Napoleonic Wars
Also called: Battle of Trafalgar, Battle of Austerlitz, Battle of Leipzig
The wars between Napoleon's France and coalitions of Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia. France came to dominate most of the Continent but collapsed after the failed invasion of Russia.
François Gérard · Public domain · Source
War between Britain and France resumed in 1803 when the Peace of Amiens broke down. In 1805 Nelson’s British fleet destroyed the Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar, ending Napoleon’s plan to invade Britain. On land, however, Napoleon crushed the Austrians and Russians at Austerlitz (1805) and the Prussians at Jena (1806). The Confederation of the Rhine was created in 1806 and the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved.
Napoleon tried to isolate Britain economically with the Continental System and put his brother Joseph on the Spanish throne. But Spanish guerrilla resistance (the Peninsular War) dragged on, and the invasion of Russia failed in 1812. Defeated at Leipzig (the Battle of the Nations) in 1813, Napoleon was exiled to Elba in 1814; he returned the next year only to lose at Waterloo.
The conquests spread revolutionary principles such as the Napoleonic Code and the abolition of feudalism. At the same time resistance to French rule awakened nationalism in Germany (Fichte’s Addresses to the German Nation), Spain and elsewhere. The weakening of Spain set off the independence movements of Latin America.
