The Second League of Armed Neutrality or the League of the North was an

alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

of the north

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 subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

an naval powers Denmark–Norway,

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 ...

, Sweden, and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. It existed between 1800 and 1801 during the War of the Second Coalition and was initiated by

Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...

Paul I Paul I may refer to: *Paul of Samosata (200–275), Bishop of Antioch * Paul I of Constantinople (died c. 350), Archbishop of Constantinople *Pope Paul I (700–767) *Paul I Šubić of Bribir (c. 1245–1312), Ban of Croatia and Lord of Bosnia *Pau ...

. It was a revival of the

First League of Armed Neutrality The first League of Armed Neutrality was an alliance of European naval powers between 1780 and 1783 which was intended to protect neutral shipping against the Royal Navy's wartime policy of unlimited search of neutral shipping for French contrab ...

(1780), which had been quite successful during the American War of Independence in isolating Britain and resisting attempts to interfere with their shipping. However, unlike the First League, the Second League was considered to be much less successful.

Intention

The Second League was intended to protect

neutral Neutral or neutrality may refer to: Mathematics and natural science Biology * Neutral organisms, in ecology, those that obey the unified neutral theory of biodiversity Chemistry and physics * Neutralization (chemistry), a chemical reaction in ...

shipping Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...

against 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 ...

's wartime policy of unlimited search of neutral shipping for French contraband, in an attempt to cut off military supplies and other trade to the First French Republic. The British government, not yet anxious to preserve Russian goodwill, openly considered it a form of alliance with France and attacked Denmark, destroying parts of its fleet in the First Battle of Copenhagen and forcing it to withdraw from the League. Britain also occupied the

Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies ( da, Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas with ; Saint John ( da, St. Jan) with ; and Saint Croix with . The ...

between March 1801 and April 1802.

Collapse

After the attack of Denmark,

invaded

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 ...

in April 1801 as a way to fight the British. Paul's assassination in March 1801 and the accession of Alexander I as Tsar of Russia led to a change of policy in Russia, and the alliance collapsed. Russia would later join the British in a coalition against Napoleonic France.

Legacy

The prospect of a third league of armed neutrality potentially including Britain and France was briefly proposed in the 1860s, during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, following the

Trent Incident The ''Trent'' Affair was a diplomatic incident in 1861 during the American Civil War that threatened a war between the United States and Great Britain. The U.S. Navy captured two Confederate envoys from a British Royal Mail steamer; the Briti ...

in which the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

stopped a British vessel and removed two Confederate diplomats. Ultimately, the two countries did not form a league but maintained the principle of the freedom of the seas, and both remained neutral.

External links

* {{Authority control Organizations established in 1800 Organizations disestablished in 1801 Diplomacy Foreign relations of the Russian Empire 1800 in Denmark 1800 in Norway 1800 in Sweden 1800s in Prussia 1800 in the Russian Empire Napoleonic Wars Paul I of Russia