Continental System
Also called: Berlin Decree
With the Berlin Decree Napoleon banned trade between continental Europe and Britain, hoping to bring down by economics the country he could not defeat at sea.
Élisée Reclus · Public domain · Source
Unable to strike Britain by sea after Trafalgar, Napoleon issued a decree on 21 November 1806 in Berlin, which he had entered after defeating Prussia, forbidding France, its allies and occupied lands to trade with Britain. The aim was to ruin the British economy, grown strong through the Industrial Revolution, by closing its export markets.
But Britain controlled the seas and found other markets, while the Continent suffered from the loss of British manufactures and colonial goods, and smuggling flourished. An attempt to punish Portugal for ignoring the blockade started the Peninsular War, and when Russia reopened trade with Britain in 1810, Napoleon invaded Russia.
