hazen, Charles Downer. ''The French Revolution and Napoleon'' (1917
online free
* Nester, William R. ''Napoleon and the Art of Diplomacy: How War and Hubris Determined the Rise and Fall of the French Empire'' (2011)
excerpt
* Parker, Harold T. "Why Did Napoleon Invade Russia? A Study in Motivation and the Interrelations of Personality and Social Structure," ''Journal of Military History'' (1990) 54#2 pp. 131–14
in JSTOR
* Riley, Jonathon P. ''Napoleon as a General'' (Hambledon Press, 2007) * Alexander Mikaberidze, Mikaberidze, Alexander. ''The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History'' (Oxford University Press) February 2020 * Wilkin Bernard and Wilkin René: ''Fighting for Napoleon: French Soldiers’ Letters 1799–1815'' Pen and Sword Military (2016) * Wilkin Bernard and Wilkin René: ''Fighting the British: French Eyewitness Accounts from the Napoleonic Wars'' Pen and Sword Military (2018) * Geerts, Gérard A. ''Samenwerking en Confrontatie: De Frans-Nederlandse militaire betrekkingen, voornamelijk in Franse tijd'' (Bataafschse Leeuw, 2002)
online
* Forrest, Alan et al. eds. ''War Memories: The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in Modern European Culture'' (2013) * Gill, John H. "From Great Captains to Common Grognards: research opportunities in Napoleonic military history." ''War & Society'' 41.1 (2022): 69–84. {{doi, 10.1080/07292473.2022.2021752 * Hyatt, Albert M.J. "The Origins of Napoleonic Warfare: A Survey of Interpretations." ''Military Affairs'' (1966) 30#4 pp. 177–185. * Linch, Kevin. "War Memories: The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in Modern European Culture." ''Social History'' 40#2 (2015): 253–254. * Martin, Jean-Clément. "War Memories. The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in Modern European Culture." ''Annales Historiques De La Revolution Francaise''. (2015) No. 381. * {{Cite book , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VT7fAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA391 , title=Reader's Guide to Military History , publisher=Routledge , year=2001 , isbn=978-1-135-95970-8 , editor-last=Messenger , editor-first=Charles , pages=391–427 evaluation of the major books on Napoleon and his wars published by 2001. * Alexander Mikaberidze, Mikaberidze, Alexander. "Recent Trends in the Russian Historiography of the Napoleonic Wars," ''Journal of Military History'' (2010) 74#1 pp. 189–194.
online
* Kennedy, Catriona. ''Narratives of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars: Military and Civilian Experience in Britain and Ireland'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) * Leighton, James. ''Witnessing the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in German Central Europe'' (2013), diaries, letters and accounts by civilian
Online review
"A new scholarly journal in 2023: ''European Review of Studies on the Napoleonic and Restoration Periods''{{-"
The Legend of Bonaparte
The Napoleonic Wars Exhibition held by The European Library
15th Kings Light Dragoons (Hussars) Re-enactment Regiment
Reenactment and Living History Society
Napoleon, His Army and Enemies
Napoleonic Guide
*
War and Peace
' by Leo Tolstoy at Project Gutenberg
Napoleonic Wars
Fondation Napoléon
The Napoleon Series
{{Client states of the Great French War {{Napoleonic Wars {{Waterloo Campaign {{History of Europe {{Authority control Napoleonic Wars, 1800s conflicts 1800s in France 1810s conflicts 1810s in France Anglo-French wars Global conflicts
French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, sometimes called the Great French War, were a series of conflicts between the French and several European monarchies between 1792 and 1815. They encompass first the French Revolutionary Wars agains ...
, image = War of the Third Coalition
The War of the Third Coalition)
* In French historiography, it is known as the Austrian campaign of 1805 (french: Campagne d'Autriche de 1805) or the German campaign of 1805 (french: Campagne d'Allemagne de 1805) was a European conflict spanni ...
rect 0 480 639 959 War of the Fourth Coalition
The Fourth Coalition fought against Napoleon's French Empire and were defeated in a war spanning 1806–1807. The main coalition partners were Prussia and Russia with Saxony, Sweden, and Great Britain also contributing. Excluding Prussia, s ...
rect 640 480 1279 959 War of the Fourth Coalition
The Fourth Coalition fought against Napoleon's French Empire and were defeated in a war spanning 1806–1807. The main coalition partners were Prussia and Russia with Saxony, Sweden, and Great Britain also contributing. Excluding Prussia, s ...
rect 0 960 639 1439 Peninsular War#Third Portuguese campaign
rect 640 960 1279 1439 Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
rect 0 1440 639 1919 War of the Fifth Coalition
The War of the Fifth Coalition was a European conflict in 1809 that was part of the Napoleonic Wars and the Coalition Wars. The main conflict took place in central Europe between the Austrian Empire of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, Francis ...
rect 640 1440 1279 1919 French invasion of Russia
The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign, the Second Polish War, the Army of Twenty nations, and the Patriotic War of 1812 was launched by Napoleon Bonaparte to force the Russian Empire back into the continental block ...
rect 0 1920 639 2399 German campaign of 1813
rect 640 1920 1279 2399 Campaign in north-east France (1814)
rect 0 2400 1279 2879 Hundred Days
The Hundred Days (french: les Cent-Jours ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration ...
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Battles of
Austerlitz Austerlitz may refer to:
History
* Battle of Austerlitz, an 1805 victory by the French Grand Army of Napoleon Bonaparte
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* Austerlitz, German name for Slavkov u Brna in the Czech Republic, which gave its name to the Battle of Austerlitz an ...
, Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, Friedland, Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
, Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
, Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
, Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, Waterloo
Waterloo most commonly refers to:
* Battle of Waterloo, a battle on 18 June 1815 in which Napoleon met his final defeat
* Waterloo, Belgium, where the battle took place.
Waterloo may also refer to:
Other places
Antarctica
*King George Island (S ...
, date = {{start and end dates, 1803, 5, 18, 1815, 11, 20, df=yes({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=05, day1=18, year1=1803, month2=11, day2=20, year2=1815) , place =
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
, Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...
, Europe
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, French Guiana
French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...
, Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
, Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
, North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
, North Sea
The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...
, Río de la Plata, West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...
, Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...
, East Indies
The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around t ...
, Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
, South America
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, Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
, result = Coalition victoryCongress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...
{{Collapsible list, title=Full results, titlestyle=font-weight:normal;background:transparent;text-align:center;,
* Second Treaty of Paris
* Exile of Napoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
to Saint Helena
Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...
* Fall of the First French Empire
The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Eu ...
* Restoration of the Bourbon monarchy
* Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
and Denmark–Norway
Denmark–Norway (Danish and Norwegian: ) was an early modern multi-national and multi-lingual real unionFeldbæk 1998:11 consisting of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Norway (including the then Norwegian overseas possessions: the Faroe I ...
.
* Decline of the Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch Empires.
* Rise of the British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
as the dominant world superpower{{Cite encyclopedia , title=The Royal Navy , encyclopedia=Britannica Online , publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica , url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/511494/The-Royal-Navy , access-date=15 February 2016 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226110624/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Royal-Navy , archive-date=26 December 2018 , url-status=live
* Establishment of the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway
United may refer to:
Places
* United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community
* United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
Arts and entertainment Films
* ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film
* ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...
,{{sfn, Schäfer, 2002, p=137 and the United Kingdom of the Netherlands
The United Kingdom of the Netherlands ( nl, Verenigd Koninkrijk der Nederlanden; french: Royaume uni des Pays-Bas) is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed between 1815 and 1839. The United Netherlands was cr ...
{{Citation not found, date=April 2021
* Rise of Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
as a new European power
* Beginning of Italian and German unifications
* Widespread rise of nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
and liberalism
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
in Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
{{Citation not found, date=April 2021{{sfn, Payne, 1973, pp=432–433
* Major population loss in France and the rest of Continental Western Europe{{sfn, Esdaile, 2009{{page needed, date=February 2017
, combatant1 = {{Unbulleted list
, Coalition forces:
, {{flagicon, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, {{flag, Holy Roman Empire, Germany {{small, (until 1806)
, {{flagcountry, Austrian Empire{{efn, 1805, 1809, 1813–1815The term ''Austrian Empire'' came into use after Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French in 1804, by which Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor
Francis II (german: Franz II.; 12 February 1768 – 2 March 1835) was the last Holy Roman Emperor (from 1792 to 1806) and the founder and Emperor of the Austrian Empire, from 1804 to 1835. He assumed the title of Emperor of Austria in response ...
took the title Emperor of Austria (''{{lang, de, Kaiser von Österreich'') in response. The Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
was dissolved in 1806, and consequently ''Emperor of Austria'' became Francis' primary title. For this reason, ''Austrian Empire'' is often used instead of ''Holy Roman Empire'' for brevity's sake when speaking of the Napoleonic Wars, even though the two entities are not synonymous.Both Austria and Prussia briefly became allies of France and contributed forces to the French Invasion of Russia
The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign, the Second Polish War, the Army of Twenty nations, and the Patriotic War of 1812 was launched by Napoleon Bonaparte to force the Russian Empire back into the continental block ...
in 1812.
, {{flagcountry, Kingdom of Prussia, 1803{{efn, 1806–1807, 1813–1815
, {{flagcountry, Russian Empire{{efn, 1804–1807, 1812–1815Russia became an ally of France following the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807. The alliance broke down in 1810, which led to the French invasion in 1812. During that time Russia waged war against Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
(1808–1809) and the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
(1806–1812), and nominally against Britain (1807–1812).
, {{flagicon, Spain, 1785 Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
{{efn, 1808–1815Spain was an ally of France until a stealthy French invasion in 1808, then fought France in the Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
.
, {{flag, Sweden, naval{{efn, 1804–1809, 1812–1815Nominally, Sweden declared war against Great Britain after its defeat by Russia in the Finnish War (1808–1809).
, {{flagicon, Kingdom of Portugal, 1750 Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
{{efn, 1800–1807, 1809–1815
, {{flagicon, Ottoman Empire, 1793 Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
{{efn, 1807–1812, name="07-12"The Ottoman Empire fought against Napoleon in the French Campaign in Egypt and Syria
The French campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) was Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in the Ottoman territories of Egypt and Syria, proclaimed to defend French trade interests, to establish scientific enterprise in the region. It was the ...
as part of the French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...
. During the Napoleonic era of 1803 to 1815, the Empire participated in two wars against the Allies: against Britain in the Anglo-Turkish War (1807–1809) and against Russia in the Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812)
The Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812) between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire was one of the Russo-Ottoman Wars. Russia prevailed, but both sides wanted peace as they feared Napoleon's moves to the east.
Background
The war broke ou ...
. Russia was allied with Napoleon 1807–1810.
, {{flagcountry, Kingdom of Bavaria{{efn, 1813–1815, name="13–15"
, {{flagicon, Brunswick, 1814 Brunswick{{efn, 1815, name="year1815"
, {{flagicon, Kingdom of France French Royalists
, {{flagicon, Hanover, 1692 Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
Hanover was in a personal union
A personal union is the combination of two or more states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some extent interlink ...
with Great Britain
, {{flagcountry, Kingdom of Hungary (1526–1867){{efn, 1809{{efn, The Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...
participated in the war with separate Hungarian regiments{{sfn, Arnold, 1995, 36
} in the Imperial and Royal Army, and also by a traditional army ("insurrectio"). The Hungarian Diet voted to join in war and agreed to pay one third of the war expenses., group=lower-alpha , {{flag, Liechtenstein, 1719 , {{flagicon image, Flag of the Prince-Bishopric of Montenegro2.svg
Montenegro
)
, image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Podgorica
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, official_languages = M ...
{{efn, 1806–1807, 1813–1814
, {{flagicon image, Flag of the House of Nassau Weilburg.svg Nassau
Nassau may refer to:
Places Bahamas
*Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence
Canada
*Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792
*Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...
{{efn, name="year1815"
, {{flagicon, United Netherlands Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
{{efn, name="year1815"
, {{flagdeco, Baden, 1806 Baden
Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine.
History
The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden is ...
, {{flagicon, Papal States, old Papal States
The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...
, {{flagicon image, Flag of Agha Mohammad Khan.svg Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
{{efn, name="07-12"Qajar dynasty fought against Russia from 1804 to 1813; the Russians were allied with Napoleon 1807–1812.
, {{flagdeco, Kingdom of Sardinia, 1814 Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...
, {{flagcountry, Kingdom of Saxony, 1806{{efn, name="13–15"
, {{flagicon, Kingdom of Sicily Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
{{efn, 1806–1815{{efn, Sicily remained in personal union with Naples until Naples became a French client-republic following the Battle of Campo Tenese
The Battle of Campo Tenese (9 March 1806) saw two divisions of the First French Empire, Imperial French Army of Naples led by Jean Reynier attack the left wing of the Royal Neapolitan Army under Roger de Damas. Though the defenders were protect ...
in 1806., group=lower-alpha
, {{flagdeco, Switzerland Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, {{flagicon image, State flag simple of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.svg Tuscany
Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze'').
Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...
{{efn, name="year1815"
, {{flagcountry, Kingdom of Württemberg{{efn, name="13–15"
, {{flagicon, Denmark, 1785 Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
{{efn, 1814
, {{flagicon, Kingdom of France Bourbon France
The Kingdom of France ( fro, Reaume de France; frm, Royaulme de France; french: link=yes, Royaume de France) is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the Middle Ages, medieval and Early mod ...
{{efn, 1814-1815
, combatant2 = France and its client states:{{flagicon, French First Republic
French Republic
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
{{small, (until 1804){{flagicon, First French Empire
French Empire
French Empire (french: Empire Français, link=no) may refer to:
* First French Empire, ruled by Napoleon I from 1804 to 1814 and in 1815 and by Napoleon II in 1815, the French state from 1804 to 1814 and in 1815
* Second French Empire, led by Nap ...
{{small, (from 1804){{collapsible list , expand = yes , bullets = yes , title = French clients: , {{flag, Batavian RepublicFrom 1803 till 1806, when it became the
Kingdom of Holland
The Kingdom of Holland ( nl, Holland (contemporary), (modern); french: Royaume de Hollande) was created by Napoleon Bonaparte, overthrowing the Batavian Republic in March 1806 in order to better control the Netherlands. Since becoming Emperor ...
, {{flagicon image, Bandera de España 1808-1813.svg Bonapartist Spain
, Confederation of the Rhine
The Confederated States of the Rhine, simply known as the Confederation of the Rhine, also known as Napoleonic Germany, was a confederation of German client states established at the behest of Napoleon some months after he defeated Austria an ...
{{efn, 1808–1813Sixteen of France's allies among the German states (including Bavaria and Württemberg) established the Confederation of the Rhine
The Confederated States of the Rhine, simply known as the Confederation of the Rhine, also known as Napoleonic Germany, was a confederation of German client states established at the behest of Napoleon some months after he defeated Austria an ...
in July 1806 following the Battle of Austerlitz
The Battle of Austerlitz (2 December 1805/11 Frimaire An XIV FRC), also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of the most important and decisive engagements of the Napoleonic Wars. The battle occurred near the town of Austerlitz in ...
(December 1805). Following the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt (October 1806), various other German states that had previously fought alongside the anti-French allies, including Saxony and Westphalia, also allied with France and joined the Confederation. Saxony changed sides again in 1813 during the Battle of Leipzig
The Battle of Leipzig (french: Bataille de Leipsick; german: Völkerschlacht bei Leipzig, ); sv, Slaget vid Leipzig), also known as the Battle of the Nations (french: Bataille des Nations; russian: Битва народов, translit=Bitva ...
, causing most other member-states to quickly follow suit and declare war on France.Bavaria, Saxony, Westphalia, and Württemberg were the leading nations of the Confederation, but the Confederation was made up of a total of 43 principalities, kingdoms, and duchies.
* {{flagicon, Kingdom of Bavaria Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
* {{flagcountry, Kingdom of Saxony, 1806
* {{Flagicon, Westphalia Westphalia
Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants.
The territory of the regio ...
* {{flagicon, Kingdom of Württemberg Württemberg
Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart.
Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...
, {{flagicon, Duchy of Warsaw Duchy of WarsawNapoleon established the Duchy of Warsaw, ruled by the Kingdom of Saxony
The Kingdom of Saxony (german: Königreich Sachsen), lasting from 1806 to 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. The kingdom was formed from the Electorate of Saxon ...
in 1807. Polish Legions had already been serving in the French armies beforehand., {{flagicon, Kingdom of Etruria Etruria
Etruria () was a region of Central Italy, located in an area that covered part of what are now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and northern and western Umbria.
Etruscan Etruria
The ancient people of Etruria
are identified as Etruscan civiliza ...
The French Empire annexed the Kingdom of Etruria in 1807.
, {{flagicon image, Banner of the Lithuanian Provisional Governing Commission.svg Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
(1812)
, {{flagicon, Netherlands Holland
Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
The French Empire annexed the Kingdom of Holland
The Kingdom of Holland ( nl, Holland (contemporary), (modern); french: Royaume de Hollande) was created by Napoleon Bonaparte, overthrowing the Batavian Republic in March 1806 in order to better control the Netherlands. Since becoming Emperor ...
in 1810. Dutch troops fought against Napoleon during the Hundred Days
The Hundred Days (french: les Cent-Jours ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration ...
in 1815.
, {{flagicon, Napoleonic Italy Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, {{flagicon image, Flag of the Principality of Lucca (1805-1809).svg Lucca-Piombino
, {{flagicon, Kingdom of Naples, 1811 Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, briefly allied with Austria in 1814, allied with France again and fought against Austria during the Neapolitan War
The Neapolitan War, also known as the Austro-Neapolitan War, was a conflict between the Napoleonic Kingdom of Naples and the Austrian Empire. It started on 15 March 1815 when King Joachim Murat declared war on Austria and ended on 20 May 1815 ...
in 1815.
, Polish Legions
, {{flagicon, Old Swiss Confederacy Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
----
{{Unbulleted list
, {{flagicon, Austrian Empire Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
{{sfn, Leggiere, 2014{{efn, 1809–1813
, {{nowrap, {{flagicon, Denmark-Norway Denmark–Norway
Denmark–Norway (Danish and Norwegian: ) was an early modern multi-national and multi-lingual real unionFeldbæk 1998:11 consisting of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Norway (including the then Norwegian overseas possessions: the Faroe I ...
{{efn, 1807–1814Denmark–Norway remained neutral until the Battle of Copenhagen (1807)
The Second Battle of Copenhagen (or the Bombardment of Copenhagen) (16 August – 7 September 1807) was a British bombardment of the Danish capital, Copenhagen, in order to capture or destroy the Dano-Norwegian fleet during the Napoleonic War ...
. The King of Denmark-Norway was compelled to cede The Kingdom of Norway to The King of Sweden by the Treaty of Kiel
The Treaty of Kiel ( da, Kieltraktaten) or Peace of Kiel (Swedish and no, Kielfreden or ') was concluded between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Kingdom of Sweden on one side and the Kingdoms of Denmark and Norway on the ...
in 1814. Following a brief Swedish campaign against Norway, Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
entered a personal union
A personal union is the combination of two or more states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some extent interlink ...
with Sweden.
, {{flagicon image, Flag of Agha Mohammad Khan.svg Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
{{efn, 1804–1807, 1812–1813
, {{flagicon, Ottoman Empire, 1793 Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
{{efn, 1807–1812, name="07-12", {{flagicon, Kingdom of Prussia, 1803 Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
{{efn, , name="07-12"{{sfn, Leggiere, 2014
, {{flagicon, Russian Empire Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
{{efn, name="07-12"
, {{flagicon, Spain, 1785 Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
{{efn, 1803–1808
, {{flag, United States, 1795{{efn, Co-Belligerent during War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
, 1812–1815
, {{flagicon, Ottoman Empire, 1793 Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
{{efn, 1807–1812, name="07-12", {{flagicon, Ottoman Empire, 1793 Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
{{efn, 1807–1812, name="07-12"The Ottoman Empire fought against Napoleon in the French Campaign in Egypt and Syria
The French campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) was Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in the Ottoman territories of Egypt and Syria, proclaimed to defend French trade interests, to establish scientific enterprise in the region. It was the ...
as part of the French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...
. During the Napoleonic era of 1803 to 1815, the Empire participated in two wars against the Allies: against Britain in the Anglo-Turkish War (1807–1809) and against Russia in the Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812)
The Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812) between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire was one of the Russo-Ottoman Wars. Russia prevailed, but both sides wanted peace as they feared Napoleon's moves to the east.
Background
The war broke ou ...
.
, {{flagicon, Netherlands Holland
Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
Russia was allied with Napoleon 1807–1810., {{flagicon, Papal States, old Papal States
The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...
, {{flagicon image, Flag of Agha Mohammad Khan.svg
, commander1 = {{Unbulleted list
, {{flagdeco, Holy Roman Empire{{flagdeco, Austrian Empire Francis I Francis I or Francis the First may refer to:
* Francesco I Gonzaga (1366–1407)
* Francis I, Duke of Brittany (1414–1450), reigned 1442–1450
* Francis I of France (1494–1547), King of France, reigned 1515–1547
* Francis I, Duke of Saxe-Lau ...
, {{flagicon, Kingdom of Prussia, 1803 Frederick William III
, {{flagdeco, Kingdom of Naples{{flagdeco, Kingdom of Sicily, Ferdinand I
, {{flagicon, Russian Empire Alexander I Alexander I may refer to:
* Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC
* Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus
* Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome
* Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of ...
, {{flagicon, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
, {{flagicon, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister of ...
, {{flagicon, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Henry Addington
Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, (30 May 175715 February 1844) was an English Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1804.
Addington is best known for obtaining the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, an ...
, {{flagicon, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland William Pitt #
, {{flagicon, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland William Grenville
William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, (25 October 175912 January 1834) was a British Pittite Tory politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1806 to 1807, but was a supporter of the Whigs (British political pa ...
, {{flagicon, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland William Cavendish
, {{flagicon, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Spencer Perceval
, {{flagicon, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Robert Jenkinson
, {{flagicon, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Horatio Nelson
Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and unconventional tactics brought abo ...
{{KIA
, {{flagicon, Spain, 1785 Ferdinand VII
, house = Bourbon-Anjou
, father = Charles IV of Spain
, mother = Maria Luisa of Parma
, birth_date = 14 October 1784
, birth_place = El Escorial, Spain
, death_date =
, death_place = Madrid, Spain
, burial_plac ...
, {{flagicon, Sweden, naval Gustav IV Adolf
, {{flagicon, Sweden, naval Charles John
, {{flagicon, Kingdom of Portugal, 1750 Maria I
Dom (title), Dona Maria I (17 December 1734 – 20 March 1816) was Queen of Portugal from 24 February 1777 until her death in 1816. Known as Maria the Pious in Portugal and Maria the Mad in Brazil, she was the first undisputed queen regnant of Por ...
, {{flagicon, Ottoman Empire, 1793 Sultan Selim III{{flagicon, Ottoman Empire, 1793 Sultan Mustafa IV
{{flagicon, Ottoman Empire, 1793 Sultan Mahmud II , {{flagicon, Netherlands
William I
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087 ...
, {{flagicon, Kingdom of France Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...
, {{flagicon, Kingdom of France Michel Ney{{efn, In 1814 Ney betrayed Napoleon but in 1815 he was sent to arrest Napoleon but rejoined him
, {{flagicon, Kingdom of Bavaria Maximilian I Joseph{{efn, 1813-1815
, commander2 = {{Unbulleted list
, {{flagicon, First French Empire Napoleon I
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
{{Surrendered
, {{flagicon, First French Empire Michel Ney{{Executed
, {{flagicon, First French Empire Jean Lannes{{KIA
, {{flagicon, First French Empire Louis-Nicolas Davout
Louis-Nicolas d'Avout (10 May 1770 – 1 June 1823), better known as Davout, 1st Duke of Auerstaedt, 1st Prince of Eckmühl, was a French military commander and Marshal of the Empire who served during both the French Revolutionary Wars and t ...
, {{flagicon, First French Empire Jean-Baptiste Bessières{{KIA
, {{flagicon, First French Empire Jean-Baptiste Jourdan
Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, 1st Count Jourdan (29 April 1762 – 23 November 1833), was a French military commander who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was made a Marshal of the Empire by Emperor Napoleon I in ...
, {{flagicon, First French Empire Jean-de-Dieu Soult
, {{flagicon, First French Empire Nicolas Charles Oudinot
Nicolas Charles Oudinot, 1st Count Oudinot, 1st Duke of Reggio (25 April 1767 in Bar-le-Duc – 13 September 1847 in Paris), was a Marshal of the Empire. He is known to have been wounded 34 times in battle, being hit by artillery shells, sabers, ...
, {{flagicon, First French Empire Louis-Gabriel Suchet
Louis-Gabriel Suchet (2 March 1770 – 3 January 1826), Duke of Albufera (french: Duc d'Albuféra), was a French Marshal of the Empire and one of the most successful commanders of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He is regarded ...
, {{flagicon, First French Empire Guillaume Brune
Guillaume Marie-Anne Brune, 1st Count Brune (, 13 March 1764 – 2 August 1815) was a French military commander, Marshal of the Empire, and political figure who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.
Early life
Bru ...
{{Assassinated
, {{flagicon, First French Empire Louis-Alexandre Berthier{{DOW
, {{flagicon, First French Empire François Joseph Lefebvre
, {{flagicon, Kingdom of Bavaria Maximilian I Joseph{{efn, name="untilLeipzig", until the eve of the Battle of Leipzig
The Battle of Leipzig (french: Bataille de Leipsick; german: Völkerschlacht bei Leipzig, ); sv, Slaget vid Leipzig), also known as the Battle of the Nations (french: Bataille des Nations; russian: Битва народов, translit=Bitva ...
, 1813
, {{flagicon, Denmark-Norway Frederick VI
, {{flagicon, Duchy of Warsaw Józef Poniatowski{{KIA
, {{flagicon, Batavian Republic Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck
Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck (31 October 1761 – 15 February 1825), Lord of Nyenhuis, Peckedam and Gellicum, was a Dutch jurist, ambassador and politician who served as Grand Pensionary of the Batavian Republic from 1805 to 1806.
Education
Schi ...
, {{flagicon, Netherlands Louis Bonaparte
Louis Napoléon Bonaparte (born Luigi Buonaparte; 2 September 1778 – 25 July 1846) was a younger brother of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. He was a monarch in his own right from 1806 to 1810, ruling over the Kingdom of Holland (a French cl ...
, {{flagicon, Napoleonic Italy Eugène de Beauharnais
Eugène Rose de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg (; 3 September 1781 – 21 February 1824) was a French nobleman, statesman, and military commander who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.
Through the second marr ...
, {{flagdeco, Kingdom of Naples, 1811{{flagdeco, First French Empire Joachim Murat{{executed{{flagicon image , Flag of Agha Mohammad Khan.svg
Fath Ali Shah Qajar
Fath-Ali Shah Qajar ( fa, فتحعلىشاه قاجار, Fatḥ-ʻAli Šâh Qâjâr; May 1769 – 24 October 1834) was the second Shah (king) of Qajar Iran. He reigned from 17 June 1797 until his death on 24 October 1834. His reign saw the irr ...
, {{flagicon, Kingdom of Saxony, 1806 Frederick Augustus I{{efn, name="untilLeipzig"
, {{flagicon image, Bandera de España 1808-1813.svg Joseph I
, {{flagicon, Westphalia Jerôme I
, {{flagicon, Kingdom of Württemberg Frederick I{{efn, until 1813
, {{flagdeco, United States, 1795 Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...
{{efn, until 1809
, {{flagdeco, United States, 1795 James Madison
James Madison Jr. (March 16, 1751June 28, 1836) was an American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father. He served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817. Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution" for hi ...
{{efn, War of 1812
, {{flagicon, Russian Empire Alexander I Alexander I may refer to:
* Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC
* Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus
* Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome
* Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of ...
{{efn, until 1812
, {{flagdeco, Sweden, naval{{flagdeco, First French Empire Jean Bernadotte
sv, Karl Johan Baptist Julius
, spouse =
, issue = Oscar I of Sweden
, house = Bernadotte
, father = Henri Bernadotte
, mother = Jeanne de Saint-Jean
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Pau, ...
{{efn, until 1813
, {{flagicon, Austrian Empire Francis I Francis I or Francis the First may refer to:
* Francesco I Gonzaga (1366–1407)
* Francis I, Duke of Brittany (1414–1450), reigned 1442–1450
* Francis I of France (1494–1547), King of France, reigned 1515–1547
* Francis I, Duke of Saxe-Lau ...
{{efn, until 1813
, {{flagicon, Kingdom of Prussia, 1803 Frederick William III{{efn, until 1812
, strength1 = {{Unbulleted list, {{flagicon, Russian Empire Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
: 900,000 regulars, cossacks and militia at peak strength (1812){{sfn, Riehn, 1991, p=50, {{flagicon, Kingdom of Prussia, 1803 Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
: 320,000 regulars and militia at peak strength (1806){{sfn, Leggiere, 2014, {{flagcountry, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland : 250,000 regulars, sailors, marines and militia at peak strength (1813)Chandler & Beckett, p. 132{{Citation not found, date=April 2021, {{flagicon, Austrian Empire Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
: 300,000 regulars and militia at peak strength (1809), {{flagicon, Spain, 1785 Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
: 198,520 regulars, guerrillas and militia at peak strength (1812){{cite book, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ywM9AAAAYAAJ&q=4+may+1814&pg=PR13, title=The Life of the Most Noble Arthur, Duke of Wellington, last=Elliott, first=George, year=1816, publisher=J. Cundee, location=London, page=xiii–xiv, access-date=22 November 2023, archive-date=8 December 2023, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208132731/https://books.google.com/books?id=ywM9AAAAYAAJ&q=4+may+1814&pg=PR13#v=snippet&q=4%20may%201814&f=false, url-status=live{{Efn, 38,520 of which being irregulars (guerillas, militias), {{flagcountry, Kingdom of Portugal, 1750: 50,000 regulars, guerrillas and militia at peak strength (1809), {{flagicon, Sweden, naval Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
: 50,000 regulars and militia at peak strength (1813), {{flagicon, United Netherlands Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
: 36,500 regulars and militia at peak strength (1815)
, {{flagicon, Ottoman Empire, 1793 Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
: 350,000 regulars
Other coalition members: 100,000 regulars and militia at peak strength (1813)
Total: 3,000,000 regulars and militia at peak strength (1813)
, strength2 = {{Unbulleted list
, {{flagicon, First French Empire French Empire
French Empire (french: Empire Français, link=no) may refer to:
* First French Empire, ruled by Napoleon I from 1804 to 1814 and in 1815 and by Napoleon II in 1815, the French state from 1804 to 1814 and in 1815
* Second French Empire, led by Nap ...
: 1,200,000 regulars, sailors, marines and militia at peak strength (1813){{Cite book , last=John France , url=https://archive.org/details/perilousgloryris0000fran , title=Perilous Glory: The Rise of Western Military Power , publisher=Yale UP , year=2011 , isbn=978-0-300-17744-2 , pag351
, url-access=registration , French clients and allies: 500,000 regulars and militia at peak strength (1813) , Total: 2,000,000 regulars and militia at peak strength (1813) , casualties1 = {{Unbulleted list , {{flagicon, Austrian Empire Austria: 350,220 killed in action (500,000 total dead) , {{flagicon, Spain, 1785 Spain: more than 300,000 killed in action and more than 586,000 dead in total including civilians{{sfn, Canales, 2004 , {{flagicon, Russian Empire Russia: 289,000 killed in action{{harvnb, White, 2014 cites {{harvnb, Danzer (600,000 total dead including civilians) , {{flagicon, Kingdom of Prussia, 1803 Prussia: 134,000 killed in action (300,000 total dead including civilians) , {{flagicon, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland United Kingdom: 125,000{{harvnb, White, 2014 cites {{harvnb, Payne killed in action (300,000 total dead) , {{flagicon, Kingdom of Portugal, 1750 Portugal: up to 250,000 total dead or missing including civilians , {{flagicon, Napoleonic Italy Italy: 120,000 total dead or missing including civilians{{harvnb, White, 2014, loc=''Napoleonic Wars'' cites {{harvnb, Urlanis, 1971 , {{flagicon, Ottoman Empire, 1793 Ottoman Empire: 50,000 total dead or missing
Total: 4,000,000 total military and civilian dead or missing , casualties2 = {{flagicon, First French Empire French Empire: * 306,000 French killed in action{{sfn, White, 2014 * 65,000 French allies killed in action{{sfn, Philo, 2010 * 800,000 French and allies killed by wounds, accidents or disease{{sfn, Philo, 2010 * 600,000 civilians killed{{sfn, Philo, 2010
Total: 2,000,000 dead{{sfn, Bodart, 1916{{page needed, date=May 2021 , campaignbox = {{Campaignbox Napoleonic Wars {{Campaignbox Anglo-French wars {{OSM Location map , coord = {{coord, 48, 14 , zoom = 3 , float = right , nolabels = 1 , width = 300 , height = 240 , title = Napoleonic Wars , auto-caption=1 , shapeD=n-circle , shape-colorD=dark blue , label-colorD=dark blue , shape-outlineD=white , label-sizeD = 12 , label-posD = left , mark-sizeD=16 , mark-coord1 = {{coord, 49.13, 16.76 , mark-title1 =
Third Coalition
The War of the Third Coalition)
* In French historiography, it is known as the Austrian campaign of 1805 (french: Campagne d'Autriche de 1805) or the German campaign of 1805 (french: Campagne d'Allemagne de 1805) was a European conflict spanni ...
: Germany 1803:...Austerlitz Austerlitz may refer to:
History
* Battle of Austerlitz, an 1805 victory by the French Grand Army of Napoleon Bonaparte
Places
* Austerlitz, German name for Slavkov u Brna in the Czech Republic, which gave its name to the Battle of Austerlitz an ...
...
, mark-coord2 = {{coord, 52.52, 13.41
, mark-title2 = Fourth Coalition
The Fourth Coalition fought against Napoleon's French Empire and were defeated in a war spanning 1806–1807. The main coalition partners were Prussia and Russia with Saxony, Sweden, and Great Britain also contributing. Excluding Prussia, ...
: Prussia 1806:...Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
...
, mark-coord3 = {{coord, 39.08, -9.27
, mark-title3 = Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
: Portugal 1807... Torres Vedras...
, mark-coord4 = {{coord, 42.85, -2.68
, mark-title4 = Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
: Spain 1808...Vitoria
Vitoria or Vitória may refer to :
People
* Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian
* Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer
* Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer
* Steven Vitória (b ...
...
, mark-coord5 = {{coord, 48.54, 12.15
, mark-title5 = Fifth Coalition
The War of the Fifth Coalition was a European conflict in 1809 that was part of the Napoleonic Wars and the Coalition Wars. The main conflict took place in central Europe between the Austrian Empire of Francis I and Napoleon's French Empire ...
: Austria 1809:...Landshut
Landshut (; bar, Landshuad) is a town in Bavaria in the south-east of Germany. Situated on the banks of the River Isar, Landshut is the capital of Lower Bavaria, one of the seven administrative regions of the Free State of Bavaria. It is also t ...
...
, mark-coord6 = {{coord, 55.75, 37.63
, mark-title6 = French invasion of Russia
The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign, the Second Polish War, the Army of Twenty nations, and the Patriotic War of 1812 was launched by Napoleon Bonaparte to force the Russian Empire back into the continental block ...
1812:...Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
...
, mark-coord7 = {{coord, 51.33, 12.38
, mark-title7 = Sixth Coalition: Germany 1813:...Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
...
, mark-coord8 = {{coord, 48.86, 2.35
, mark-title8 = Sixth Coalition: France 1814:...Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
...
, mark-coord9 = {{coord, 50.68, 4.41
, mark-title9 = Hundred Days
The Hundred Days (french: les Cent-Jours ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration ...
1815:...Waterloo
Waterloo most commonly refers to:
* Battle of Waterloo, a battle on 18 June 1815 in which Napoleon met his final defeat
* Waterloo, Belgium, where the battle took place.
Waterloo may also refer to:
Other places
Antarctica
*King George Island (S ...
...
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of conflicts fought between the First French Empire
The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Eu ...
under Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
(1804–1815) and a fluctuating array of European coalitions. The wars originated in political forces arising from the French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
(1789–1799) and from the French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...
(1792–1802) and produced a period of French domination over Continental Europe
Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous continent of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by ...
. The wars are categorised as seven conflicts, five named after the coalitions that fought Napoleon, plus two named for their respective theatres: the War of the Third Coalition
The War of the Third Coalition)
* In French historiography, it is known as the Austrian campaign of 1805 (french: Campagne d'Autriche de 1805) or the German campaign of 1805 (french: Campagne d'Allemagne de 1805) was a European conflict spanni ...
, War of the Fourth Coalition
The Fourth Coalition fought against Napoleon's French Empire and were defeated in a war spanning 1806–1807. The main coalition partners were Prussia and Russia with Saxony, Sweden, and Great Britain also contributing. Excluding Prussia, s ...
, War of the Fifth Coalition
The War of the Fifth Coalition was a European conflict in 1809 that was part of the Napoleonic Wars and the Coalition Wars. The main conflict took place in central Europe between the Austrian Empire of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, Francis ...
, War of the Sixth Coalition
In the War of the Sixth Coalition (March 1813 – May 1814), sometimes known in Germany as the Wars of Liberation, a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, and a number of German States defeated F ...
, War of the Seventh Coalition, the Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
, and the French invasion of Russia
The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign, the Second Polish War, the Army of Twenty nations, and the Patriotic War of 1812 was launched by Napoleon Bonaparte to force the Russian Empire back into the continental block ...
.
The first stage of the war broke out when Britain declared war on France on 18 May 1803, alongside the Third Coalition. In December 1805, Napoleon defeated the allied Russo-Austrian army at Austerlitz Austerlitz may refer to:
History
* Battle of Austerlitz, an 1805 victory by the French Grand Army of Napoleon Bonaparte
Places
* Austerlitz, German name for Slavkov u Brna in the Czech Republic, which gave its name to the Battle of Austerlitz an ...
, thus forcing Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
to make peace. Concerned about increasing French power, Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
led the creation of the Fourth Coalition, which resumed war in October 1806. Napoleon soon defeated the Prussians at Jena-Auerstedt and the Russians at Friedland, bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. The treaty had failed to end the tension, and war broke out again in 1809, with the Austrian-led Fifth Coalition. At first, the Austrians won a significant victory at Aspern-Essling
In the Battle of Aspern-Essling (21–22 May 1809), Napoleon crossed the Danube near Vienna, but the French and their allies were attacked and forced back across the river by the Austrians under Archduke Charles. It was the first time Napoleon ...
but were quickly defeated at Wagram
Deutsch-Wagram (literally "German Wagram", ), often shortened to Wagram, is a village in the Gänserndorf District, in the states of Austria, state of Lower Austria, Austria. It is in the Morava (river), Marchfeld Basin, close to the Vienna city ...
.
Hoping to isolate and weaken Britain economically through his Continental System, Napoleon launched an invasion of Portugal, the only remaining British ally in continental Europe. After occupying Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
in November 1807, and with the bulk of French troops present in Spain, Napoleon seized the opportunity to turn against his former ally, depose the reigning Spanish royal family
The Spanish royal family consists of King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia, their children (Leonor, Princess of Asturias and Infanta Sofía of Spain), and Felipe's parents, King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía. The royal family lives at Zarzuela Palace i ...
, and declare his brother King of Spain in 1808 as José I. The Spanish and Portuguese thus revolted, with British support, and expelled the French from Iberia in 1814 after six years of fighting.
Concurrently, Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade, routinely violated the Continental System, prompting Napoleon to launch a massive invasion of Russia in 1812. The resulting campaign ended in disaster for France and the near-destruction of Napoleon's {{lang, fr, Grande Armée
''La Grande Armée'' (; ) was the main military component of the French Imperial Army commanded by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte during the Napoleonic Wars. From 1804 to 1808, it won a series of military victories that allowed the French Empi ...
.
Encouraged by the defeat, Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and Russia formed the Sixth Coalition and began a new campaign against France, decisively defeating Napoleon at Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
in October 1813. The Allies then invaded France from the east, while the Peninsular War spilled over into southwestern France. Coalition troops captured Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
at the end of March 1814, forced Napoleon to abdicate in April, exiled him to the island of Elba, and restored power to the Bourbons. Napoleon escaped in February 1815 and reassumed control of France for around one Hundred Days
The Hundred Days (french: les Cent-Jours ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration ...
. The allies formed the Seventh Coalition, which defeated him at Waterloo
Waterloo most commonly refers to:
* Battle of Waterloo, a battle on 18 June 1815 in which Napoleon met his final defeat
* Waterloo, Belgium, where the battle took place.
Waterloo may also refer to:
Other places
Antarctica
*King George Island (S ...
in June 1815, and exiled him to the island of Saint Helena
Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...
, where he died six years later in 1821.{{Cite book , last=Zamoyski , first=Adam , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NqVKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT480 , title=Napoleon: A Life , publisher=Basic Books , year=2018 , isbn=978-0-465-05593-7 , location=London , page=480 , access-date=7 November 2018 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806042616/https://books.google.com/books?id=NqVKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT480 , archive-date=6 August 2020 , url-status=live
The wars had profound consequences on global history, including the spread of nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
and liberalism
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
, advancements in civil law, the rise of Britain as the world's foremost naval and economic power, the appearance of independence movements in Spanish America and the subsequent decline of the Spanish and Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the l ...
s, the fundamental reorganization of German and Italian territories into larger states, and the introduction of radically new methods of conducting warfare. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...
redrew Europe's borders and brought a relative peace to the continent, lasting until the Revolutions of 1848
The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...
and the Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
in 1853.
Overview
Napoleon seized power in 1799, establishing amilitary dictatorship
A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer.
The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...
.{{sfn, Jones, 1994, p193–194
} There are numerous opinions on the date to use as the formal beginning of the Napoleonic Wars; 18 May 1803 is often used, when Britain and France ended the only short period of peace between 1792 and 1814.{{sfn, Kagan, 2007, pp=42–43 The Napoleonic Wars began with the
War of the Third Coalition
The War of the Third Coalition)
* In French historiography, it is known as the Austrian campaign of 1805 (french: Campagne d'Autriche de 1805) or the German campaign of 1805 (french: Campagne d'Allemagne de 1805) was a European conflict spanni ...
, which was the first of the Coalition Wars against the First French Republic
In the history of France, the First Republic (french: Première République), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (french: République française), was founded on 21 September 1792 ...
after Napoleon's accession as leader of France.
Britain ended the Treaty of Amiens
The Treaty of Amiens (french: la paix d'Amiens, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition
The War of the Second Coalition (1798/9 – 1801/2, depending on perio ...
, declaring war on France in May 1803. Among the reasons were Napoleon's changes to the international system in Western Europe, especially in Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, Germany, Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, and the Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
. Historian Frederick Kagan
Frederick W. Kagan is an American resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and a former professor of military history at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, West Point.
Career
Both he and his father, Donald Kag ...
argues that Britain was irritated in particular by Napoleon's assertion of control over Switzerland. Furthermore, Britons felt insulted when Napoleon stated that their country deserved no voice in European affairs, even though King George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
was an elector
Elector may refer to:
* Prince-elector or elector, a member of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Holy Roman Emperors
* Elector, a member of an electoral college
** Confederate elector, a member of ...
of the Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
. For its part, Russia decided that the intervention in Switzerland indicated that Napoleon was not looking toward a peaceful resolution of his differences with the other European powers.{{sfn, Kagan, 2007, pp=42–43
The British hastily enforced a naval blockade
A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It includ ...
of France to starve it of resources. Napoleon responded with economic embargoes against Britain, and sought to eliminate Britain's Continental allies to break the coalitions arrayed against him. The so-called '' Continental System'' formed a League of Armed Neutrality to disrupt the blockade and enforce free trade
Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...
with France. The British responded by capturing the Danish fleet, breaking up the league, and later secured dominance over the seas, allowing it to freely continue its strategy.
Napoleon won the War of the Third Coalition at Austerlitz Austerlitz may refer to:
History
* Battle of Austerlitz, an 1805 victory by the French Grand Army of Napoleon Bonaparte
Places
* Austerlitz, German name for Slavkov u Brna in the Czech Republic, which gave its name to the Battle of Austerlitz an ...
, forcing the Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...
out of the war, and formally dissolving the Holy Roman Empire. Within months, Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
declared war, triggering a War of the Fourth Coalition
The Fourth Coalition fought against Napoleon's French Empire and were defeated in a war spanning 1806–1807. The main coalition partners were Prussia and Russia with Saxony, Sweden, and Great Britain also contributing. Excluding Prussia, s ...
. This war ended disastrously for Prussia, which had been defeated and occupied within 19 days of the beginning of the campaign. Napoleon subsequently defeated Russia at Friedland, creating powerful client state
A client state, in international relations, is a state that is economically, politically, and/or militarily subordinate to another more powerful state (called the "controlling state"). A client state may variously be described as satellite state, ...
s in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...
and ending the Fourth Coalition.
Concurrently, the refusal of Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
to commit to the Continental System, and Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
's failure to maintain it, led to the Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
and the outbreak of the War of the Fifth Coalition
The War of the Fifth Coalition was a European conflict in 1809 that was part of the Napoleonic Wars and the Coalition Wars. The main conflict took place in central Europe between the Austrian Empire of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, Francis ...
. The French occupied Spain and formed a Spanish client kingdom, ending the alliance between the two. Heavy British involvement in the Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
soon followed, while a British effort to capture Antwerp failed. Napoleon oversaw the situation in Iberia, defeating the Spanish, and expelling the British from the Peninsula. Austria, eager to recover territory lost during the War of the Third Coalition, invaded France's client states in Eastern Europe in April 1809. Napoleon defeated the Fifth Coalition at Wagram
Deutsch-Wagram (literally "German Wagram", ), often shortened to Wagram, is a village in the Gänserndorf District, in the states of Austria, state of Lower Austria, Austria. It is in the Morava (river), Marchfeld Basin, close to the Vienna city ...
.
Plans to invade British North America pushed the United States to declare war on Britain in the War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
, but it did not become an ally of France. Grievances over control of Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
, and Russia's withdrawal from the Continental System, led to Napoleon invading Russia in June 1812. The invasion was an unmitigated disaster for Napoleon; scorched earth
A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy that aims to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy. Any assets that could be used by the enemy may be targeted, which usually includes obvious weapons, transport vehicles, communi ...
tactics, desertion, French strategic failures and the onset of the Russian winter compelled Napoleon to retreat with massive losses. Napoleon suffered further setbacks: French power in the Iberian Peninsula was broken at the Battle of Vitoria the following summer, and a new alliance began, the War of the Sixth Coalition
In the War of the Sixth Coalition (March 1813 – May 1814), sometimes known in Germany as the Wars of Liberation, a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, and a number of German States defeated F ...
.
The coalition defeated Napoleon at Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
, precipitating his fall from power and eventual abdication on 6 April 1814. The victors exiled Napoleon to Elba and restored the Bourbon monarchy. Napoleon escaped from Elba in 1815, gathering enough support to overthrow the monarchy of Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...
, triggering a seventh, and final, coalition against him. Napoleon was then decisively defeated at Waterloo, and he abdicated again on 22 June. On 15 July, he surrendered to the British at Rochefort
Rochefort () may refer to:
Places France
* Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, in the Charente-Maritime department
** Arsenal de Rochefort, a former naval base and dockyard
* Rochefort, Savoie in the Savoie department
* Rochefort-du-Gard, in the Ga ...
, and was permanently exiled to remote Saint Helena
Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...
. The Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France:
Treaties
1200s and 1300s
* Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade
* Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France
* Trea ...
, signed on 20 November 1815, formally ended the war.
The Bourbon monarchy was once again restored, and the victors began the Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...
to restore peace to Europe. As a direct result of the war, the Kingdom of Prussia rose to become a great power
A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power inf ...
,{{Cite book , last=Dwyer , first=Philip G. , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FEDKAgAAQBAJ&q=napoleonic+wars+rise+of+prussia&pg=PA255 , title=The Rise of Prussia 1700–1830 , year= 2014 , publisher=Routledge , isbn=978-1-317-88703-4 , access-date=2 October 2020 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207044936/https://books.google.com/books?id=FEDKAgAAQBAJ&q=napoleonic+wars+rise+of+prussia&pg=PA255 , archive-date=7 February 2021 , url-status=live while Great Britain, with its unequalled Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
and growing Empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
, became the world's dominant superpower
A superpower is a state with a dominant position characterized by its extensive ability to exert influence or project power on a global scale. This is done through the combined means of economic, military, technological, political and cultural s ...
, beginning the ''Pax Britannica
''Pax Britannica'' (Latin for "British Peace", modelled after ''Pax Romana'') was the period of relative peace between the great powers during which the British Empire became the global hegemonic power and adopted the role of a "global polic ...
''. The Holy Roman Empire had been dissolved, and the philosophy of nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
that emerged early in the war contributed greatly to the later unification of the German states, and those of the Italian peninsula. The war in Iberia greatly weakened Spanish power, and the Spanish Empire began to unravel; Spain would lose nearly all of its American possessions by 1833. The Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the l ...
also shrank, with Brazil declaring independence in 1822.{{sfn, Keen, Haynes, 2012, loc=chpt. 8
The wars revolutionised European warfare; the application of mass conscription and total war
Total war is a type of warfare that includes any and all civilian-associated resources and infrastructure as legitimate military targets, mobilizes all of the resources of society to fight the war, and gives priority to warfare over non-combata ...
led to campaigns of unprecedented scale, as whole nations committed all their economic and industrial resources to a collective war effort.{{sfn, Bell, 2007, 51
} Tactically, the
French Army
The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...
had redefined the role of artillery
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...
, while Napoleon emphasised mobility to offset numerical disadvantages,{{Cite book , last=Geoffrey Wawro , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gtuAhd9qARkC&pg=PA9 , title=Warfare and Society in Europe, 1792–1914 , publisher=Routledge , year=2002 , isbn=978-0-203-00735-8 , page=9 , access-date=18 June 2015 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150930225924/https://books.google.com/books?id=gtuAhd9qARkC&pg=PA9 , archive-date=30 September 2015 , url-status=live and aerial surveillance
A surveillance aircraft is an aircraft used for surveillance. They are operated by military forces and other government agencies in roles such as intelligence gathering, battlefield surveillance, airspace surveillance, reconnaissance, observat ...
was used for the first time in warfare.{{sfn, Palmer, 1941, pp=81–83 The highly successful Spanish guerrilla
Guerrilla warfare in the Peninsular War refers to the armed civilian actions carried out by non-regular troops against Napoleon's Grande Armée in Spain and Portugal during the Peninsular War. These armed men were a constant source of drain an ...
s demonstrated the capability of a people driven by fervent nationalism against an occupying force.{{sfn, Tone, 1996, pp=355–382{{page range too broad, date=May 2021
Due to the longevity of the wars, the extent of Napoleon's conquests, and the popularity of the ideals of the French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, the period had a deep impact on European social culture. Many subsequent revolutions, such as that of Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, looked to the French as a source of inspiration,{{sfnm , 1a1=Shlapentokh , 1y=1997 , 1pp=220–228 , 2a1=Palmer , 2a2=Colton , 2a3=Kramer , 2y=2013 , 2pp=81–83 while its core founding tenets greatly expanded the arena of human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
and shaped modern political philosophies in use today.{{sfn, Desan, Hunt, Nelson, 2013, pp=3, 8, 10
Background
{{See also, French Revolutionary Wars
The outbreak of the French Revolution had been received with great alarm by the rulers of Europe's continental powers, further exacerbated by the execution of Louis XVI, and the overthrow of the French monarchy. In 1793, Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
, the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...
, Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
, the Kingdom of Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, and the Kingdom of Great Britain
The Kingdom of Great Britain (officially Great Britain) was a Sovereign state, sovereign country in Western Europe from 1 May 1707 to the end of 31 December 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of ...
formed the First Coalition to curtail the growing power of revolutionary France. Measures such as mass conscription, military reforms, and total war allowed France to defeat the coalition, despite the concurrent civil war in France. Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
, then a general of the French Revolutionary Army, forced the Austrians to sign the Treaty of Campo Formio
The Treaty of Campo Formio (today Campoformido) was signed on 17 October 1797 (26 Vendémiaire VI) by Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Philipp von Cobenzl as representatives of the French Republic and the Austrian monarchy, respectively. The treat ...
, leaving only Great Britain opposed to the fledgling French Republic.
A Second Coalition
The War of the Second Coalition (1798/9 – 1801/2, depending on periodisation) was the second war on revolutionary France by most of the European monarchies, led by Britain, Austria and Russia, and including the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, N ...
was formed in 1798 by Great Britain, Austria, Naples, the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, the Papal States
The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...
, Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
, Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, and Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. The French Republic, under the Directory
Directory may refer to:
* Directory (computing), or folder, a file system structure in which to store computer files
* Directory (OpenVMS command)
* Directory service, a software application for organizing information about a computer network's u ...
, suffered from heavy levels of corruption and internal strife. The new republic also lacked funds, no longer enjoying the services of Lazare Carnot
Lazare Nicolas Marguerite, Count Carnot (; 13 May 1753 – 2 August 1823) was a French mathematician, physicist and politician. He was known as the "Organizer of Victory" in the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars.
Education and early ...
, the minister of war
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
who had guided France to its victories during the early stages of the Revolution
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
. Bonaparte, commander of the {{lang, fr, Armée d'Italie in the latter stages of the First Coalition, had launched a campaign in Egypt, intending to disrupt the British control of India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. Pressed from all sides, the Republic suffered a string of successive defeats against revitalised enemies, who were supported by Britain's financial help.
Bonaparte returned to France from Egypt on 23 August 1799, his campaign there having failed. He seized control of the French government on November 9, in a bloodless coup d'état, replacing the Directory with the Consulate
A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth coun ...
and transforming the republic into a ''de facto'' dictatorship.{{sfn, Jones, 1994, p193–194
} He further reorganised the French military forces, establishing a large reserve army positioned to support campaigns on the
Rhine
), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source1_coordinates=
, source1_elevation =
, source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein
, source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland
, source2_coordinates=
, so ...
or in Italy. Russia had already been knocked out of the war, and, under Napoleon's leadership, the French decisively defeated the Austrians in June 1800, crippling Austrian capabilities in Italy. Austria was definitively defeated that December, by Moreau
Moreau may refer to:
People
*Moreau (surname)
Places
*Moreau, New York
*Moreau River (disambiguation)
Music
*An alternate name for the band Cousteau, used for the album ''Nova Scotia'' in the United States for legal reasons
In fiction
*Dr. Mo ...
's forces in Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
. The Austrian defeat was sealed by the Treaty of Lunéville
The Treaty of Lunéville (or Peace of Lunéville) was signed in the Treaty House of Lunéville on 9 February 1801. The signatory parties were the French Republic and Emperor Francis II, who signed on his own behalf as ruler of the hereditary doma ...
early the following year, further compelling the British to sign the Treaty of Amiens
The Treaty of Amiens (french: la paix d'Amiens, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition
The War of the Second Coalition (1798/9 – 1801/2, depending on perio ...
with France, establishing a tenuous peace.
Start date and nomenclature
No consensus exists as to when theFrench Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...
ended and the Napoleonic Wars began. Possible dates include 9 November 1799, when Bonaparte seized power on 18 Brumaire, the date according to the Republican Calendar then in use;{{sfn, McLynn, 1998, p=215 18 May 1803, when Britain and France ended the one short period of peace between 1792 and 1814; or 2 December 1804, when Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor.
British historians occasionally refer to the nearly continuous period of warfare from 1792 to 1815 as the Great French War, or as the final phase of the Anglo-French Second Hundred Years' War
The Second Hundred Years' War is a periodization or historical era term used by some historians to describe the series of military conflicts between Great Britain and France that occurred from about 1689 (or some say 1714) to 1815. The Second Hun ...
, spanning the period 1689 to 1815. Historian Mike Rapport (2013) suggested using the term "French Wars" to unambiguously describe the entire period from 1792 to 1815.{{sfn, Rapport, 2013, p=4
In France, the Napoleonic Wars are generally integrated with the French Revolutionary Wars: ''{{lang, fr, Les guerres de la Révolution et de l'Empire''.
German historiography may count the War of the Second Coalition (1798/9–1801/2), during which Napoleon had seized power, as the ''Erster Napoleonischer Krieg'' ("First Napoleonic War").
In Dutch historiography, it is common to refer to the 7 major wars between 1792 and 1815 as the Coalition Wars (''coalitieoorlogen''), referring to the first two as the French Revolution Wars (''Franse Revolutieoorlogen'').{{Cite encyclopedia , year=1993–2002 , title=coalitieoorlogen , encyclopedia=Encarta-encyclopedie Winkler Prins , publisher=Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum , language=nl
Napoleon's tactics
Napoleon was, and remains, famous for his battlefield victories, and historians have spent enormous attention in analysing them.{{sfn, Chandler, 1966{{page needed, date=May 2021 In 2008, Donald Sutherland wrote:The ideal Napoleonic battle was to manipulate the enemy into an unfavourable position through manoeuvre and deception, force him to commit his main forces and reserve to the main battle and then undertake an enveloping attack with uncommitted or reserve troops on the flank or rear. Such a surprise attack would either produce a devastating effect on morale or force him to weaken his main battle line. Either way, the enemy's own impulsiveness began the process by which even a smaller French army could defeat the enemy's forces one by one.{{sfn, Sutherland , 2008 ,After 1807, Napoleon's creation of a highly mobile, well-armed artillery force gave artillery usage an increased tactical importance. Napoleon, rather than relying on infantry to wear away the enemy's defences, could now use massed artillery as a spearhead to pound a break in the enemy's line. Once that was achieved he sent in infantry and cavalry.{{sfn, McConachy , 2001 , pp=617–640, ps=: McConachy rejects the alternative theory that growing reliance on artillery by the French army beginning in 1807 was an outgrowth of the declining quality of the French infantry and, later, France's inferiority in cavalry numbers{{page range too broad, date=May 2021
356
}
Prelude
Britain was irritated by several French actions following the Treaty of Amiens
The Treaty of Amiens (french: la paix d'Amiens, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition
The War of the Second Coalition (1798/9 – 1801/2, depending on perio ...
. Bonaparte annexed Piedmont
it, Piemontese
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 =
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographics1_title1 =
, demographics1_info1 =
, demographics1_title2 ...
and Elba, made himself President of the Italian Republic, a state in northern Italy that France had set up, and failed to evacuate Holland
Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
, as it had agreed to do in the treaty. France then continued to interfere with British trade despite peace having been made and complained about Britain harbouring certain individuals and not cracking down on the anti-French press.{{sfn, Adams, 1805, pp=220–222
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
was captured by Britain during the war and was subject to a complex arrangement in the 10th article of the Treaty of Amiens, where it was to be restored to the Knights of St. John
The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...
with a Neapolitan garrison and placed under the guarantee of third powers. The weakening of the Knights of St. John by the confiscation of their assets in France and Spain along with delays in obtaining guarantees prevented the British from evacuating it after three months as stipulated in the treaty.{{sfn, Adams, 1805, p=239
The Helvetic Republic
The Helvetic Republic (, , ) was a sister republic of France that existed between 1798 and 1803, during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was created following the French invasion and the consequent dissolution of the Old Swiss Confederacy, ma ...
was set up by France when it invaded Switzerland in 1798. France had withdrawn its troops, but violent strife broke out against the government, which many Swiss saw as overly centralised. Bonaparte reoccupied the country in October 1802 and imposed a compromise settlement. This caused widespread outrage in Britain, which protested that this was a violation of the Treaty of Lunéville. Although continental powers were unprepared to act, the British decided to send an agent to help the Swiss obtain supplies, and also ordered their military not to return Cape Colony
The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...
to Holland as they had committed to do in the Treaty of Amiens.{{sfn, Adams, 1805, pp=248–252
Swiss resistance collapsed before anything could be accomplished, and, after a month, Britain countermanded the orders to not restore Cape Colony. At the same time, Russia finally joined the guarantee regarding Malta. Concerned that there would be hostilities when Bonaparte found out that Cape Colony had been retained
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, a retained firefighter, also known as an RDS Firefighter or on-call firefighter, is a firefighter who does not work on a fire station full-time but is paid to spend long periods of time On call shift, on call to ...
, the British began to procrastinate on the evacuation of Malta.{{sfn, Adams, 1805, pp=252–258 In January 1803, a government paper in France published a report from a commercial agent which noted the ease with which Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
could be conquered. The British seized on this to demand satisfaction and security before evacuating Malta, which was a convenient stepping stone to Egypt. France disclaimed any desire to seize Egypt and asked what sort of satisfaction was required, but the British were unable to give a response.{{sfn, Adams, 1805, pp=258–264 There was still no thought of going to war; Prime Minister Henry Addington
Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, (30 May 175715 February 1844) was an English Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1804.
Addington is best known for obtaining the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, an ...
publicly affirmed that Britain was in a state of peace.{{sfn, Adams, 1805, p=265
In early March 1803, the Addington ministry received word that Cape Colony had been reoccupied by the British army, in accordance with the orders which had subsequently been countermanded. On 8 March they ordered military preparations to guard against possible French retaliation and justified them by falsely claiming that it was only in response to French preparations and that they were conducting serious negotiations with France. In a few days, it was known that Cape Colony had been surrendered in accordance with the counter-orders, but it was too late. Bonaparte berated the British ambassador in front of 200 spectators over the military preparations.{{sfn, Adams, 1805, pp=264–268
The Addington ministry realised they would face an inquiry over their false reasons for the military preparations, and during April unsuccessfully attempted to secure the support of William Pitt to shield them from damage.{{sfn, Adams, 1805, p=277 In the same month, the ministry issued an ultimatum to France, demanding a retention of Malta for at least ten years, the permanent acquisition of the island of Lampedusa
Lampedusa ( , , ; scn, Lampidusa ; grc, Λοπαδοῦσσα and Λοπαδοῦσα and Λοπαδυῦσσα, Lopadoûssa; mt, Lampeduża) is the largest island of the Italian Pelagie Islands in the Mediterranean Sea.
The ''comune'' of L ...
from the Kingdom of Sicily, and the evacuation of Holland. They also offered to recognise French gains in Italy if they evacuated Switzerland and compensated the King of Sardinia
The following is a list of rulers of Sardinia, in particular, of the monarchs of the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica from 1323 and then of the Kingdom of Sardinia from 1479 to 1861.
Early history
Owing to the absence of written sources, little ...
for his territorial losses. France offered to place Malta in the hands of Russia to satisfy British concerns, pull out of Holland when Malta was evacuated, and form a convention to give satisfaction to Britain on other issues. The British falsely denied that Russia had made an offer, and their ambassador left Paris.{{sfn, Adams, 1805, pp=268–278 Desperate to avoid a war, Bonaparte sent a secret offer where he agreed to let Britain retain Malta if France could occupy the Otranto peninsula in Naples. All efforts were futile, and Britain declared war on 18 May 1803.
War between Britain and France, 1803–1814
{{Main, United Kingdom in the Napoleonic WarsBritish motivations
Britain ended the uneasy truce created by the Treaty of Amiens when it had declared war on France in May 1803. The British were increasingly angered by Napoleon's reordering of the international system in Western Europe, especially in Switzerland, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Kagan argues that Britain was especially alarmed by Napoleon's assertion of control over Switzerland. The British felt insulted when Napoleon said it deserved no voice in European affairs (even though King George was anelector
Elector may refer to:
* Prince-elector or elector, a member of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Holy Roman Emperors
* Elector, a member of an electoral college
** Confederate elector, a member of ...
of the Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
) and sought to restrict the London newspapers that were vilifying him.{{sfn, Kagan, 2007, pp=42–43
Britain had a sense of loss of control, as well as loss of markets, and was worried by Napoleon's possible threat to its overseas colonies. McLynn argues that Britain went to war in 1803 out of a "mixture of economic motives and national neuroses—an irrational anxiety about Napoleon's motives and intentions." McLynn concludes that it proved to be the right choice for Britain because, in the long run, Napoleon's intentions were hostile to the British national interest. Napoleon was not ready for war, and so this was the best time for Britain to stop them. Britain seized upon the Malta issue, refusing to follow the terms of the Treaty of Amiens and evacuate the island.{{sfn, Roberts, 2014, p=309
The deeper British grievance was their perception that Napoleon was taking personal control of Europe, making the international system unstable, and forcing Britain to the sidelines.{{sfnm , 1a1=Grainger , 1y=2004 , 2a1=Schroeder , 2y=1994 , 2p=231{{sfn, Bryant, 1944{{page needed, date=May 2021{{sfn, Kagan, 2007, pp=42–43{{page needed, date=May 2021 Numerous scholars have argued that Napoleon's aggressive posture made him enemies and cost him potential allies.{{sfn, Tulard, 1984, p=351 As late as 1808, the continental powers affirmed most of his gains and titles, but the continuing conflict with Britain led him to start the Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
and the invasion of Russia, which many scholars see as a dramatic miscalculation.{{sfnm , 1a1=Gray , 1y=2007 , 1p=47 , 2a1=Malia , 2y=2006 , 2p=205
There was one serious attempt to negotiate peace with France during the war, made by Charles James Fox
Charles James Fox (24 January 1749 – 13 September 1806), styled ''The Honourable'' from 1762, was a prominent British Whig statesman whose parliamentary career spanned 38 years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was the arch-riv ...
in 1806. The British wanted to retain their overseas conquests and have Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
restored to George III in exchange for accepting French conquests on the continent. The French were willing to cede Malta, Cape Colony, Tobago
Tobago () is an List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, island and Regions and municipalities of Trinidad and Tobago, ward within the Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger island of Trini ...
, and French India
French India, formally the ( en, French Settlements in India), was a French colony comprising five geographically separated enclaves on the Indian Subcontinent that had initially been factories of the French East India Company. They were ''de ...
n posts to Britain but wanted to obtain Sicily in exchange for the restoration of Hanover, a condition which the British refused.{{sfn, Burke, 1808{{page needed, date=May 2021
Unlike its many coalition partners, Britain remained at war during the period of the Napoleonic Wars. Protected by naval supremacy (in the words of Admiral Jervis to the House of Lords "I do not say, my Lords, that the French will not come. I say only they will not come by sea"), Britain did not have to spend the entire war defending itself and could thus focus on supporting its embattled allies, maintaining low-intensity land warfare on a global scale for over a decade. The British government paid out a large amount of money to other European states so that they could pay armies in the field against France. These payments are colloquially known as the Golden Cavalry of St George
The Golden Cavalry of St George was the colloquial name of subsidies paid out by the British government to other states in Europe in the 18th and the 19th centuries, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. The name is a euphemism and derives f ...
. The British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
provided long-term support to the Spanish rebellion in the Peninsular War of 1808–1814, assisted by Spanish guerrilla ('little war') tactics. Anglo-Portuguese forces under Arthur Wellesley supported the Spanish, who campaigned successfully against the French armies, eventually driving them from Spain and allowing Britain to invade southern France. By 1815, the British Army played the central role in the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.
Beyond minor naval actions against British imperial interests, the Napoleonic Wars were much less global in their scope than preceding conflicts such as the Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...
, which historians term a "world war
A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...
".
Economic warfare
In response to the naval blockade of the French coasts enacted by the British government on 16 May 1806, Napoleon issued the Berlin Decree on November 21, 1806, which brought into effect the Continental System.{{sfn, Schroeder, 1994, pp=307–310 This policy aimed to eliminate the threat from Britain by closing French-controlled territory to its trade. Britain maintained a standing army of 220,000 at the height of the Napoleonic Wars, of whom less than 50% were available for campaigning. The rest were necessary for garrisoningIreland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
and the colonies and providing security for Britain. France's strength peaked at around 2,500,000 full-time and part-time soldiers including several hundred thousand National Guardsmen whom Napoleon could draft into the military if necessary. Both nations enlisted large numbers of sedentary militia who were unsuited for campaigning and were mostly employed to release regular forces for active duty.{{sfn, Kennedy, 1989, pp=128–129
The Royal Navy disrupted France's extra-continental trade by seizing and threatening French shipping and colonial possessions, but could do nothing about France's trade with the major continental economies, and posed little threat to French territory in Europe. France's population and agricultural capacity greatly outstripped Britain's. Britain had the greatest industrial capacity in Europe, and its mastery of the seas allowed it to build up considerable economic strength through trade. This ensured that France could never consolidate its control over Europe in peace. Many in the French government believed that cutting Britain off from the Continent would end its economic influence over Europe and isolate it.
Financing the war
A key element in British success was its ability to mobilise the nation's industrial and financial resources, and apply them to defeating France. Though the UK had a population of approximately 16 million against France's 30 million, the French numerical advantage was offset by British subsidies that paid for many of the Austrian and Russian soldiers, peaking at about 450,000 men in 1813.{{sfn, Kennedy, 1989, pp=128–129{{sfn, Sherwig, 1969{{page needed, date=May 2021 Under the Anglo–Russian agreement of 1803, Britain paid a subsidy of £1.5 million for every 100,000 Russian soldiers in the field.{{sfn, Palmer, 1974, p=86 British national output continued to be strong, and the well-organised business sector channeled products into what the military needed. Britain used its economic power to expand the Royal Navy, doubling the number offrigate
A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat.
The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...
s, adding 50 per cent more large ships of the line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two colum ...
, and increasing the number of sailors from 15,000 to 133,000 in eight years after the war began in 1793. France saw its navy shrink by more than half.{{sfn, Briggs, 1959, p=143 The smuggling of finished products into the continent undermined French efforts to weaken the British economy by cutting off markets. Subsidies to Russia and Austria kept them in the war. The British budget in 1814 reached £98 million, including £10 million for the Royal Navy, £40 million for the army, £10 million for the allies, and £38 million as interest on the national debt, which had soared to £679 million, more than double the GDP. This debt was supported by hundreds of thousands of investors and taxpayers, despite the higher taxes on land and a new income tax. The cost of the war amounted to £831 million.{{refn, £3 trillion in modern economic cost terms., group=lower-alpha In contrast, the French financial system was inadequate and Napoleon's forces had to rely in part on requisitions from conquered lands.{{sfn, Halévy, 1924, pp=205–228{{page range too broad, date=May 2021{{sfn, Knight, 2013{{page needed, date=May 2021
From London in 1813 to 1815, Nathan Mayer Rothschild
Nathan Mayer Rothschild (16 September 1777 – 28 July 1836) was an English-German banker, businessman and financier. Born in Frankfurt am Main in Germany, he was the third of the five sons of Gutle (Schnapper) and Mayer Amschel Rothschild, an ...
was crucial in almost single-handedly financing the British war effort, organising the shipment of bullion to the Duke of Wellington's armies across Europe, as well as arranging the payment of British financial subsidies to their continental allies.{{sfn, Ferguson, 2008, p=78
War of the Third Coalition, 1805
{{Main, War of the Third Coalition
Britain gathered allies to form the Third Coalition against The French Empire after Napoleon was self-proclaimed as emperor.{{sfn, Schroeder, 1994, pp=231–86{{page range too broad, date=May 2021{{sfn, Kagan, 2007, pp=141ff In response, Napoleon seriously considered an invasion of Great Britain, massing 180,000 troops at Boulogne
Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...
. Before he could invade, he needed to achieve naval superiority—or at least to pull the British fleet away from the English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
. A complex plan to distract the British by threatening their possessions in the West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...
failed when a Franco-Spanish fleet under Admiral Villeneuve
Villeneuve, LaVilleneuve or deVilleneuve may refer to:
People
* Villeneuve (surname)
Places
Australia
* Villeneuve, Queensland, a town in the Somerset Region
Canada
* Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, a Formula One racetrack in Montréal
* Villeneuv ...
turned back after an indecisive action off Cape Finisterre
Cape Finisterre (, also ; gl, Cabo Fisterra, italic=no ; es, Cabo Finisterre, italic=no ) is a rock-bound peninsula on the west coast of Galicia, Spain.
In Roman times it was believed to be an end of the known world. The name Finisterre, like ...
on 22 July 1805. The Royal Navy blockaded Villeneuve in Cádiz
Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia.
Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...
until he left for Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
on 19 October; the British squadron caught and overwhelmingly defeated the combined enemy fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...
on 21 October (the British commander, Lord Nelson, died in the battle). Napoleon never again had the opportunity to challenge the British at sea, nor to threaten an invasion. He again turned his attention to the enemies on the Continent.
In April 1805, Britain and Russia signed a treaty with the aim of removing the French from the Batavian Republic
The Batavian Republic ( nl, Bataafse Republiek; french: République Batave) was the successor state to the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on 19 January 1795 and ended on 5 June 1806, with the accession of Louis Bona ...
(roughly present-day Netherlands) and the Swiss Confederation. Austria joined the alliance after the annexation of Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
and the proclamation of Napoleon as King of Italy
King of Italy ( it, links=no, Re d'Italia; la, links=no, Rex Italiae) was the title given to the ruler of the Kingdom of Italy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The first to take the title was Odoacer, a barbarian military leader, ...
on 17 March 1805. Sweden, which had already agreed to lease Swedish Pomerania as a military base for British troops against France, entered the coalition on 9 August.
The Austrians began the war by invading Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
on 8 September 1805 with an army of about 70,000 under Karl Mack von Leiberich
Karl Freiherr Mack von Leiberich (25 August 1752 – 22 December 1828) was an Austrian soldier. He is best remembered as the commander of the Austrian forces that capitulated to Napoleon's ''Grande Armée'' in the Battle of Ulm in 1805.
Early ...
, and the French army marched out from Boulogne
Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...
in late July 1805 to confront them. At Ulm (25 September – 20 October) Napoleon surrounded Mack's army, forcing its surrender without significant losses.
With the main Austrian army north of the Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
defeated (another army under Archduke Charles fought against André Masséna's French army in Italy), Napoleon occupied Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
on 13 November. Far from his supply lines, he faced a larger Austro–Russian army under the command of Mikhail Kutuzov
Prince Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov ( rus, Князь Михаи́л Илларио́нович Голени́щев-Куту́зов, Knyaz' Mikhaíl Illariónovich Goleníshchev-Kutúzov; german: Mikhail Illarion Golenishchev-Kut ...
, with Emperor Alexander I of Russia
Alexander I (; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first King of Congress Poland from 1815, and the Grand Duke of Finland from 1809 to his death. He was the eldest son of Emperor Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg.
The son of ...
personally present. On 2 December, Napoleon crushed the Austro–Russian force in Moravia
Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
The me ...
at Austerlitz Austerlitz may refer to:
History
* Battle of Austerlitz, an 1805 victory by the French Grand Army of Napoleon Bonaparte
Places
* Austerlitz, German name for Slavkov u Brna in the Czech Republic, which gave its name to the Battle of Austerlitz an ...
(usually considered his greatest victory). He inflicted 25,000 casualties on a numerically superior enemy army while sustaining fewer than 7,000 in his own force.
Austria signed the Treaty of Pressburg (26 December 1805) and left the coalition. The treaty required the Austrians to give up Venetia to the French-dominated Kingdom of Italy
The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...
and the Tyrol
Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...
to Bavaria. With the withdrawal of Austria from the war, stalemate ensued. Napoleon's army had a record of continuous unbroken victories on land, but the full force of the Russian army had not yet come into play. Napoleon had now consolidated his hold on France, had taken control of Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and most of Western Germany and northern Italy. His admirers say that Napoleon wanted to stop now, but was forced to continue in order to gain greater security from the countries that refused to accept his conquests. Esdaile rejects that explanation and instead says that it was a good time to stop expansion, for the major powers were ready to accept Napoleon as he was:
{{blockquote, in 1806 both Russia and Britain had been positively eager to make peace, and they might well have agreed to terms that would have left the Napoleonic imperium almost completely intact. As for Austria and Prussia, they simply wanted to be left alone. To have secured a compromise peace, then, would have been comparatively easy. But Napoleon was prepared to make no concessions.{{sfn, Esdaile, 2009, pp=252–253
War of the Fourth Coalition, 1806–1807
{{Main, War of the Fourth Coalition Within months of the collapse of the Third Coalition, theFourth Coalition
The Fourth Coalition fought against Napoleon's French Empire and were defeated in a war spanning 1806–1807. The main coalition partners were Prussia and Russia with Saxony, Sweden, and Great Britain also contributing. Excluding Prussia, ...
(1806–1807) against France was formed by Britain, Prussia, Russia, Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
, and Sweden. In July 1806, Napoleon formed the Confederation of the Rhine
The Confederated States of the Rhine, simply known as the Confederation of the Rhine, also known as Napoleonic Germany, was a confederation of German client states established at the behest of Napoleon some months after he defeated Austria an ...
out of the many small German states which constituted the Rhineland
The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section.
Term
Historically, the Rhinelands ...
and most other western parts of Germany. He amalgamated many of the smaller states into larger electorates, duchies, and kingdoms to make the governance of non-Prussian Germany smoother. Napoleon elevated the rulers of the two largest Confederation states, Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
and Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
, to the status of kings.
In August 1806, the Prussian king, Frederick William III, decided to go to war independently of any other great power. The army of Russia, a Prussian ally, in particular, was too far away to assist. On October 8, 1806, Napoleon unleashed all the French forces east of the Rhine into Prussia. Napoleon defeated a Prussian army at Jena
Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...
(14 October 1806), and Davout defeated another at Auerstädt on the same day. 160,000 French soldiers (increasing in number as the campaign went on) attacked Prussia, moving with such speed that they destroyed the entire Prussian Army
The Royal Prussian Army (1701–1919, german: Königlich Preußische Armee) served as the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It became vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power.
The Prussian Army had its roots in the co ...
as an effective military force. Out of 250,000 troops, the Prussians sustained 25,000 casualties, lost a further 150,000 as prisoners, 4,000 artillery pieces, and over 100,000 muskets. At Jena, Napoleon had fought only a detachment of the Prussian force. The battle at Auerstädt involved a single French corps defeating the bulk of the Prussian army. Napoleon entered Berlin on 27 October 1806. He visited the tomb of Frederick the Great
Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...
and instructed his marshals to remove their hats there, saying, "If he were alive we wouldn't be here today". Napoleon had taken only 19 days from beginning his attack on Prussia to knock it out of the war with the capture of Berlin and the destruction of its principal armies at Jena and Auerstädt. Saxony abandoned Prussia, and together with small states from north Germany, allied with France.
In the next stage of the war, the French drove Russian forces out of Poland and employed many Polish and German soldiers in several sieges in Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...
and Pomerania
Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...
, with the assistance of Dutch and Italian soldiers in the latter case. Napoleon then turned north to confront the remainder of the Russian army and to try to capture the temporary Prussian capital at Königsberg
Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...
. A tactical draw at Eylau (7–8 February 1807), followed by capitulation at Danzig (24 May 1807) and the Battle of Heilsberg
The Battle of Heilsberg took place on 10 June 1807, during the Napoleonic Wars.
Overview
On 24 May 1807, the Siege of Danzig (1807), Siege of Danzig ended when Kingdom of Prussia, Prussian General Friedrich Adolf, Count von Kalckreuth capitul ...
(10 June 1807), forced the Russians to withdraw further north. Napoleon decisively beat the Russian army at Friedland (14 June 1807), following which Alexander had to make peace with Napoleon at Tilsit
Sovetsk (russian: Сове́тск; german: Tilsit; Old Prussian: ''Tilzi''; lt, Tilžė; pl, Tylża) is a town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the south bank of the Neman River which forms the border with Lithuania.
Geography
Sov ...
(7 July 1807). In Germany and Poland, new Napoleonic client states, such as the Kingdom of Westphalia, Duchy of Warsaw, and Republic of Danzig, were established. Early that same year, the French besieged the fortified town of Kolberg, which resulted in a lifting of the siege by a peace treaty on 2 July.
By September, Marshal Guillaume Brune
Guillaume Marie-Anne Brune, 1st Count Brune (, 13 March 1764 – 2 August 1815) was a French military commander, Marshal of the Empire, and political figure who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.
Early life
Bru ...
completed the occupation of Swedish Pomerania, allowing the Swedish army to withdraw with all its munitions of war.
Scandinavia and Finland
{{Main, Gunboat War, Finnish War, Dano-Swedish War of 1808–1809
Britain's first response to Napoleon's Continental System was to launch a major naval attack against Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
. Although ostensibly neutral, Denmark was under heavy French and Russian pressure to pledge its fleet to Napoleon. London could not take the chance of ignoring the Danish threat. In August 1807, the Royal Navy besieged and bombarded Copenhagen, leading to the capture of the Dano–Norwegian fleet, and assuring use of the sea lanes in the North and Baltic seas for the British merchant fleet. Denmark joined the war on the side of France, but without a fleet it had little to offer,{{sfn, Ryan, 1953{{page needed, date=May 2021{{sfn, Munch-Petersen, 2007{{page needed, date=May 2021 beginning an engagement in a naval guerrilla war in which small gunboats attacked larger British ships in Danish and Norwegian waters. Denmark also committed themselves to participate in a war against Sweden together with France and Russia.
At Tilsit, Napoleon and Alexander had agreed that Russia should force Sweden to join the Continental System, which led to a Russian invasion of Finland in February 1808, followed by a Danish declaration of war in March. Napoleon also sent an auxiliary corps, consisting of troops from France, Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
and Holland
Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
, led by Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte
sv, Karl Johan Baptist Julius
, spouse =
, issue = Oscar I of Sweden
, house = Bernadotte
, father = Henri Bernadotte
, mother = Jeanne de Saint-Jean
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Pau, ...
, to Denmark to participate in the invasion of Sweden. But British naval superiority prevented the armies from crossing the Øresund
Øresund or Öresund (, ; da, Øresund ; sv, Öresund ), commonly known in English as the Sound, is a strait which forms the Danish–Swedish border, separating Zealand (Denmark) from Scania (Sweden). The strait has a length of ; its width v ...
strait, and the war came mainly to be fought along the Swedish–Norwegian border. At the Congress of Erfurt (September–October 1808), France and Russia further agreed on the division of Sweden into two parts separated by the Gulf of Bothnia
The Gulf of Bothnia (; fi, Pohjanlahti; sv, Bottniska viken) is divided into the Bothnian Bay and Bothnian Sea, and it is the northernmost arm of the Baltic Sea, between Finland's west coast ( East Bothnia) and the Sweden's east coast (West ...
, where the eastern part became the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland. British voluntary attempts to assist Sweden with humanitarian aid remained limited, and did not prevent Sweden from adopting a more Napoleon-friendly policy.{{sfn, Götz, 2014, pp=519–539{{page range too broad, date=May 2021
The war between Denmark and Britain effectively finished with a British victory at the Battle of Lyngør
The Battle of Lyngør was a naval action fought between Denmark-Norway and the United Kingdom in 1812 on the southern coast of Norway. The battle ended in a Dano-Norwegian defeat, and marked the end of the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway's involvement ...
in 1812, involving the destruction of the last large Dano–Norwegian ship—the frigate
A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat.
The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...
'' Najaden''.
Poland
{{Main, Duchy of Warsaw
In 1807, Napoleon created a powerful outpost of his empire in Central Europe. Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
had recently been partitioned by its three neighbours, but Napoleon created the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, which depended on France from the beginning. The duchy consisted of lands seized by Austria and Prussia; its Grand Duke was Napoleon's ally King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony
pl, Fryderyk August Józef Maria Antoni Jan Nepomucen Alojzy Ksawery
, image = Frederick Augustus I of Saxony by Marcello Bacciarelli (ca 1808-1809).png
, caption = Portrait by Marcello Bacciarelli (1809)
, succession = King of Saxony
, coron ...
, but Napoleon appointed the intendants who administered the country. The population of 4.3 million was released from occupation and, by 1814, sent about 200,000 men to Napoleon's armies. That included about 90,000 who marched with him to Moscow; few marched back. The Russians strongly opposed any move towards an independent Poland and one reason Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812 was to punish them. The Grand Duchy was absorbed into the Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
as a semi-autonomous Congress Poland
Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It w ...
in 1815; Poland did not become a sovereign state again until 1918, following the collapse of the neighbouring Russian, German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
and Austro-Hungarian
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
Empires in the aftermath of World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Napoleon's impact on Poland was significant, including the Napoleonic legal code, the abolition of serfdom
Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which develop ...
, and the introduction of modern middle-class bureaucracies.{{sfn, Riley, 2013, pp=27–28{{sfn, Grab, 2003, pp=176–187
Peninsular War, 1808–1814
{{Main, Peninsular War The Iberian conflict began whenPortugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
continued trade with Britain, despite French restrictions. When Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
failed to maintain the Continental System, the uneasy Spanish alliance with France ended in all but name. French troops gradually encroached on Spanish territory until they occupied Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
, and installed a client monarchy. This provoked an explosion of popular rebellions across Spain. Heavy British involvement soon followed.
After defeats in Spain suffered by France, Napoleon took charge and enjoyed success, retaking Madrid, defeating the Spanish, and forcing a withdrawal of the heavily out-numbered British army from the Iberian Peninsula ( Battle of Corunna, 16 January 1809). But when he left, the guerrilla war
Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactic ...
against his forces in the countryside continued to tie down great numbers of troops. The outbreak of the War of the Fifth Coalition
The War of the Fifth Coalition was a European conflict in 1809 that was part of the Napoleonic Wars and the Coalition Wars. The main conflict took place in central Europe between the Austrian Empire of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, Francis ...
prevented Napoleon from successfully wrapping up operations against British forces by necessitating his departure for Austria, and he never returned to the Peninsular theatre. The British then sent in a fresh army under Sir Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington).{{sfn, Fremont-Barnes, 2014{{page needed, date=May 2021 For a time, the British and Portuguese remained restricted to the area around Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
(behind their impregnable Lines of Torres Vedras), while their Spanish allies were besieged in Cádiz.
The Peninsular war proved a major disaster for France. Napoleon did well when he was in direct charge, but severe losses followed his departure, as he severely underestimated how much manpower would be needed. The effort in Spain was a drain on money, manpower and prestige. Historian David Gates called it the "Spanish ulcer".{{sfn, Gates, 1986{{page needed, date=May 2021 Napoleon realised it had been a disaster for his cause, writing later, "That unfortunate war destroyed me ... All the circumstances of my disasters are bound up in that fatal knot."{{sfn, Tone, 2010, 243
} The Peninsular campaigns witnessed 60 major battles and 30 major sieges, more than any other of the Napoleonic conflicts, and lasted over 6 years, far longer than any of the others. France and her allies lost at least 91,000 killed in action and 237,000 wounded in the peninsula.{{sfn, Clodfelter, 2017, page=157 From 1812, the Peninsular War merged with the
War of the Sixth Coalition
In the War of the Sixth Coalition (March 1813 – May 1814), sometimes known in Germany as the Wars of Liberation, a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, and a number of German States defeated F ...
.
War of the Fifth Coalition, 1809
{{More citations needed section, date=May 2021 {{Main, War of the Fifth Coalition The Fifth Coalition (1809) of Britain and Austria against France formed as Britain engaged in thePeninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
in Spain and Portugal. The sea became a major theatre of war against Napoleon's allies. Austria, previously an ally of France, took the opportunity to attempt to restore its imperial territories in Germany as held prior to Austerlitz. During the time of the Fifth Coalition, the Royal Navy won a succession of victories in the French colonies. On land the major battles included Battles of Raszyn, Eckmuhl, Raab, Aspern-Essling
In the Battle of Aspern-Essling (21–22 May 1809), Napoleon crossed the Danube near Vienna, but the French and their allies were attacked and forced back across the river by the Austrians under Archduke Charles. It was the first time Napoleon ...
, and Wagram
Deutsch-Wagram (literally "German Wagram", ), often shortened to Wagram, is a village in the Gänserndorf District, in the states of Austria, state of Lower Austria, Austria. It is in the Morava (river), Marchfeld Basin, close to the Vienna city ...
.
On land, the Fifth Coalition attempted few extensive military endeavours. One, the Walcheren Expedition of 1809, involved a dual effort by the British Army and the Royal Navy to relieve Austrian forces under intense French pressure. It ended in disaster after the Army commander, John Pitt, 2nd Earl of Chatham, failed to capture the objective, the naval base of French-controlled Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,
. For the most part of the years of the Fifth Coalition, British military operations on land (apart from the Iberian Peninsula) remained restricted to hit-and-run operations executed by the Royal Navy, which dominated the sea after having beaten down almost all substantial naval opposition from France and its allies and blockading what remained of France's naval forces in heavily fortified French-controlled ports. These rapid-attack operations were aimed mostly at destroying blockaded French naval and mercantile shipping and the disruption of French supplies, communications, and military units stationed near the coasts. Often, when British allies attempted military actions within several dozen miles or so of the sea, the Royal Navy would arrive, land troops and supplies, and aid the coalition's land forces in a concerted operation. Royal Navy ships even provided artillery support against French units when fighting strayed near enough to the coastline. The ability and quality of the land forces governed these operations. For example, when operating with inexperienced guerrilla forces in Spain, the Royal Navy sometimes failed to achieve its objectives because of the lack of manpower that the Navy's guerrilla allies had promised to supply.
Austria achieved some initial victories against the thinly spread army of Marshal Berthier. Napoleon left Berthier with only 170,000 men to defend France's entire eastern frontier (in the 1790s, 800,000 men had carried out the same task, but holding a much shorter front).
In the east, the Austrians drove into the Duchy of Warsaw but suffered defeat at the Battle of Raszyn
The first Battle of Raszyn was fought on 19 April 1809 between armies of the Austrian Empire under Archduke Ferdinand Karl Joseph of Austria-Este and the Duchy of Warsaw under Józef Antoni Poniatowski, as part of the War of the Fifth Coalitio ...
on 19 April 1809. The Army of the Duchy of Warsaw
Army of the Duchy of Warsaw (Polish: ''Armia Księstwa Warszawskiego'') refers to the military forces of the Duchy of Warsaw. The Army was significantly based on the Polish Legions; it numbered about 30,000 and was expanded during wartime to alm ...
captured West Galicia
New Galicia or West Galicia ( pl, Nowa Galicja or ''Galicja Zachodnia'', german: Neugalizien or ''Westgalizien'') was an administrative region of the Habsburg monarchy, constituted from the territory annexed in the course of the Third Partition ...
following its earlier success. Napoleon assumed personal command and bolstered the army for a counter-attack on Austria. After a few small battles, the well-run campaign forced the Austrians to withdraw from Bavaria, and Napoleon advanced into Austria. His hurried attempt to cross the Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
resulted in the major Battle of Aspern-Essling
In the Battle of Aspern-Essling (21–22 May 1809), Napoleon crossed the Danube near Vienna, but the French and their allies were attacked and forced back across the river by the Austrians under Archduke Charles. It was the first time Napoleon ...
(22 May 1809) – Napoleon's first significant tactical defeat. But the Austrian commander, Archduke Charles, failed to follow up on his indecisive victory, allowing Napoleon to prepare and seize Vienna in early July. He defeated the Austrians at Wagram
Deutsch-Wagram (literally "German Wagram", ), often shortened to Wagram, is a village in the Gänserndorf District, in the states of Austria, state of Lower Austria, Austria. It is in the Morava (river), Marchfeld Basin, close to the Vienna city ...
, on 5–6 July. (It was during the middle of that battle that Marshal Bernadotte was stripped of his command after retreating contrary to Napoleon's orders. Shortly thereafter, Bernadotte took up the offer from Sweden to fill the vacant position of Crown Prince there. Later he actively participated in wars against his former Emperor.)
The War of the Fifth Coalition ended with the Treaty of Schönbrunn (14 October 1809). In the east, only the Tyrolese rebels led by Andreas Hofer continued to fight the French-Bavarian army until finally defeated in November 1809. In the west, the Peninsular War continued. Economic warfare between Britain and France continued: The British continued a naval blockade of French-controlled territory. Due to military shortages and lack of organisation in French territory, many breaches of the Continental System occurred and the French Continental System was largely ineffective and did little economic damage to Great Britain. Both sides entered further conflicts in attempts to enforce their blockade. As Napoleon realised that extensive trade was going through Spain and Russia, he invaded those two countries; the British fought the United States in the War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
(1812–1815).
In 1810, the French Empire reached its greatest extent. Napoleon married Marie-Louise, an Austrian Archduchess, with the aim of ensuring a more stable alliance with Austria and of providing the Emperor with an heir (something his first wife, Joséphine, had failed to do). As well as the French Empire, Napoleon controlled the Swiss Confederation, the Confederation of the Rhine
The Confederated States of the Rhine, simply known as the Confederation of the Rhine, also known as Napoleonic Germany, was a confederation of German client states established at the behest of Napoleon some months after he defeated Austria an ...
, the Duchy of Warsaw and the Kingdom of Italy
The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...
. Territories allied with the French included:
* the kingdoms of Denmark–Norway
Denmark–Norway (Danish and Norwegian: ) was an early modern multi-national and multi-lingual real unionFeldbæk 1998:11 consisting of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Norway (including the then Norwegian overseas possessions: the Faroe I ...
* the Kingdom of Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
(under Joseph Bonaparte
it, Giuseppe-Napoleone Buonaparte es, José Napoleón Bonaparte
, house = Bonaparte
, father = Carlo Buonaparte
, mother = Letizia Ramolino
, birth_date = 7 January 1768
, birth_place = Corte, Corsica, Republic of ...
, Napoleon's elder brother)
* the Kingdom of Westphalia (Jérôme Bonaparte
Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte (born Girolamo Buonaparte; 15 November 1784 – 24 June 1860) was the youngest brother of Napoleon I and reigned as Jerome Napoleon I (formally Hieronymus Napoleon in German), King of Westphalia, between 1807 and 1 ...
, Napoleon's younger brother)
* the Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...
(under Joachim Murat, husband of Napoleon's sister Caroline
Caroline may refer to:
People
* Caroline (given name), a feminine given name
* J. C. Caroline (born 1933), American college and National Football League player
* Jordan Caroline (born 1996), American (men's) basketball player
Places Antarctica
* ...
)
* the Principality of Lucca and Piombino
The Principality of Lucca and Piombino was created in July 1805 by Napoleon I for his beloved sister Elisa Bonaparte. It was a State located on the central Italian Peninsula (present-day Italy), reporting to the needs of Napoleonic France.
Forma ...
(under Elisa Bonaparte (Napoleon's sister) and her husband Felice Baciocchi
Felice Pasquale Baciocchi (18 May 1762 – 27 April 1841) was born at Ajaccio into a noble, but poor, Corsican family. He was second lieutenant in the French army
The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), i ...
);
and Napoleon's former enemies, Sweden, Prussia and Austria.
Subsidiary wars
The Napoleonic Wars were the direct cause of wars in the Americas and elsewhere.Serbian Revolution
{{Main, First Serbian Uprising The Serbian Revolution coincided with theRusso-Turkish War (1806–1812)
The Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812) between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire was one of the Russo-Ottoman Wars. Russia prevailed, but both sides wanted peace as they feared Napoleon's moves to the east.
Background
The war broke ou ...
(in which the French diplomat, Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta
Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta ( co, Oraziu Francescu Bastianu Sebastiani di A Porta; 11 November 1771 – 20 July 1851) was a French general, diplomat, and politician, who served as Naval Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs ...
played a very important role in provoking the war), which were a proxy conflict of the Coalition Wars, having most of the time Serbs revolutionaries the support
Support may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Supporting character
Business and finance
* Support (technical analysis)
* Child support
* Customer support
* Income Support
Construction
* Support (structure), or lateral support, a ...
of the Russian Empire, while the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
was an ally of the French Empire. This was due to the fact that both empires feared Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
's moves to the east as the subsequent Peace of Pressburg brought France into Balkan affairs.{{Cite web , title=A Brief History of the Serbian Insurrections 1804–1817 , url=https://www.napoleon-series.org/research/government/Serbia/c_SerbianInsurrection.html , access-date=2023-06-10 , website=www.napoleon-series.org , archive-date=10 June 2023 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230610013140/https://www.napoleon-series.org/research/government/Serbia/c_SerbianInsurrection.html , url-status=live The most radical and liberal rebels were also inspired in some way by the French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
(specially the rise of nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
) and the autonomy of the Illyrian Provinces
The Illyrian Provinces sl, Ilirske province hr, Ilirske provincije sr, Илирске провинције it, Province illirichegerman: Illyrische Provinzen, group=note were an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province of France d ...
(Serbs initially felt that French presence in the region could have developed into military aid in support of the insurrection against Ottoman rule as a Sister republic
A sister republic (french: république sœur) was a republic established by French armies or by local revolutionaries and assisted by the First French Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars. These republics, though nominally independent, ...
, but Napoleon didn't want to increase Russian or Austrian influence in the region).
During the first phase, from 1804 to 1806, it was a conservative reaction to new abuses by the Janissaries
A Janissary ( ota, یڭیچری, yeŋiçeri, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and the first modern standing army in Europe. The corps was most likely established under sultan Orhan ( ...
and Dahis
Dey (Arabic: داي), from the Turkish honorific title ''dayı'', literally meaning uncle, was the title given to the rulers of the Regency of Algiers (Algeria), Tripoli,Bertarelli (1929), p. 203. and Tunis under the Ottoman Empire from 1671 on ...
, after they killed Hadyi Mustafa Pasha (vizier of the Sanjak of Smederevo. He created a militia of Serb notables and realized the Slaughter of the Knezes, because the Janissaries, expelled from Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
, found refuge with Osman Pazvantoğlu, governor of the Sanjak of Vidin (in present-day Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
), who pursued his own policy and sought independence, which brought him into conflict with the Serbs and later with the Sublime Porte. Thus, the Serbs appealed to Sultan
Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...
Selim III
Selim III ( ota, سليم ثالث, Selim-i sâlis; tr, III. Selim; was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1789 to 1807. Regarded as an enlightened ruler, the Janissaries eventually deposed and imprisoned him, and placed his cousin Mustafa ...
for assistance against the Dahis, who had since rejected the authority of the Porte. Also, Karađorđe negotiated with the Austrian captain Sajtinski. At this meeting, he expressed the wish of the Serbian people that the Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...
receive him as a kingdom under his protection like in the past, as occupation of 1788–1791 was still a fresh memory. However, the Austrian authorities, due to difficulties with Napoleon and because they wanted to maintain their neutrality, in order to be correct with the Porte, could not accept his offers. So, the Serbs were forced to ask for the protection of the Russians, and therefore, on May 3, 1804, the Serb leaders sent a letter to the Russian envoy in Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
, in which they spoke of the problems and wishes of the Serbian people, but they also stressed that they would continue to be loyal to the Sultan. Due to the recent Russo-Ottoman alliance
The Russo-Ottoman alliance was a defensive alliance between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, directed against France between 1799 and 1806, during the Napoleonic Wars.
The first treaty of defensive alliance, including secret clauses, was ...
against France's expanding influence in the Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
(the approach of French troops to the Turkish territories, like occupation of Corfu and other Ionian islands in 1797–99, influenced the Porte to conclude an alliance with Russia in 1798), the Russian government had a neutral policy toward the Serbian revolt until summer 1804, in which the goal was now to having Constantinople recognize Russia as the guarantor of peace in the region.
In 1806, the Serbs rejected Ičko's Peace
Ičko's Peace ( sr, Ичков мир / Ičkov mir) is the name given to a peace treaty negotiated in between July and October 1806 by Petar Ičko, an Ottoman ''dragoman'' (translator-diplomat) and representative of the Serbian revolutionaries, du ...
(the Ottomans seemed ready to grant Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
autonomy, similar to that enjoyed by neighbouring Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and so ...
, in order to enter in the Napoleonic Wars as an ally of the French) as they desired Russian support for their independence, starting a new phase of the uprising
Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority.
A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...
in which the Serbs planned to create their own national state, which would also include the territories of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...
, as well as the pashaliks of Vidin, Nis
Nis, Niš, NiS or NIS may refer to:
Places
* Niš, a city in Serbia
* Nis, Iran, a village
* Ness, Lewis ( gd, Nis, links=no), a village in the Outer Hebrides islands
Businesses and organizations
* Naftna Industrija Srbije, Petroleum Industry of ...
, Leskovac, and Pazar. Also, in the Traditionalist
Traditionalism is the adherence to traditional beliefs or practices. It may also refer to:
Religion
* Traditional religion, a religion or belief associated with a particular ethnic group
* Traditionalism (19th-century Catholicism), a 19th–cen ...
circles of Serbia rebels,''Ослобођење, независност и уједињење Србије и Црне Горе''. Београд: Историјски музеј Србије. 1999. p. 116. Petar I of Montenegro
)
, image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Podgorica
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, official_languages = M ...
developed a plan in 1807 to restore the medieval Serbian Empire ("Slaveno–Serb empire"), consisting on unify Podgorica, Spuž
Spuž ( cnr, Спуж) is a small town seated near Zeta river, within the municipality of Danilovgrad in the central Montenegrin region.
Overview
It is located halfway between Podgorica and Danilovgrad, in the Bjelopavlići valley. It was part of ...
, Žabljak, the Bay of Kotor, Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...
, Herzegovina
Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia. It has never had strictly defined geogra ...
, Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...
and Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...
with Montenegro
)
, image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Podgorica
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, official_languages = M ...
,Јован Милићевић (1994). "Петар I Петровић, Идеја о обнови српске државе". ''Црна Гора 1797–1851''. ''Историјa српског народа, V-1''. Београд. pp. 170–171. which he informed the Russian court and was also viewed by Habsburg Serb metropolitan Stefan Stratimirović. The title of Emperor of the Serbs would be held by the Russian emperor
The emperor or empress of all the Russias or All Russia, ''Imperator Vserossiyskiy'', ''Imperatritsa Vserossiyskaya'' (often titled Tsar or Tsarina/Tsaritsa) was the monarch of the Russian Empire.
The title originated in connection with Russia' ...
as Tsar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...
, but with the condition that Russians respected the independence-autocephaly of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church. So, in February 1807, Petar I planned an invasion of Herzegovina
Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia. It has never had strictly defined geogra ...
by montenegrin forces and asked for Karađorđe's aid, wanting to connect the territory occupied by the Serbian rebel forces and Montenegro, which succeeded after the Battle of Suvodol
The Battle of Suvodol was fought near Sjenica between the Serbian rebels under Karađorđe and Ottoman army consisting of Albanians under Köprülüzade Numan Pasha in late May 1809, during the First Serbian uprising. It resulted in a Serbian ...
in 1809. This support of Montenegro for the Serbs was reinforced due to the fact that in the war of 1807–1812, Ottoman troops, supported by French detachments on Illyria, attacked Montenegro along the entire border, and the Montenegrins did not have time to repel all the attacks. However, they managed to force the French troops to withdraw from Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...
and conquered the Bay of Kotor. Napoleon himself offered Petar I the title "Patriarch of the entire Serbian nation or of the entire Illyricum" on the condition that he cease cooperation with Russia and accept a French protectorate, which he refused for fear of an eventual papal status jurisdiction or an Anti-clerical policy.{{Cite web , title=MONTENEGRINA – digitalna biblioteka crnogorske kulture i nasljedja , url=https://www.montenegrina.net/pages/pages1/istorija/cg_u_xix_vijeku/napoleon_pominje_crnogorce_marsalu_marmonu.htm , access-date=2023-06-10 , website=www.montenegrina.net , archive-date=8 April 2023 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408193254/https://www.montenegrina.net/pages/pages1/istorija/cg_u_xix_vijeku/napoleon_pominje_crnogorce_marsalu_marmonu.htm , url-status=live
However, the Treaty Of Tilsit between France and Russia against the Ottomans helped put a stop to hostilities in the Balkans, with a truce taking place (which was perceived extremely negatively in Serbia, despite the fact that the truce did not apply to the Serb rebels), also, there was a secret clause that provides for the division of Turkish possessions in the Balkans between Russia and France and the cancellation of the Slaveno-Serb empire project. In 1809, Karađorđe appealed to an alliance with the Habsburgs
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
and Napoleon, with no success, even wrote personally to Napoleon seeking military assistance, and in 1810, dispatched an emissary to French Empire. However, the French did not believe that the rebels had the military capacity to defeat the Ottomans or expulse them from the Balkans. In 1812, under pressure from Napoleon, Russia was forced to sign the Treaty of Bucharest, which restored peace with the Ottomans. One of the clauses of the treaty provided for the maintenance of Serbian autonomy, also, a truce was signed according to the Article 8 of the Treaty. Then, the Russians encouraged Karađorđe and his followers to negotiate directly with the Porte.
War of 1812
{{Main, War of 1812 {{See also, The United States and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars TheWar of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
coincided with the War of the Sixth Coalition. Historians in the United States and Canada see it as a war in its own right, while Europeans often see it as a minor theatre of the Napoleonic Wars. The United States declared war on Britain because of British military support for Native Americans, interference
Interference is the act of interfering, invading, or poaching. Interference may also refer to:
Communications
* Interference (communication), anything which alters, modifies, or disrupts a message
* Adjacent-channel interference, caused by extra ...
with American merchant ships, forced enlistment of American sailors into the Royal Navy, and a desire to expand its territory. France had interfered as well, and the United States had considered declaring war on France. The war ended in a military stalemate, and there were no boundary changes at the Treaty of Ghent
The Treaty of Ghent () was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom. It took effect in February 1815. Both sides signed it on December 24, 1814, in the city of Ghent, United Netherlands (now in ...
, which took effect in early 1815 when Napoleon was on Elba.{{sfn, Black, 2009{{page needed, date=May 2021
Latin American Revolutions
{{Main, Spanish American wars of independence, War of Independence of Brazil, Haitian Revolution
The abdication of Kings Charles IV of Spain
, house = Bourbon-Anjou
, father = Charles III of Spain
, mother =Maria Amalia of Saxony
, birth_date =11 November 1748
, birth_place =Palace of Portici, Portici, Naples
, death_date =
, death_place = ...
and Ferdinand VII
, house = Bourbon-Anjou
, father = Charles IV of Spain
, mother = Maria Luisa of Parma
, birth_date = 14 October 1784
, birth_place = El Escorial, Spain
, death_date =
, death_place = Madrid, Spain
, burial_plac ...
of Spain and the installation of Napoleon's brother as King José
José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ).
In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...
provoked civil wars and revolutions, leading to the independence of most of Spain's mainland American colonies. In Spanish America, many local elites formed juntas and set up mechanisms to rule in the name of Ferdinand VII, whom they considered the legitimate Spanish monarch. The outbreak of the Spanish American wars of independence
The Spanish American wars of independence (25 September 1808 – 29 September 1833; es, Guerras de independencia hispanoamericanas) were numerous wars in Spanish America with the aim of political independence from Spanish rule during the early ...
in most of the empire was a result of Napoleon's destabilizing actions in Spain, and led to the rise of strongmen in the wake of these wars. The defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 caused an exodus of French soldiers into Latin America, where they joined ranks with the armies of the independence movements.{{Cite journal , last=Orellana Billiard , first=Jorge Andrés , year=2018 , title=BERGUÑO HURTADO, Fernando. Los soldados de Napoleón en la Independencia de Chile. 1817–1830 , url=http://www.scielo.org.ar/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2314-15492018000100011 , url-status=live , journal= Revista de historia americana y argentina , language=es , volume=53 , issue=1 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200522161122/http://www.scielo.org.ar/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2314-15492018000100011 , archive-date=22 May 2020 , access-date=13 July 2019 While these officials had a role in various victories such as the Capture of Valdivia (1820), some are held responsible for significant defeats at the hands of the royalists, as was the case at the Second Battle of Cancha Rayada
The Battle of Cancha Rayada (March 16, 1818), (also known in Chile as the Second Battle of Cancha Rayada or Surprise of Cancha Rayada) was fought in Chile between South American patriots and Spanish royalists, during the Osorio's campaign in th ...
(1818).
In contrast, the Portuguese royal family
A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/ rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term ...
escaped to Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
and established the court there, resulting in political stability for Portuguese America. In 1816, Brazil was proclaimed an equal part of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves
The United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves was a pluricontinental monarchy formed by the elevation of the Portuguese colony named State of Brazil to the status of a kingdom and by the simultaneous union of that Kingdom of Brazil w ...
, paving the way to Brazilian independence six years later.
The Haitian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution (french: révolution haïtienne ; ht, revolisyon ayisyen) was a successful insurrection by slave revolt, self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolt ...
began in 1791, just before the French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...
, and continued until 1804. France's defeat resulted in the independence of Saint-Domingue
Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to refer ...
and led Napoleon to sell the territory making up the Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase (french: Vente de la Louisiane, translation=Sale of Louisiana) was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. In return for fifteen million dollars, or app ...
to the United States.
Barbary Wars
{{Main, Barbary Wars During the Napoleonic Wars, the United States, Sweden, and Sicily fought against theBarbary pirates
The Barbary pirates, or Barbary corsairs or Ottoman corsairs, were Muslim pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Salé, Rabat, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli. This area was known i ...
in the Mediterranean.
Invasion of Russia, 1812
{{Main, French invasion of Russia
The Treaty of Tilsit in 1807 resulted in the Anglo–Russian War (1807–1812). Emperor Alexander I Alexander I may refer to:
* Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC
* Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus
* Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome
* Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of ...
declared war on Britain after the British attack on Denmark in September 1807. British men-of-war supported the Swedish fleet during the Finnish War and won victories over the Russians in the Gulf of Finland
The Gulf of Finland ( fi, Suomenlahti; et, Soome laht; rus, Фи́нский зали́в, r=Finskiy zaliv, p=ˈfʲinskʲɪj zɐˈlʲif; sv, Finska viken) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and E ...
in July 1808 and August 1809. The success of the Russian army on land, however, forced Sweden to sign peace treaties with Russia in 1809 and with France in 1810, and to join the blockade against Britain. But Franco–Russian relations would become progressively worse after 1810, and the Russian war with Britain effectively ended. In April 1812, Britain, Russia, and Sweden signed secret agreements directed against Napoleon.{{sfn, Palmer, 1974{{page needed, date=May 2021
The central issue for both Napoleon and Tsar Alexander I was control over Poland. Each wanted a semi-independent Poland he could control. As Esdaile notes, "Implicit in the idea of a Russian Poland was, of course, a war against Napoleon."{{sfn, Esdaile, 2009, p=438 Schroeder says Poland was "the root cause" of Napoleon's war with Russia, but Russia's refusal to support the Continental System was also a factor.{{sfn, Schroeder, 1994, p=419
In 1812, at the height of his power, Napoleon invaded Russia with a pan-European {{lang, fr, Grande Armée
''La Grande Armée'' (; ) was the main military component of the French Imperial Army commanded by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte during the Napoleonic Wars. From 1804 to 1808, it won a series of military victories that allowed the French Empi ...
, consisting of 450,000 men (200,000 Frenchmen, and many soldiers of allies or subject areas). The French forces crossed the Niemen river on 24 June 1812. Russia proclaimed a Patriotic War, and Napoleon proclaimed a Second Polish war. The Poles supplied almost 100,000 men for the invasion force, but against their expectations, Napoleon avoided any concessions to Poland, having in mind further negotiations with Russia.{{sfn, Riehn, 1990{{page needed, date=May 2021
The {{lang, fr, Grande Armée marched through Russia, winning some relatively minor engagements and the major Battle of Smolensk on 16–18 August. In the same days, part of the French Army led by Marshal
Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated o ...
Nicolas Oudinot
Nicolas Charles Oudinot, 1st Count Oudinot, 1st Duke of Reggio (25 April 1767 in Bar-le-Duc – 13 September 1847 in Paris), was a Marshal of the Empire. He is known to have been wounded 34 times in battle, being hit by artillery shells, sabers, ...
was stopped in the Battle of Polotsk by the right wing of the Russian Army, under command of General Peter Wittgenstein. This prevented the French march on the Russian capital, Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
; the fate of the invasion was decided in Moscow, where Napoleon led his forces in person.
The main Russian army was commanded by Field Marshal
Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...
Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly, who recognized that Napoleon's immediate goal was a decisive battle to crush the main Russian force in the west. In response, the Russian army used scorched-earth tactics as it withdrew east, and harried the {{lang, fr, Grande Armée with light Cossack cavalry. The {{lang, fr, Grande Armée did not adjust its operational methods in response.{{sfn, Riehn, 1990, pp=138–140 Provisioning such an enormous army with adequate food and fresh water had proven difficult since the very start of the campaign, exacerbated by the sparse terrain of western Russia; diseases such as typhus and dysentery rapidly became rampant among the rank and file. These factors led to most of the losses of the main column of the {{lang, fr, Grande Armée, which in one case amounted to 95,000 men, including deserters, in a week.{{sfn, Riehn, 1990, p=185
The main Russian army retreated for almost three months. This constant retreat led to the increasing unpopularity of Barclay de Tolly (who was a Baltic German and already mistrusted by the Russian elite) and a respected Russian veteran, Prince Mikhail Kutuzov
Prince Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov ( rus, Князь Михаи́л Илларио́нович Голени́щев-Куту́зов, Knyaz' Mikhaíl Illariónovich Goleníshchev-Kutúzov; german: Mikhail Illarion Golenishchev-Kut ...
, was made the new Commander-in-Chief by Tsar Alexander. Finally, the two armies engaged in the Battle of Borodino on 7 September,{{sfn, Haythornthwaite, 2012{{page needed, date=May 2021 in the vicinity of Moscow. The battle was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the Napoleonic Wars, involving more than 250,000 men and resulting in at least 70,000 casualties.
The battle was indecisive; the French captured the main positions on the battlefield but failed to destroy the Russian army. While Kutuzov had recognized the political need to give battle, he also recognized that Barclay de Tolly's strategies had proven effective, and that the {{lang, fr, Grande Armée was bleeding personnel and supplies more and more severely with every step they took deeper into Russia. Napoloeon's logistical difficulties meant that French casualties simply could not be replaced, whereas the Russian army could reinforce itself far more readily.
Napoleon entered Moscow on 14 September, after the Russian Army had retreated yet again.{{sfn, Riehn, 1990, pp=253–254 By then, the Russians had largely evacuated the city and released criminals from the prisons to inconvenience the French; the governor, Count Fyodor Rostopchin, ordered the city Fire of Moscow (1812), to be burnt. Alexander I refused to capitulate, and the peace talks attempted by Napoleon failed. Rather than withdraw further east, the Russian army withdrew south, rebuilding its strength and preparing to interfere with a French withdrawal. In October, with no sign of clear victory in sight, Napoleon began the disastrous Great Retreat from Moscow.
The French tried to reach Kaluga and swing through southern Russia, where they could find food and forage supplies. In the Battle of Maloyaroslavets, the replenished Russian army blocked the road to Kaluga. While an indecisive engagement, it nevertheless doomed the {{lang, fr, Grande Armée; with the Russians refusing to be dislodged, Napoleon was forced to retreat back down the Smolensk road along which he had already advanced, and which had already been denuded of supplies - most crucially, food.
The French supply chain, already in tatters from the attrition of wagons and horses, began to collapse completely. The lack of horses also rendered Napoleon's cavalry ineffective, leaving the {{lang, fr, Grande Armée vulnerable to sustained guerrilla warfare by Russian peasants and irregular troops. The {{lang, fr, Grande Armée was dealt a further catastrophic blow by the onset of the Russian Winter, which the underfed and undersupplied {{lang, fr, Grande Armée was unprepared to cope with.
When the remnants of Napoleon's army Battle of Berezina, struggled across the Berezina River in November with the Russian army in pursuit, only 27,000 fit soldiers survived, with 380,000 men dead or missing and 100,000 captured.{{sfn, Upshall, p=17, 1993 Napoleon then left his men and returned to Paris to prepare the defence against the advancing Russians. The campaign had effectively ended on 14 December 1812, when the last enemy troops left Russia. The Russians had lost around 210,000 men, but with their shorter supply lines, they soon replenished their armies. For every six soldiers of the {{lang, fr, Grande Armée that entered Russia, only one would make it out in fighting condition.
War of the Sixth Coalition, 1812–1814
{{Main, War of the Sixth Coalition Seeing an opportunity in Napoleon's historic defeat, Prussia, Sweden and several other German states switched sides, joining Russia, the United Kingdom and others opposing Napoleon.{{sfn, Dwyer, 2013, pages=431–474{{page range too broad, date=May 2021 Napoleon vowed that he would create a new army as large as the one he had sent into Russia, and quickly built up his forces in the east from 30,000 to 130,000 and eventually to 400,000. Napoleon inflicted 40,000 casualties on the Allies at Battle of Lützen (1813), Lützen (2 May 1813) and Battle of Bautzen (1813), Bautzen (20–21 May 1813). Both battles involved forces of over 250,000, making them some of the largest conflicts of the wars so far. Klemens von Metternich in November 1813 offered Napoleon the Frankfurt proposals. They would allow Napoleon to remain Emperor but France would be reduced to its "natural frontiers" and lose control of most of Italy and Germany and the Netherlands. Napoleon still expected to win the wars, and rejected the terms. By 1814, as the Allies were closing in on Paris, Napoleon did agree to the Frankfurt proposals, but it was too late and he rejected the new harsher terms proposed by the Allies.{{sfn, Riley, 2013, p=206
In the Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, renewed the Anglo-Portuguese Army, Anglo-Portuguese advance into Spain just after New Year in 1812, besieging and capturing the fortified towns of Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1812), Ciudad Rodrigo, Siege of Badajoz (1812), Badajoz, and crushing a French army at the Battle of Salamanca. As the French regrouped, the Anglo-Portuguese entered Madrid and advanced towards Siege of Burgos, Burgos, before retreating all the way to Portugal when renewed French concentrations threatened to trap them. As a consequence of the Salamanca campaign, the French were forced to end their long siege of Cádiz and to permanently evacuate the provinces of Andalusia and Asturias.{{sfn, Young, Lawford, 2015{{page needed, date=May 2021
In a strategic move, Wellesley planned to move his supply base from Lisbon to Santander, Spain, Santander. The Anglo-Portuguese forces swept northwards in late May and seized Burgos. On 21 June, at Vitoria
Vitoria or Vitória may refer to :
People
* Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian
* Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer
* Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer
* Steven Vitória (b ...
, the combined Anglo-Portuguese and Spanish armies won against Joseph Bonaparte
it, Giuseppe-Napoleone Buonaparte es, José Napoleón Bonaparte
, house = Bonaparte
, father = Carlo Buonaparte
, mother = Letizia Ramolino
, birth_date = 7 January 1768
, birth_place = Corte, Corsica, Republic of ...
, finally breaking French power in Spain. The French had to retreat from the Iberian peninsula, over the Pyrenees.{{sfn, Glover, 1963{{page needed, date=May 2021
The belligerents declared an armistice from 4 June 1813 (continuing until 13 August) during which time both sides attempted to recover from the loss of approximately a quarter of a million men in the preceding two months. During this time coalition negotiations finally brought Austria out in open opposition to France. Two principal Austrian armies took the field, adding 300,000 men to the coalition armies in Germany. The Allies now had around 800,000 front-line soldiers in the German theatre, with a strategic reserve of 350,000 formed to support the front-line operations.{{sfn, Riley, 2013, p=206
Napoleon succeeded in bringing the imperial forces in the region to around 650,000—although only 250,000 came under his direct command, with another 120,000 under Nicolas Charles Oudinot
Nicolas Charles Oudinot, 1st Count Oudinot, 1st Duke of Reggio (25 April 1767 in Bar-le-Duc – 13 September 1847 in Paris), was a Marshal of the Empire. He is known to have been wounded 34 times in battle, being hit by artillery shells, sabers, ...
and 30,000 under Davout. The remaining imperial forces came mostly from the Confederation of the Rhine, especially Saxony and Bavaria. In addition, to the south, Murat's Kingdom of Naples and Eugène de Beauharnais
Eugène Rose de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg (; 3 September 1781 – 21 February 1824) was a French nobleman, statesman, and military commander who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.
Through the second marr ...
's Kingdom of Italy had 100,000 armed men. In Spain, another 150,000 to 200,000 French troops steadily retreated before Anglo-Portuguese forces numbering around 100,000. Thus around 900,000 Frenchmen in all theatres faced around 1,800,000 coalition soldiers (including the strategic reserve under formation in Germany). The gross figures may mislead slightly, as most of the German troops fighting on the side of the French fought at best unreliably and stood on the verge of defecting to the Allies. One can reasonably say that Napoleon could count on no more than 450,000 men in Germany—which left him outnumbered about four to one.{{sfn, Riley, 2013, p=206
Following the end of the armistice, Napoleon seemed to have regained the initiative at Battle of Dresden, Dresden (August 1813), where he once again defeated a numerically superior coalition army and inflicted enormous casualties, while sustaining relatively few. The failures of his marshals and a slow resumption of the offensive on his part cost him any advantage that this victory might have secured. At the Battle of Leipzig
The Battle of Leipzig (french: Bataille de Leipsick; german: Völkerschlacht bei Leipzig, ); sv, Slaget vid Leipzig), also known as the Battle of the Nations (french: Bataille des Nations; russian: Битва народов, translit=Bitva ...
in Saxony (16–19 October 1813), also called the "Battle of the Nations", 191,000 French fought more than 300,000 Allies, and the defeated French had to retreat into France. After the French withdrawal from Germany, Napoleon's remaining ally, Denmark–Norway
Denmark–Norway (Danish and Norwegian: ) was an early modern multi-national and multi-lingual real unionFeldbæk 1998:11 consisting of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Norway (including the then Norwegian overseas possessions: the Faroe I ...
, became isolated and Treaty of Kiel, fell to the coalition.
Napoleon then fought a series of battles in France, including the Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube, but the overwhelming numbers of the Allies steadily forced him back. The Allies Battle of Paris (1814), entered Paris on 30 March 1814. During this time Napoleon fought his Six Days' Campaign, in which he won many battles against the enemy forces advancing towards Paris. During this entire campaign, he never managed to field more than 70,000 men against more than half a million coalition soldiers. At the Treaty of Chaumont (9 March 1814), the Allies agreed to preserve the coalition until Napoleon's total defeat.{{sfn, Dwyer, 2013, pp=464–498
Napoleon determined to fight on, even now, incapable of fathoming his fall from power. During the campaign, he had issued a decree for 900,000 fresh conscripts, but only a fraction of these materialised, and Napoleon's schemes for victory eventually gave way to the reality of his hopeless situation. Napoleon abdicated on 6 April. Occasional military actions continued in Italy, Spain, and Holland in early 1814.{{sfn, Dwyer, 2013, pp=464–498 An armistice was signed with the Allied Powers on 23 April 1814. The Treaty of Paris (1814), First Treaty of Paris, signed on 30 May 1814, officially ended the War of the Sixth Coalition.
The victors exiled Napoleon to the island of Elba and restored the French House of Bourbon, Bourbon monarchy in the person of Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...
. They signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau (1814), Treaty of Fontainebleau (11 April 1814) and initiated the Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...
to redraw the map of Europe.{{sfn, Dwyer, 2013, pp=464–498
War of the Seventh Coalition, 1815
{{See also, Hundred Days, Neapolitan War
The Seventh Coalition (1815) pitted Britain, Russia, Prussia, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and several smaller German states against France. The period known as the Hundred Days began after Napoleon escaped from Elba and landed at Cannes (1 March 1815). Travelling to Paris, picking up support as he went, he eventually overthrew Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...
. The Allies rapidly gathered their armies to meet him again. Napoleon raised 280,000 men, whom he distributed among several armies. To add to the 90,000-strong standing army, he recalled well over a quarter of a million veterans from past campaigns and issued a decree for the eventual draft of around 2.5 million new men into the French army, which was never achieved. This faced an initial coalition force of about 700,000—although coalition campaign plans provided for one million front-line soldiers, supported by around 200,000 garrison, logistics and other auxiliary personnel.
Napoleon took about 124,000 men of the Army of the North on a pre-emptive strike against the Allies in Belgium. He intended to attack the coalition armies before they combined, in hope of driving the British into the sea and the Prussians out of the war. His march to the frontier achieved the surprise he had planned, catching the Anglo-Dutch Army in a dispersed arrangement. The Prussians had been more wary, concentrating 75 per cent of their army in and around Ligny. The Prussians forced the {{lang, fr, Armée du Nord to fight all the day of the 15th to reach Ligny in a delaying action by the Prussian 1st Corps. He forced Prussia to fight at Battle of Ligny, Ligny on 16 June 1815, and the defeated Prussians retreated in disorder. On the same day, the left wing of the {{lang, fr, Armée du Nord, under the command of Marshal Michel Ney, succeeded in stopping any of Wellington's forces going to aid Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Blücher's Prussians by fighting a blocking action at Battle of Quatre Bras, Quatre Bras. Ney failed to clear the cross-roads and Wellington reinforced the position. But with the Prussian retreat, Wellington too had to retreat. He fell back to a previously reconnoitred position on an escarpment at Mont-Saint-Jean, Belgium, Mont St Jean, a few miles south of the village of Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo.
Napoleon took the reserve of the Army of the North, and reunited his forces with those of Ney to pursue Wellington's army, after he ordered Marshal Emmanuel, marquis de Grouchy, Grouchy to take the right wing of the Army of the North and stop the Prussians regrouping. In the first of a series of miscalculations, both Grouchy and Napoleon failed to realise that the Prussian forces were already reorganised and were assembling at the city of Wavre. The French army did nothing to stop a rather leisurely retreat that took place throughout the night and into the early morning by the Prussians. As the 4th, 1st, and 2nd Prussian Corps marched through the town towards Waterloo, the 3rd Prussian Corps took up blocking positions across the river, and although Grouchy engaged and defeated the Prussian rearguard under the command of Lt-Gen Johann von Thielmann, von Thielmann in the Battle of Wavre (18–19 June) it was 12 hours too late. In the end, 17,000 Prussians had kept 33,000 badly needed French reinforcements off the field.
Napoleon delayed the start of fighting at the Battle of Waterloo on the morning of 18 June for several hours while he waited for the ground to dry after the previous night's rain. By late afternoon, the French army had not succeeded in driving Wellington's forces from the escarpment on which they stood. When the Prussians arrived and attacked the French right flank in ever-increasing numbers, Napoleon's strategy of keeping the coalition armies divided had failed and a combined coalition general advance drove his army from the field in confusion.
Grouchy organised a successful and well-ordered retreat towards Paris, where Marshal Davout had 117,000 men ready to turn back the 116,000 men of Blücher and Wellington. General Dominique Vandamme, Vandamme was defeated at the Battle of Issy and negotiations for surrender had begun.
On arriving at Paris three days after Waterloo, Napoleon still clung to the hope of a concerted national resistance; but the temper of the Corps législatif, legislative chambers, and of the public generally, did not favour his view. Lacking support Napoleon abdicated again on 22 June 1815, and on 15 July he surrendered to the British squadron at Rochefort
Rochefort () may refer to:
Places France
* Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, in the Charente-Maritime department
** Arsenal de Rochefort, a former naval base and dockyard
* Rochefort, Savoie in the Savoie department
* Rochefort-du-Gard, in the Ga ...
. The Allies exiled him to the remote South Atlantic island of Saint Helena
Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...
, where he died on 5 May 1821.
In Italy, Joachim Murat, whom the Allies had allowed to remain King of Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
after Napoleon's initial defeat, once again allied with his brother-in-law, triggering the Neapolitan War
The Neapolitan War, also known as the Austro-Neapolitan War, was a conflict between the Napoleonic Kingdom of Naples and the Austrian Empire. It started on 15 March 1815 when King Joachim Murat declared war on Austria and ended on 20 May 1815 ...
(March to May 1815). Hoping to find support among Italian nationalists fearing the increasing influence of the Habsburgs in Italy, Murat issued the Rimini Proclamation inciting them to war. The proclamation failed and the Austrians soon crushed Murat at the Battle of Tolentino (2–3 May 1815), forcing him to flee. The House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Bourbons returned to the throne of Naples on 20 May 1815. Murat tried to regain his throne, but after that failed, he was executed by firing squad on 13 October 1815.
The Second Treaty of Paris, signed on 20 November 1815, officially marked the end of the Napoleonic Wars.
Political effects
The Napoleonic Wars brought radical changes to Europe, but the reactionary forces returned and Bourbon Restoration in France, restored the Bourbon house to the French throne. Napoleon had succeeded in bringing most of Western Europe under one rule. In most European countries, subjugation in the French Empire brought with it many liberal features of the French Revolution including democracy, due process in courts, abolition ofserfdom
Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which develop ...
, reduction of the power of the Catholic Church, and demand for constitutional limits on monarchs. The increasing voice of the Middle class, middle classes with rising commerce and industry meant that restored European monarchs found it difficult to restore pre-revolutionary absolute monarch, absolutism and had to retain many of the reforms enacted during Napoleon's rule. Institutional legacies remain to this day in the form of Civil Law (legal system), civil law, with clearly defined code of law, codes of law—an enduring legacy of the Napoleonic Code.
France's constant warfare with the combined forces of different combinations of, and eventually all, of the other major powers of Europe for over two decades finally took its toll. By the end of the Napoleonic Wars, France no longer held the role of the dominant historical powers, power in Continental Europe, as it had since the times of Louis XIV, as the Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...
produced a "Balance of power (international relations), balance of power" by resizing the main powers so they could balance each other and remain at peace. In this regard, Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
was restored in its former borders, and also received large chunks of Grand Duchy of Warsaw, Poland and Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
. Greatly enlarged, Prussia became a permanent Great Power. In order to drag Prussia's attention towards the west and France, the Congress also gave the Prussian Rhineland, Rhineland and Prussian Westphalia, Westphalia to Prussia. These industrial regions transformed agrarian Prussia into an industrial leader in the nineteenth century. Britain emerged as the most important economic power, and its Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
held unquestioned naval superiority across the globe well into the 20th century.
After the Napoleonic period, nationalism, a relatively new movement, became increasingly significant. This shaped much of the course of future European history. Its growth spelled the beginning of some states and the end of others, as the map of Europe changed dramatically in the hundred years following the Napoleonic Era. Rule by Fief, fiefdoms and aristocracy was widely replaced by national ideologies based on shared origins and culture. Bonaparte's reign over Europe sowed the seeds for the founding of the nation-states of Unification of Germany, Germany and Italian unification, Italy by starting the process of consolidating city-states, kingdoms and Principality, principalities. At the end of the war, Denmark was forced to cede Norway to Sweden mainly as a compensation for the loss of Finland which the other coalition members agreed to, but because Norway had signed its Constitution of Norway, own constitution on 17 May 1814 Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
initiated the Swedish–Norwegian War (1814). The war was a short one taking place between 26 July – 14 August 1814 and was a Swedish victory that put Norway into a Union between Sweden and Norway, personal union with Sweden. The union was peacefully dissolved in 1905. The United Kingdom of the Netherlands
The United Kingdom of the Netherlands ( nl, Verenigd Koninkrijk der Nederlanden; french: Royaume uni des Pays-Bas) is the unofficial name given to the Kingdom of the Netherlands as it existed between 1815 and 1839. The United Netherlands was cr ...
created as a buffer state against France dissolved rapidly with the Belgian Revolution, independence of Belgium in 1830.
The Napoleonic wars also played a key role in the independence of the Latin American colonies from Spain and Portugal. The conflict weakened the authority and military power of Spain, especially after the Battle of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...
. There were many uprisings in Spanish America, leading to the Spanish American wars of independence, wars of independence. In Portuguese America, Brazil experienced greater autonomy as it now Transfer of the Portuguese Court to Brazil, served as seat of the Portuguese Empire and ascended politically to the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves, status of Kingdom. These events also contributed to the Liberal Revolution of 1820, Portuguese Liberal Revolution in 1820 and the Independence of Brazil in 1822.{{sfn, Keen, Haynes, 2012, loc=chpt. 8
The century of relative transatlantic peace, after the Congress of Vienna, enabled the "greatest intercontinental migration in human history"{{sfn, Keeling, 1999, p=39 beginning with "a big spurt of immigration after the release of the dam erected by the Napoleonic Wars." Immigration inflows relative to the US population rose to record levels (peaking at 1.6 per cent in 1850–51){{sfn, Keeling, 2007, pages=267–268{{page range too broad, date=May 2021 as 30 million Europeans relocated to the United States between 1815 and 1914.{{sfn, Jones, 1992, pp=78–79, ps=: Jones referred to this migration as "one of the wonders of the age."
Another concept emerged from the Congress of Vienna—that of a unified Europe. After his defeat, Napoleon deplored the fact that his dream of a free and peaceful "European association" remained unaccomplished. Such a European association would share the same principles of government, system of measurement, currency and Civil Code. One-and-a-half centuries later, and after two world wars several of these ideals re-emerged in the form of the European Union.
Military legacy
Enlarged scope
Until the time of Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
, European states employed relatively small armies, made up of both national soldiers and mercenary, mercenaries. These regulars were highly drilled, professional soldiers. Ancien Régime armies could only deploy small field armies due to rudimentary staffs and comprehensive yet cumbersome logistics. Both issues combined to limit field forces to approximately 30,000 men under a single commander.
Military innovators in the mid-18th century began to recognise the potential of an entire nation at war: a "nation in arms".
The scale of warfare dramatically enlarged during the Revolutionary and subsequent Napoleonic Wars. During Europe's major pre-revolutionary war, the Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...
of 1756–1763, few armies ever numbered more than 200,000 with field forces often numbering less than 30,000. The French innovations of separate corps (allowing a single commander to efficiently command more than the traditional command span of 30,000 men) and living off the land (which allowed field armies to deploy more men without requiring an equal increase in supply arrangements such as depots and supply trains) allowed the French republic to field much larger armies than their opponents. Napoleon ensured during the time of the French republic that separate French field armies operated as a single army under his control, often allowing him to substantially outnumber his opponents. This forced his continental opponents to also increase the size of their armies, moving away from the traditional small, well-drilled Ancien Régime armies of the 18th century to mass conscript armies.
The Battle of Marengo, which largely ended the War of the Second Coalition, was fought with fewer than 60,000 men on both sides. The Battle of Austerlitz
The Battle of Austerlitz (2 December 1805/11 Frimaire An XIV FRC), also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of the most important and decisive engagements of the Napoleonic Wars. The battle occurred near the town of Austerlitz in ...
which ended the War of the Third Coalition involved fewer than 160,000 men. The Battle of Friedland which led to peace with Russia in 1807 involved about 150,000 men.
After these defeats, the continental powers developed various forms of mass conscription to allow them to face France on even terms, and the size of field armies increased rapidly. The Battle of Wagram of 1809 involved 300,000 men, and 500,000 fought at Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
in 1813, of whom 150,000 were killed or wounded.
About a million French soldiers became casualties (wounded, invalided or killed), a higher proportion than in the First World War. The European total may have reached 5,000,000 military deaths, including disease.{{sfn, Bell, 2007, p=7{{sfn, Kennedy, 1989, pp=99–100{{Verify source, date=May 2021
France had the second-largest population in Europe by the end of the 18th century (28 million, as compared to Britain's 12 million and Russia's 35 to 40 million).{{sfn, McEvedy, Jones, 1978, pp=41–222{{page range too broad, date=May 2021 It was well poised to take advantage of the ''levée en masse''. Before Napoleon's efforts, Lazare Carnot
Lazare Nicolas Marguerite, Count Carnot (; 13 May 1753 – 2 August 1823) was a French mathematician, physicist and politician. He was known as the "Organizer of Victory" in the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars.
Education and early ...
played a large part in the reorganisation of the French Revolutionary Army from 1793 to 1794—a time which saw previous French misfortunes reversed, with Republican armies advancing on all fronts.
The French army peaked in size in the 1790s with 1.5 million Frenchmen enlisted although battlefield strength was much less. Haphazard bookkeeping, rudimentary medical support and lax recruitment standards ensured that many soldiers either never existed, fell ill or were unable to withstand the physical demands of soldiering.
About 2.8 million Frenchmen fought on land and about 150,000 at sea, bringing the total for France to almost 3 million combatants during almost 25 years of warfare.
Britain had 750,000 men under arms between 1792 and 1815 as its British Army, army expanded from 40,000 men in 1793{{cn, date=April 2024 to a peak of 250,000 men in 1813. Over 250,000 sailors served in the Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
. In September 1812, Russia had 900,000 enlisted men in its Imperial Russian Army, army, and between 1799 and 1815 2.1 million men served in its army. Another 200,000 served in the Imperial Russian Navy. Out of the 900,000 men, the field armies deployed against France numbered less than 250,000.
There are no consistent statistics for other major combatants. Austrian Army during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Austria's forces peaked at about 576,000 (during the War of the Sixth Coalition) and had little or no naval component yet never fielded more than 250,000 men in field armies. After Britain, Austria proved the most persistent enemy of France; more than a million Austrians served during the long wars. Its large army was overall quite homogeneous and solid and in 1813 operated in Germany (140,000 men), Italy and the Balkans (90,000 men at its peak, about 50,000 men during most of the campaigning on these fronts). Austria's manpower was becoming quite limited towards the end of the wars, leading its generals to favour cautious and conservative strategies, to limit their losses.
Prussia never had more than 320,000 men under arms at any time. In 1813–1815, the core of its Prussian Army, army (about 100,000 men) was characterised by competence and determination, but the bulk of its forces consisted of second- and third-line troops, as well as Landwehr, militiamen of variable strength. Many of these troops performed reasonably well and often displayed considerable bravery but lacked the professionalism of their regular counterparts and were not as well equipped. Others were largely unfit for operations, except sieges. During the 1813 campaign, 130,000 men were used in the military operations, with 100,000 effectively participating in the main German campaign of 1813, German campaign, and about 30,000 being used to besiege isolated French garrisons.{{sfn, Leggiere, 2014
Spanish Army (Peninsular War), Spain's armies also peaked at around 200,000 men, not including more than 50,000 guerrillas scattered over Spain. In addition the Maratha Empire, the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, Army of the Kingdom of Naples (Napoleonic), Naples and the Duchy of Warsaw each had more than 100,000 men under arms. Even small nations now had armies rivalling the size of the Great Powers' forces of past wars but most of these were poor quality forces only suitable for garrison duties. The size of their combat forces remained modest yet they could still provide a welcome addition to the major powers. The percentage of French troops in the {{lang, fr, Grande Armée which Napoleon led into Russia was about 50 per cent while the French allies also provided a significant contribution to the French forces in Spain. As these small nations joined the coalition forces in 1813–1814, they provided a useful addition to the coalition while depriving Napoleon of much-needed manpower.
Innovations
The initial stages of the Industrial Revolution had much to do with larger military forces—it became easy to mass-produce weapons and thus to equip larger forces. Britain was the largest single manufacturer of armaments in this period. It supplied most of the weapons used by the coalition powers throughout the conflicts. France produced the second-largest total of armaments, equipping its own huge forces as well as those of theConfederation of the Rhine
The Confederated States of the Rhine, simply known as the Confederation of the Rhine, also known as Napoleonic Germany, was a confederation of German client states established at the behest of Napoleon some months after he defeated Austria an ...
and other allies.
Napoleon showed innovative tendencies in his use of mobility to offset numerical disadvantages, as demonstrated in the rout of the Austro–Russian forces in 1805 in the Battle of Austerlitz
The Battle of Austerlitz (2 December 1805/11 Frimaire An XIV FRC), also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of the most important and decisive engagements of the Napoleonic Wars. The battle occurred near the town of Austerlitz in ...
. The French Army redefined the role of artillery, forming independent, mobile units, as opposed to the previous tradition of attaching artillery pieces in support of troops.
The Semaphore line, semaphore system had allowed the French War-Minister, Carnot, to communicate with French forces on the frontiers throughout the 1790s. The French continued to use this system throughout the Napoleonic wars. Aerial surveillance was used for the first time when the French used a hot-air balloon to survey coalition positions before the Battle of Fleurus (1794), Battle of Fleurus, on 26 June 1794.{{sfn, Palmer, 1941, pp=81–83
Total war
{{Main, Total war
Historians have explored how the Napoleonic wars became total wars. Most historians argue that the escalation in size and scope came from two sources. First was the ideological clash between revolutionary/egalitarian and conservative/hierarchical belief systems. Second was the emergence of nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
in France, Germany, Spain, and elsewhere, that made these "people's wars" instead of contests between monarchs.{{sfn, Stoker, Schneid, Blanton, 2008, pp=24, 31–32, 38 Bell has argued that even more important than ideology and nationalism were the intellectual transformations in the culture of war that came about through the Age of Enlightenment.{{sfn, Bell, 2007, pp=7–13 One factor, he says, is that war was no longer a routine event but a transforming experience for societies—a total experience. Secondly, the military emerged in its own right as a separate sphere of society distinct from the ordinary civilian world. The French Revolution made every civilian a part of the war machine, either as a soldier through universal conscription, or as a vital cog in the home front machinery supporting and supplying the army. Out of that, says Bell, came "militarism", the belief that the military role was morally superior to the civilian role in times of great national crisis. The fighting army represented the essence of the nation's soul.{{efn, Many historians say it was not the "first" total war; for a critique of Bell see {{Cite book , last=Frederick C. Schneid , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V086MVIushMC&pg=PA1802 , title=Napoleonic Wars , publisher=Potomac Books , year=2012 , isbn=978-1-59797-578-0 , page=1802 , access-date=18 June 2015 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150930174847/https://books.google.com/books?id=V086MVIushMC&pg=PA1802 , archive-date=30 September 2015 , url-status=live As Napoleon proclaimed, "It is the soldier who founds a Republic and it is the soldier who maintains it." Napoleon said on his career "I closed the gulf of anarchy and brought order out of chaos. I rewarded merit regardless of birth or wealth, wherever I found it. I abolished feudalism and restored equality to all religion and before the law. I fought the decrepit monarchies of the Old Regime because the alternative was the destruction of all this. I purified the Revolution."
Use of military intelligence
Intelligence played a pivotal factor throughout the Napoleonic Wars and could very well have changed the tide of war. The use and misuse of military intelligence dictated the course of many major battles during the Napoleonic Wars. Some of the major battles that were dictated by the use of intelligence include: The Battle of Waterloo,Battle of Leipzig
The Battle of Leipzig (french: Bataille de Leipsick; german: Völkerschlacht bei Leipzig, ); sv, Slaget vid Leipzig), also known as the Battle of the Nations (french: Bataille des Nations; russian: Битва народов, translit=Bitva ...
, Battle of Salamanca, and the Battle of Vitoria. A major exception to the greater use of superior military intelligence to claim victory was the Battle of Jena in 1806. At the Battle of Jena even Prussian superior military intelligence was not enough to counter the sheer military force of Napoleons' armies.
The use of intelligence varied greatly across the major world powers of the war. Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
at this time had more supply of intelligence given to him than any French general before him. However, Napoleon was not an advocate of military intelligence at this time as he often found it unreliable and inaccurate when compared to his own preconceived notions of the enemy. Napoleon rather studied his enemy via domestic newspapers, diplomatic publications, maps, and prior documents of military engagements in the theaters of war in which he would operate. It was this stout and constant study of the enemy which made Napoleon the military mastermind of his time. Whereas, his opponents—Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia—were much more reliant on traditional intelligence-gathering methods and were much more quickly and willing to act on them.
The methods of Intelligence during these wars were to include the formation of vast and complex networks of corresponding agents, codebreaking, and cryptanalysis. The greatest cipher to be used to hide military operations during this time was known as the Great Cipher, Great Paris Cipher used by the French. However, thanks to the hard work of British codebreakers like George Scovell, the British were able to crack French ciphers and gain vast amounts of military intelligence on Napoleon and his armies.{{sfn, Andrew , 2018 }{{page needed, date=May 2021
Diplomatic espionage
French diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, Talleyrand served as a source of intelligence for the Coalition powers against Napoleon. At the Congress of Erfurt in September–October 1808, Talleyrand secretly counseled Tsar Alexander. Alexander's attitude towards Napoleon was one of apprehensive opposition. Talleyrand believed Napoleon would eventually destroy the empire he had worked to build across multiple rulers. After his resignation in 1807 from the ministry, Talleyrand began to accept bribes from hostile powers (mainly Austria, but also Russia), to betray Napoleon's secrets.{{cite book , last=Lawday , first=David , title=Napoleon's Master: A Life of Prince Talleyrand , publisher=St. Martin's Press , year=2007 , isbn=978-0-312-37297-2 , location=New York Various agents of Napoleon were known such as Madame d'Oettlinger.In fiction
{{Main, Napoleonic Wars in fiction {{See also, List of Napoleonic Wars films The Napoleonic Wars were a defining event of the early 19th century, and inspired many works of fiction, from then until the present day. * Leo Tolstoy's epic novel ''War and Peace'' recounts Napoleon's wars between 1805 and 1812 (especially the disastrous 1812 invasion of Russia and subsequent retreat) from a Russian perspective. * Stendhal's novel ''The Charterhouse of Parma'' opens with a ground-level recounting of the Battle of Waterloo and the subsequent chaotic retreat of French forces. * ''Les Misérables'' by Victor Hugo takes place against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars and subsequent decades, and in its unabridged form contains an epic telling of the Battle of Waterloo. * ''Adieu (short story), Adieu'' is a novella by Honoré de Balzac in which can be found a short description of the French retreat from Russia, particularly the battle of Berezina, where the fictional couple of the story are tragically separated. Years later after imprisonment, the husband returns to find his wife still in a state of utter shock and amnesia. He has the battle and their separation reenacted, hoping the memory will heal her state. * William Makepeace Thackeray's novel ''Vanity Fair (novel), Vanity Fair'' takes place during the 1815 Napoleonic War – one of its protagonists dies at the Battle of Waterloo. Thackeray states in Chapter XXX "We do not claim to rank among the military novelists. Our place is with the non-combatants. When the decks are cleared for action we go below and wait meekly." And indeed he presents no descriptions of military leaders, strategy, or combat; he describes anxious non-combatants waiting in Brussels for news. * ''Sylvia's Lovers'' by Elizabeth Gaskell is set in the English home-front during the Napoleonic Wars and depicts the impressment of sailors by roving press gangs. * ''The Duel (short story), The Duel'', a short story by Joseph Conrad, recounts the story based on true events of two French Hussar officers who carry a long grudge and fight in duels each time they meet during the Napoleonic wars. The short story was adapted by director Ridley Scott into the 1977 Cannes Film Festival's Best First Work award-winning film ''The Duellists''. * ''Mr Midshipman Easy'' (1836), semi-autobiographical novel by Captain Frederick Marryat, who served as a Royal Navy officer (1806–1830) including during Napoleonic Wars, and who wrote many novels, and who was a pioneer of the Napoleonic wars sea story about the experiences of British naval officers. * ''Le Colonel Chabert (novel), Le Colonel Chabert'' by Honoré de Balzac. After being severely wounded during the Battle of Eylau (1807), Chabert, a famous colonel of the cuirassiers, was erroneously recorded as dead and buried unconscious with French casualties. After extricating himself from his grave and being nursed back to health by local peasants, it takes several years for him to recover. When he returns to the Paris of the Bourbon Restoration in France, Bourbon Restoration, he discovers that his "widow", a former prostitute that Chabert made rich and honourable, has married the wealthy Count Ferraud. She has also liquidated all of Chabert's belongings and pretends not to recognise her first husband. Seeking to regain his name and monies that were wrongly given away as inheritance, he hires Derville, an attorney, to win back his money and his honour. * A poem "Borodino (poem), Borodino" by Mikhail Lermontov describes the Battle of Borodino from the perspective of the poet's uncle, a Russian officer. * ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' by Alexandre Dumas, père starts during the tail-end of the Napoleonic Wars. The main character, Edmond Dantès, suffers imprisonment following false accusations of Bonapartist leanings. * The novelist Jane Austen lived much of her life during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and two of her brothers served in theRoyal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
. Austen almost never refers to specific dates or historical events in her novels, but wartime England forms part of the general backdrop to several of them: in ''Pride and Prejudice'' (1813, but possibly written during the 1790s), the local militia (civilian volunteers) has been called up for home defence and its officers play an important role in the plot; in Mansfield Park (1814), Fanny Price's brother William is a midshipman (officer in training) in the Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
; and in ''Persuasion (novel), Persuasion'' (1818), Frederick Wentworth and several other characters are naval officers recently returned from service.
* Charlotte Brontë's novel ''Shirley (novel), Shirley'' (1849), set during the Napoleonic Wars, explores some of the economic effects of war on rural Yorkshire.
* Arthur Conan Doyle's Brigadier Gerard serves as a French soldier during the Napoleonic Wars
* Fyodor Dostoevsky's book ''The Idiot (novel), The Idiot'' had a character, General Ivolgin, who witnessed and recounted his relationship with Napoleon during the Campaign of Russia.
* Roger Brook is a fictional secret agent and Napoleonic Wars Era gallant, later identified as the Chevalier de Breuc, in a series of twelve novels by Dennis Wheatley
* The ''Horatio Hornblower, Hornblower'' books by C.S. Forester follow the naval career of Horatio Hornblower during the Napoleonic Wars. The 1951 film "Captain Horatio Hornblower" starring Gregory Peck and Virginia Mayo and directed by Raoul Walsh is a film adaption based on Forester's series of novels. Also by C.S. Forester two novels of the Peninsular War in Spain and Portugal: "Death to the French" (1932, published in the United States under the title "Rifleman Dodd"), and "The Gun (novel), The Gun" (1933), later made into a 1957 film, "The Pride and the Passion", with Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Sophia Loren, directed by Stanley Kramer.
* R. F. Delderfield, two novels about the Napoleonic Wars; ''Seven Men of Gascony'' (1949) about seven French infantrymen serving in a succession of Napoleonic campaigns, and ''Too Few For Drums'' (1964) about British soldiers cut off behind the French lines in Portugal in 1810, during the Peninsular War.
* The Aubrey–Maturin series of novels is a sequence of 20 historical novels by Patrick O'Brian portraying the rise of Jack Aubrey from Lieutenant to Rear Admiral during the Napoleonic Wars. The film ''Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World'' starring Russell Crowe and directed by Peter Weir is based on this series of books.
* The ''Sharpe (novel series), Sharpe'' series by Bernard Cornwell stars the character Richard Sharpe, a soldier in the British Army, who fights throughout the Napoleonic Wars. It was adapted into the Sharpe (TV series), ''Sharpe'' TV Series starring Sean Bean.
* The ''Bloody Jack (novel), Bloody Jack'' book series by Louis A. Meyer is set during the Second Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars, and retells many famous battles of the age. The heroine, Jacky, meets Bonaparte.
* The Napoleonic Wars provide the backdrop for ''The Emperor'', ''The Victory'', ''The Regency'' and ''The Campaigners'', Volumes 11, 12, 13 and 14 respectively of The Morland Dynasty, a series of historical novels by the author Cynthia Harrod-Eagles.
* The Richard Bolitho series by Douglas Reeman, Alexander Kent novels portray this period of history from a naval perspective.
* G.S. Beard, author of two novels (2010) about John Fury, British naval officer during the Napoleonic Wars.
* ''Napoleon's Blackguards'', a novel by Stephen McGarry, set in Spain during the Napoleonic Wars about the travails of an elite unit of Napoleon's Irish Legion.
* Robert Challoner, author of three novels in the series about Charles Oakshott, British naval officer in Napoleonic Wars.
* David Donachie's John Pearce series about a pressed seaman who becomes a British naval officer during the French Revolution wars and Napoleonic Wars.
* Julian Stockwin's Thomas Kydd series portrays one man's journey from pressed man to Admiral in the time of the French and Napoleonic Wars
* Simon Scarrow – Napoleonic series. Rise of Napoleon and Wellington from humble beginnings to history's most remarkable and notable leaders. Four books in the series.
* The Lord Ramage series by Dudley Pope takes place during the Napoleonic Wars.
* Jeanette Winterson's 1987 novel ''The Passion (novel), The Passion''
* Georgette Heyer's 1937 novel ''An Infamous Army'' recounts the fortunes of a family in the run-up to and during the course of, the Battle of Waterloo. Heyer's novel is noted for its meticulous research on the progress of the battle, combining her noted period romance writing with her detailed research into regency history.
* ''The Battle (Rambaud novel), The Battle'' (French: ''La Bataille'') is a historical novel by the French author Patrick Rambaud that was first published in 1997 and again in English in 2000. The book describes the 1809 Battle of Aspern-Essling
In the Battle of Aspern-Essling (21–22 May 1809), Napoleon crossed the Danube near Vienna, but the French and their allies were attacked and forced back across the river by the Austrians under Archduke Charles. It was the first time Napoleon ...
between the French Empire under Napoleon and the Austrian Empire. The novel was awarded the Prix Goncourt and the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française for 1997.
* In Jasper Kent's novel ''Twelve'', 1812 Russian Invasion serves as a base story for the book. In later books from The Danilov Quintet, this war is constantly mentioned.
* The ''Fighting Sail'' series by Alaric Bond portrays life and action aboard Royal Naval vessels during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. From the lower decks to the quarterdeck Bond's detailed settings are realistic. Narratives are told not just from a commissioned officer's point of view but include varied perspectives, including warranted officers, ordinary and able seamen, marines, supernumeraries, and women aboard presenting a broader, more complete picture of the Georgian Navy.{{Cite web , last=Hayes , first=David , title=Alaric Bond , url=https://www.historicnavalfiction.com/authors-a-z/alaric-bond , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210430110700/https://historicnavalfiction.com/authors-a-z/alaric-bond , archive-date=30 April 2021 , access-date=11 May 2021 , website=Historic Fiction
See also
{{Portal, France {{div col, colwidth=25em * Serbian Revolution * Austro-Polish War * British Army during the Napoleonic Wars * British invasions of the River Plate *Haitian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution (french: révolution haïtienne ; ht, revolisyon ayisyen) was a successful insurrection by slave revolt, self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign state of Haiti. The revolt ...
* Imperial and Royal Army during the Napoleonic Wars
* International relations (1648–1814), for diplomacy
* Lists of battles of the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars
* Royal Prussian Army of the Napoleonic Wars
* Spanish American wars of independence
The Spanish American wars of independence (25 September 1808 – 29 September 1833; es, Guerras de independencia hispanoamericanas) were numerous wars in Spanish America with the aim of political independence from Spanish rule during the early ...
* Uniforms of La Grande Armée
* War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...
* War of the Sixth Coalition
In the War of the Sixth Coalition (March 1813 – May 1814), sometimes known in Germany as the Wars of Liberation, a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, and a number of German States defeated F ...
* World war
{{div col end
Notes
{{NotelistReferences
Citations
{{Reflist {{reflist, group=IntelWorks cited
* {{Cite book , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NNU7AQAAMAAJ&q=annual%20register%201803 , title=The Annual Register, Or, A View of the History, Politics, and Literature for the Year ... , date=1805 , publisher=J. Dodsley , editor-last=Adams , editor-first=John * {{Cite book , last=Andrew , first=Christopher , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AxttDwAAQBAJ , title=Secret World: A History of Intelligence , date=2018 , publisher=Yale University Press , isbn=978-0-300-24052-8 * {{Cite book , last=Arnold , first=James R. , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=63xTTaYTbrwC , title=Napoleon Conquers Austria: The 1809 Campaign for Vienna , date=1995 , publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group , isbn=978-0-275-94694-4 * {{Cite book , last=Bell , first=David Avrom , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pw5jup_LyHAC , title=The First Total War: Napoleon's Europe and the Birth of Warfare as We Know it , date=2007 , publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt , isbn=978-0-618-34965-4 * {{Cite book , last=Black , first=Jeremy , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k3crAQAAIAAJ , title=The War of 1812 in the Age of Napoleon , date=2009 , publisher=University of Oklahoma Press , isbn=978-0-8061-4078-0 * {{Cite book , last=Briggs , first=Asa , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pEhUMgEACAAJ , title=The Making of Modern England, 1783–1867: The Age of Improvement , date=1959 , publisher=Harper & Row * {{Cite book , last=Bryant , first=Arthur , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BzGgAAAAMAAJ&q=Years%20of%20victory:%201802%E2%80%931812 , title=Years of Victory, 1802–1812 , date=1944 , publisher=Collins * {{Cite book , last=Burke , first=Edmund , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J9g7AQAAMAAJ , title=The Annual Register, Or, A View of the History, Politics, and Literature for the Year ... , date=1808 , publisher=J. Dodsley * {{Citation , last=Canales , first=Esteban , title=1808–1814: demografía y guerra en España , url=http://www.uclm.es/ab/humanidades/profesores/descarga/manuel_ortiz/crisisregimen.pdf , year=2004 , publisher=Autonomous University of Barcelona , language=es , access-date=3 May 2017 * {{Cite book , last=Chandler , first=David G. , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=guFnAAAAMAAJ , title=The Campaigns of Napoleon , date=1966 , publisher=Scribner , isbn=978-0-02-523660-8 * {{Cite book , last=Clodfelter , first=Micheal , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kNzCDgAAQBAJ , title=Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492–2015, 4th ed. , date=2017 , publisher=McFarland , isbn=978-1-4766-2585-0 * {{Cite book , last1=Desan , first1=Suzanne , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jAyeDgAAQBAJ , title=The French Revolution in Global Perspective , last2=Hunt , first2=Lynn , last3=Nelson , first3=William Max , date=2013 , publisher=Cornell University Press , isbn=978-0-8014-6747-9 * {{cite book , last=Dwyer , first=Philip , year=2013 , title=Citizen Emperor: Napoleon in Power * {{Cite book , last=Esdaile , first=Charles , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qOR1NQEACAAJ , title=Napoleon's Wars: An International History, 1803–1815 , date=2009 , publisher=Penguin Books , isbn=978-0-14-311628-8 * {{Cite book , last=Ferguson , first=Niall , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PS4CVCq-70sC , title=The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World: 10th Anniversary Edition , date=2008 , publisher=Penguin , isbn=978-1-4406-5402-2 * {{Cite book , last=Fremont-Barnes , first=Gregory , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NpeHCwAAQBAJ , title=The Napoleonic Wars (3): The Peninsular War 1807–1814 , date=2014 , publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing , isbn=978-1-4728-0975-9 * {{Cite book , last=Gates , first=David , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VN9nAAAAMAAJ , title=The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War , date=1986 , publisher=Allen & Unwin , isbn=978-0-04-940079-5 * {{Cite book , last=Glover , first=Michael , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7R68zQEACAAJ , title=Wellington's Peninsular Victories: Busaco, Salamanca, Vitoria, Nivelle , date=1963 , publisher=Macmillan * {{Cite journal , last=Götz , first=Norbert , date=2014-06-06 , title=The Good Plumpuddings' Belief: British Voluntary Aid to Sweden During the Napoleonic Wars , journal=The International History Review , volume=37 , issue=3 , pages=519–539 , doi=10.1080/07075332.2014.918559 , issn=0707-5332 , doi-access=free * {{Cite book , last=Grab , first=Alexander , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d48dBQAAQBAJ , title=Napoleon and the Transformation of Europe , date=2003 , publisher=Macmillan International Higher Education , isbn=978-1-4039-3757-5 * {{Cite book , last=Grainger , first=John D. , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YTIKDcuLoGoC , title=The Amiens Truce: Britain and Bonaparte, 1801–1803 , date=2004 , publisher=Boydell Press , isbn=978-1-84383-041-2 * {{Cite book , last=Gray , first=Colin S. , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ulRtsANRIK8C , title=War, Peace and International Relations: An Introduction to Strategic History , date=2007 , publisher=Routledge , isbn=978-1-134-16951-1 * {{Cite book , last=Halévy , first=Elie , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZCs8AAAAIAAJ , title=A History of the English People ...: England in 1815 , date=1924 , publisher=Harcourt, Brace * {{cite book , title=Borodino 1812: Napoleon's great gamble , first=Philip , last=Haythornthwaite , collaboration=Illustrations and graphics by Peter Dennis , publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing , isbn=9781849086974 , date=20 September 2012 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UaW6CwAAQBAJ , via=Google Books , editor1-first=Marcus , editor1-last=Cowper , series=Campaign , volume=246 , publication-place=London, England, United Kingdom of Great Britain , access-date=26 September 2021 * {{Cite book , last=Jones , first=Colin , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EVNGNIojGgMC , title=The Cambridge Illustrated History of France , date=1994 , publisher=Cambridge University Press , isbn=978-0-521-66992-4 * {{Cite book , last=Jones , first=Maldwyn Allen , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r2jUy7SJo04C , title=American Immigration , date=1992 , publisher=University of Chicago Press , isbn=978-0-226-40633-6 , editor-last=Boorstin , editor-first=Daniel J. * {{Cite book , last=Kagan , first=Frederick , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XZdjTr7DCcgC , title=The End of the Old Order: Napoleon and Europe, 1801–1805 , date=2007 , publisher=Hachette Books , isbn=978-0-306-81645-1 * {{Cite journal , last=Keeling , first=Drew , year=1999 , title=The Transportation Revolution and Transatlantic Migration , journal=Research in Economic History , volume=19 * {{Cite journal , last=Keeling , first=Drew , date=1 January 2007 , title=Transport Capacity Management and Transatlantic Migration, 1900–1914 , journal=Research in Economic History , publisher=Emerald Group Publishing Limited , volume=25 , pages=225–283 , doi=10.1016/s0363-3268(07)25005-0 , isbn=978-0-7623-1370-9 * {{Cite book , last1=Keen , first1=Benjamin , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yZIJAAAAQBAJ , title=A History of Latin America , last2=Haynes , first2=Keith , date=2012 , publisher=Cengage Learning , isbn=978-1-133-70932-9 * {{Cite book , last=Kennedy , first=Paul M. , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n4ZMl8iS8lAC , title=The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000 , date=1989 , publisher=Vintage Books , isbn=978-0-679-72019-5 * {{Cite book , last=Knight , first=Roger , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LdZtKP2qLxgC , title=Britain Against Napoleon: The Organization of Victory, 1793–1815 , date=2013 , publisher=Penguin UK , isbn=978-0-14-197702-7 * {{Cite book , last=Leggiere , first=Michael V. , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=twXBAgAAQBAJ , title=Blücher: Scourge of Napoleon , date=2014 , publisher=University of Oklahoma Press , isbn=978-0-8061-4567-9 * {{Cite book , last=Malia , first=Martin Edward , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7rDBKN3kvM4C , title=History's Locomotives: Revolutions and the Making of the Modern World , date=2006 , publisher=Yale University Press , isbn=978-0-300-12690-7 * {{Cite journal , last=McConachy , first=Bruce , year=2001 , title=The Roots of Artillery Doctrine: Napoleonic Artillery Tactics Reconsidered , journal=Journal of Military History , volume=65 , issue=3 , pages=617–640 , doi=10.2307/2677528 , jstor=2677528 , s2cid=159945703 * {{Cite book , last1=McEvedy , first1=Colin , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p98UAQAAIAAJ , title=Atlas of World Population History , last2=Jones , first2=Richard , date=1978 , publisher=Facts on File , isbn=978-0-87196-402-1 * {{Cite book , last=McLynn , first=Frank , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FRj1MNP-3xwC , title=Napoleon: A Biography , date=1998 , publisher=Pimlico , isbn=978-0-7126-6247-5 * {{Cite book , last=Munch-Petersen , first=Thomas , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lP70HAAACAAJ , title=Defying Napoleon: How Britain Bombarded Copenhagen and Seized the Danish Fleet in 1807 , date=2007 , publisher=Sutton , isbn=978-0-7509-4280-5 * {{Cite book , last=Palmer , first=Robert Roswell , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lXfRAAAAMAAJ , title=Twelve who Ruled: The Committee of Public Safety, During the Terror , date=1941 , publisher=Princeton University Press * {{Cite book , last=Palmer , first=Alan , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C3FpAAAAMAAJ&q=Alexander%20I:%20Tsar%20of%20War%20and%20Peace. , title=Alexander I: Tsar of War and Peace , date=1974 , publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson , isbn=978-0-297-76700-8 * {{Cite book , last1=Palmer , first1=R. R. , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vmt6CgAAQBAJ , title=A History of the Modern World: 11th Edition , last2=Colton , first2=Joel , last3=Kramer , first3=Lloyd , date=2013 , publisher=McGraw-Hill Higher Education , isbn=978-0-07-759962-1 * {{Cite book , last=Payne , first=Stanley G. , url=https://archive.org/details/historyofspainpo00payn , title=A History of Spain and Portugal: Eighteenth Century to Franco , date=1973 , publisher=University of Wisconsin Press , isbn=978-0299062705 , volume=2 , location=Madison , access-date=2 May 2021 * {{Citation , last=Philo , first=Tom , title=Military and Civilian War Related Deaths Through the Ages , url=http://www.taphilo.com/history/war-deaths.shtml/ , year=2010 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100420103253/http://www.taphilo.com/history/war-deaths.shtml , archive-date=20 April 2010{{Unreliable source? , failed=y , date=February 2013{{better source needed , date=February 2013 * {{Cite book , last=Rapport , first=Mike , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wPK7XxVwF6YC , title=The Napoleonic Wars: A Very Short Introduction , date=2013 , publisher=OUP Oxford , isbn=978-0-19-164251-7 * {{Cite book , last=Riehn , first=Richard K. , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZdZnAAAAMAAJ , title=1812: Napoleon's Russian Campaign , date=1990 , publisher=McGraw-Hill , isbn=978-0-07-052731-7 * {{Citation , last=Riehn , first=Richard K. , title=1812: Napoleon's Russian Campaign , year=1991 , edition=Paperback , place=New York , publisher=Wiley , isbn=978-0-471-54302-2 * {{Cite book , last=Riley , first=J. P. , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=beq3AAAAQBAJ , title=Napoleon and the World War of 1813: Lessons in Coalition Warfighting , date=2013 , publisher=Routledge , isbn=978-1-136-32135-1 * {{Cite book , last=Roberts , first=Andrew , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rjVBAwAAQBAJ , title=Napoleon: A Life , date=2014 , publisher=Penguin , isbn=978-0-698-17628-7 * {{Cite journal , last=Ryan , first=A. N. , date=1953 , title=The Causes of the British Attack upon Copenhagen in 1807 , journal=The English Historical Review , volume=68 , issue=266 , pages=37–55 , doi=10.1093/ehr/lxviii.cclxvi.37 , issn=0013-8266 * {{Cite book , last=Schäfer , first=Anton , title=Zeittafel der Rechtsgeschichte. Von den Anfängen über Rom bis 1919. Mit Schwerpunkt Österreich und zeitgenössischen Bezügen , publisher=Edition Europa Verlag , year=2002 , isbn=3-9500616-8-1 , edition=3rd , language=de * {{Cite book , last=Schroeder , first=Paul W. , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BS2z3iGPCigC , title=The Transformation of European Politics, 1763–1848 , date=1994 , publisher=Clarendon Press , isbn=978-0-19-820654-5 * {{Cite book , last=Sherwig , first=John M. , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OInxvgEACAAJ , title=Guineas and Gunpowder: British Foreign Aid in the Wars with France, 1793–1815 , date=1969 , publisher=Harvard University Press , isbn=978-0-674-36775-3 * {{Cite book , last=Shlapentokh , first=Dmitry , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eVKOSX0E2bUC , title=The French Revolution and the Russian Anti-Democratic Tradition: A Case of False Consciousness , date=1997 , publisher=Transaction Publishers , isbn=978-1-4128-2397-5 * {{Cite book , last1=Stoker , first1=Donald , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iks6rVhTHrwC&pg=PA38 , title=Conscription in the Napoleonic Era: A Revolution in Military Affairs? , last2=Schneid , first2=Frederick C. , last3=Blanton , first3=Harold D. , date=2008 , publisher=Taylor & Francis , isbn=978-0-203-67404-8 * {{Cite book , last=Sutherland , first=Donald M. G. , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DuwHSN9QTroC , title=The French Revolution and Empire: The Quest for a Civic Order , date=2008 , publisher=John Wiley & Sons , isbn=978-0-470-75826-7 * {{Cite journal , last=Tone , first=John Lawrence , year=1996 , title=Napoleon's uncongenial sea: Guerrilla warfare in Navarre during the Peninsular War, 1808–14. , journal=European History Quarterly , volume=26 , pages=355–382 , doi=10.1177/026569149602600302 , number=3 , s2cid=144885121 * {{Cite book , last=Tone , first=John Lawrence , title=War in an Age of Revolution, 1775–1815 , publisher=Cambridge UP , year=2010 , isbn=978-0-521-89996-3 , editor-last=Chickering , editor-first=Roger , page=243 , chapter=Partisan Warfare in Spain and Total War , editor-last2=Förster , editor-first2=Stig , chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E2WtMq4LF90C&pg=PA243 * {{Cite book , last=Tulard , first=Jean , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wUDiAAAACAAJ , title=Napoleon: The Myth of the Saviour , date=1984 , publisher=Methuen , isbn=978-0-416-39510-5 * {{Cite book , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IeQ5AAAACAAJ , title=The Wordsworth Pocket Encyclopedia , date=1993 , publisher=Wordsworth Editions , isbn=978-1-85326-301-9 , editor-last=Upshall , editor-first=Michael * {{Citation , last=White , first=Matthew , title=Statistics of Wars, Oppressions and Atrocities of the Nineteenth Century , url=http://necrometrics.com/wars19c.htm#Napoleonic , year=2014 , access-date=3 May 2017. This source references: ** {{Citation , last=Bodart , first=Gaston , title=Losses of Life in Modern Wars , year=1916 ** {{Citation , last=Dumas , first=Samuel , title=Losses of Life Caused By War , year=1923 ** {{Citation , last=Urlanis , first=Boris , title=Wars and Population , year=1971 ** {{Citation , last=Payne , first=Stanley G. , title=A History of Spain and Portugal , volume=2 ** {{Citation , last=Danzer , title=Arme-Zeitun , language=de ** {{Citation , last=Clodfelter , first=Micheal , title=Warfare and Armed Conflict: A Statistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures, 1618–1991 * {{Cite book , last1=Young , first1=Peter , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tOOoCgAAQBAJ , title=Wellington's Masterpiece: The Battle and Campaign of Salamanca , last2=Lawford , first2=J. P. , date=2015 , publisher=Routledge , isbn=978-1-317-39728-1Further reading
{{Further reading cleanup, date=May 2021General and reference books
* Bruun, Geoffrey. ''Europe and the French Imperium, 1799–1814'' (1938online
political and diplomatic context * Bruce, Robert B. et al. ''Fighting Techniques of the Napoleonic Age 1792–1815: Equipment, Combat Skills, and Tactics'' (2008
excerpt and text search
* Clausewitz, Carl von (2018). ''Napoleon's 1796 Italian Campaign.'' Trans and ed. Nicholas Murray and Christopher Pringle. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. {{ISBN, 978-0-7006-2676-2 * Clausewitz, Carl von (2020). ''Napoleon Absent, Coalition Ascendant: The 1799 Campaign in Italy and Switzerland, Volume 1.'' Trans and ed. Nicholas Murray and Christopher Pringle. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. {{ISBN, 978-0-7006-3025-7 * Clausewitz, Carl von (2021). ''The Coalition Crumbles, Napoleon Returns: The 1799 Campaign in Italy and Switzerland, Volume 2.'' Trans and ed. Nicholas Murray and Christopher Pringle. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. {{ISBN, 978-0-7006-3034-9 * Gates, David. ''The Napoleonic Wars 1803–1815'' (NY: Random House, 2011) * Gulick, E.V. "The final coalition and the Congress of Vienna, 1813–15," in C.W. Crawley, ed. ''The New Cambridge Modern History: IX. War and Peace in an age of upheaval 1793–1830'' (Cambridge University Press, 1965) pp. 629–668
online
* Markham, Felix. "The Napoleonic Adventure" in C.W. Crawley, ed. ''The New Cambridge Modern History: IX. War and Peace in an age of upheaval 1793–1830'' (Cambridge University Press, 1965) pp. 307–336
online
* Alan Palmer, Palmer, Alan. ''An Encyclopaedia of Napoleon's Europe'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1984) {{ISBN, 978-0-29778-394-7 * {{Cite book , last=Pope , first=Stephen , title=The Cassel Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars , publisher=Cassel , year=1999 , isbn=0-304-35229-2 * Ross, Steven T. ''European Diplomatic History, 1789–1815: France Against Europe'' (1969) * Ross, Steven T. ''The A to Z of the Wars of the French Revolution'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010); 1st ed. was ''Historical dictionary of the wars of the French Revolution'' (Scarecrow Press, 1998) * {{Cite journal , last=Rothenberg , first=Gunther E. , author-link=Gunther E. Rothenberg , year=1988 , title=The Origins, Causes, and Extension of the Wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon , journal=Journal of Interdisciplinary History , volume=18 , pages=771–793 , doi=10.2307/204824 , jstor=204824 , number=4 * Rothenberg, E. Gunther. ''The Art of Warfare in the Age of Napoleon'' (1977) * {{Cite book , last=Schneid , first=Frederick C. , url=http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0159-20101025334 , title=The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , publisher=Institute of European History , year=2011 , location=Mainz * Schneid, Frederick C. ''Napoleon's Conquest of Europe: The War of the Third Coalition'' (2005
excerpt and text search
* Schneid, Frederick C. ''Napoleonic Wars: The Essential Bibliography'' (2012
excerpt and text search
121 pp
online review in H-FRANCE
* Smith, Digby George. ''The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book: Actions and Losses in Personnel, Colours, Standards, and Artillery'' (1998) * Stirk, Peter. "The concept of military occupation in the era of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars." ''Comparative Legal History'' 3#1 (2015): 60–84.
Napoleon and French
* Chandler, David G., ed. ''Napoleon's Marshals'' (1987) short scholarly biographies * Dwyer, Philip. ''Napoleon: The Path to Power'' (2008excerpt vol 1
* Elting, John R. ''Swords Around a Throne: Napoleon's Grand Armée'' (1988). * Forrest, Alan I. ''Napoleon's Men: The Soldiers of the Empire Revolution and Empire'' (2002). * Forrest, Alan. ''Conscripts and Deserters: The Army and French Society during Revolution and the Empire'' (1989
excerpt and text search
* Gallaher, John G. ''Napoleon's Enfant Terrible: General Dominique Vandamme'' (2008)
excerpt
* Griffith, Paddy. ''The Art of War of Revolutionary France, 1789–1802'' (1998
excerpt and text search
* Haythornthwaite, Philip J. ''Napoleon's Military Machine'' (1995
excerpt and text search
* Hazen, Charles Downer. ''The French Revolution and Napoleon'' (1917
online free
* Nester, William R. ''Napoleon and the Art of Diplomacy: How War and Hubris Determined the Rise and Fall of the French Empire'' (2011)
excerpt
* Parker, Harold T. "Why Did Napoleon Invade Russia? A Study in Motivation and the Interrelations of Personality and Social Structure," ''Journal of Military History'' (1990) 54#2 pp. 131–14
in JSTOR
* Riley, Jonathon P. ''Napoleon as a General'' (Hambledon Press, 2007) * Alexander Mikaberidze, Mikaberidze, Alexander. ''The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History'' (Oxford University Press) February 2020 * Wilkin Bernard and Wilkin René: ''Fighting for Napoleon: French Soldiers’ Letters 1799–1815'' Pen and Sword Military (2016) * Wilkin Bernard and Wilkin René: ''Fighting the British: French Eyewitness Accounts from the Napoleonic Wars'' Pen and Sword Military (2018) * Geerts, Gérard A. ''Samenwerking en Confrontatie: De Frans-Nederlandse militaire betrekkingen, voornamelijk in Franse tijd'' (Bataafschse Leeuw, 2002)
Austrian, Prussian and Russian roles
* Haythornthwaite, Philip J. ''The Russian Army of the Napoleonic Wars'' (1987) vol 1: Infantry 1799–1814; vol 2: Cavalry, 1799–1814 * Lieven, D. C. "Russia and the Defeat of Napoleon (1812–14)," ''Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History'' (2006) 7#2 pp. 283–308. * Rothenberg, Gunther E. '' Napoleon's Great Adversaries: The Archduke Charles and the Austrian Army 1792–1814'' (1982) * Schneid, Frederick C. ed. ''European Armies of the French Revolution, 1789–1802'' (2015) Nine essays by leading scholars.Historiography and memory
* Esdaile, Charles. "The Napoleonic Period: Some Thoughts on Recent Historiography," ''European History Quarterly,'' (1993) 23: 415–43online
* Forrest, Alan et al. eds. ''War Memories: The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in Modern European Culture'' (2013) * Gill, John H. "From Great Captains to Common Grognards: research opportunities in Napoleonic military history." ''War & Society'' 41.1 (2022): 69–84. {{doi, 10.1080/07292473.2022.2021752 * Hyatt, Albert M.J. "The Origins of Napoleonic Warfare: A Survey of Interpretations." ''Military Affairs'' (1966) 30#4 pp. 177–185. * Linch, Kevin. "War Memories: The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in Modern European Culture." ''Social History'' 40#2 (2015): 253–254. * Martin, Jean-Clément. "War Memories. The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in Modern European Culture." ''Annales Historiques De La Revolution Francaise''. (2015) No. 381. * {{Cite book , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VT7fAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA391 , title=Reader's Guide to Military History , publisher=Routledge , year=2001 , isbn=978-1-135-95970-8 , editor-last=Messenger , editor-first=Charles , pages=391–427 evaluation of the major books on Napoleon and his wars published by 2001. * Alexander Mikaberidze, Mikaberidze, Alexander. "Recent Trends in the Russian Historiography of the Napoleonic Wars," ''Journal of Military History'' (2010) 74#1 pp. 189–194.
Primary sources
* Dwyer, Philip G. "Public remembering, private reminiscing: French military memoirs and the revolutionary and Napoleonic wars," ''French Historical Studies'' (2010) 33#2 pp. 231–25online
* Kennedy, Catriona. ''Narratives of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars: Military and Civilian Experience in Britain and Ireland'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) * Leighton, James. ''Witnessing the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in German Central Europe'' (2013), diaries, letters and accounts by civilian
Online review
External links
{{Commons category, Napoleonic Wars {{Wikivoyage, Napoleonic Wars, Napoleonic Wars, travel information * {{wikisource inline, list= ** {{cite EB1911, last=Beck , first=Archibald Frank , wstitle=Waterloo Campaign, 1815 , volume=28 , pages=371–381 , noicon=x , short=x ** {{cite EB1911, last=Maude , first=Frederic Natusch , wstitle=Napoleonic Campaigns , volume=19, pages=212–236 , noicon=x , short=x ** {{cite EB1911 , last=Robinson , first=Charles Walker , wstitle=Peninsular War , volume=21 , pages=90–98 , noicon=x , short=x ** {{cite EB1911, last=Rose , first=John Holland , wstitle=Napoleon I. , volume=19 , pages=190–211 , noicon=x , short=x"A new scholarly journal in 2023: ''European Review of Studies on the Napoleonic and Restoration Periods''{{-"
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