Napoleonic Wars

War between Britain and France, 18031814

Unlike its many coalition partners, Britain remained at war throughout 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"), the United Kingdom maintained low-intensity land warfare on a global scale for over a decade. The British government paid out large sums of money to other European states, so that they could remain at war with France. These payments are colloquially known as the Golden Cavalry of St George. The British Army provided long-term support to the Spanish rebellion in the Peninsular War of 18081814, assisted by Spanish guerilla ('little war') tactics. Anglo-Portuguese forces under Arthur Wellesley campaigned successfully against the French armies, eventually driving them from Spain and invading southern France. By 1815, the British Army would play the central role in the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. In 1802, Napoleon victoriously brought to an end the War of the Second Coalition, with only Great Britain remaining formally at war. Isolated, Britain reluctantly agreed to end hostilities under the Treaty of Amiens (25 March 1802). Bonaparte tried to exploit the brief peace at sea to restore French colonial rule in Haiti. The expedition, though initially successful, would soon turn to a disaster, with the French commander and Bonapartes brother-in-law, Charles Leclerc, dying of yellow fever and almost his entire force destroyed by the disease combined with the fierce attacks by the rebels. Great Britain violated the terms of the Treaty of Amiens by occupying Malta and gathered a Third Coalition against France. The French intervention in the Swiss civil strife, a breach of the Treaty of Lunville (1801) between France and the Holy Roman Empire which guaranteed Swiss sovereignty, was taken as a pretext by the British to break the peace of Amiens and declare war on France on 18 May 1803. The Coalition's war aims changed over the course of the conflict: a

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general desire to restore the French monarchy became closely linked to the struggle to stop Bonaparte. Previous wars had seen France lose most of its colonial empire. By 1804 Haiti had won its independence, the Louisiana Territory had been sold to the United States of America, and British naval superiority threatened any potential for France to establish colonies outside Europe. Beyond minor naval actions against British imperial interests, the Napoleonic Wars were much less global in scope than preceding conflicts such as Seven Years' War which historians would term a "world war". 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 21 November 1806, which brought into effect the Continental System. This policy aimed to eliminate the threat from Britain by closing French-controlled territory to its trade. Britain maintained a standing army of just 220,000 at the height of the Napoleonic Wars, whereas France's strength peaked at over 2,500,000, as well as several hundred thousand national guardsmen that Napoleon could draft into the military if necessary; however, British subsidies paid for a large proportion of the soldiers deployed by other coalition powers, peaking at about 450,000 in 1813. The Royal Navy effectively disrupted France's extra-continental trade both by seizing and threatening French shipping and by seizing French colonial possessions but could do nothing about France's trade with the major continental economies and posed little threat to French territory in Europe. Also, France's population and agricultural capacity far outstripped that of Britain. However, Britain had the greatest industrial capacity in Europe, and its mastery of the seas allowed it to build up considerable economic strength through trade. That sufficed to ensure that France could never consolidate its control over Europe in peace. However, many in the French government believed that cutting Britain off from the Continent would end its economic influence over Europe and isolate it.

West Indies 1804-1809

When war resumed, Britain once again attacked the French possessions in the West Indies. The French armies which had been sent to

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recover Haiti in 1803 had, like the British armies earlier, been ravaged by disease, so only isolated garrisons opposed the British forces. In 1805, as part of the manoeuvres which ultimately led to the Battle of Trafalgar, a French fleet carrying 6,500 troops briefly captured Dominica and other islands but subsequently withdrew. In 1808, once the British were allied to Portugal and Spain, they were able to concentrate their forces and capture the French possessions one by one; Cayenne and Martinique in 1809, and Guadeloupe in 1810. Haiti was left to the insurgent armies.

Sicily and the Mediterranean

One of Britain's allies was Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies. In 1806, French troops invaded southern Italy, and British troops went to aid the defenders, winning a victory at the Battle of Maida. For the rest of the war, British troops defended Sicily, forcing Ferdinand to make liberal reforms. A British force consisting mainly of Corsicans, Maltese and Sicilians was driven from Capri in 1808. The next year, British troops occupied several Greek and Dalmatian islands, although the French garrison on Corfu was too strong to be attacked. The British retained their Greek islands until the end of the wars.

South Africa and the Plate

The Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope was a vital port of call on the long sea voyage to India. An expedition was sent to capture it in 1805. (It had first been captured in 1796, but was returned under the Treaty of Amiens.) British troops under Lieutenant General Sir David Baird won the Battle of Blaauwberg in 1806, forcing the surrender of the colony. The naval commander of the expedition, Admiral Home Riggs Popham then conceived the idea of occupying the Spanish Plate River colonies. A detachment under Major General William Carr Beresford

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occupied Buenos Aires for six weeks but were expelled by Spanish troops and local militias. In 1807, General Auchmuty mounted a second invasion of the region, capturing Montevideo. Lieutenant General Sir John Whitelocke was sent from Britain to take command in the region, arriving at the same time as Major General Robert Craufurd, whose destination had been changed several times by the government, and whose troops had been aboard ship for several months. Whitelock launched a bungled attack on Buenos Aires on 5 July 1807, in which the British troops suffered heavy casualties and were trapped in the city. Finally he capitulated, and the troops returned ignominiously to Britain. Whitelock was court-martialled and cashiered.

Denmark
In August 1806, an expedition was mounted to Copenhagen, to seize the Danish fleet to prevent it falling into French hands. The expedition was led by General Lord Cathcart. After the city of Copenhagen was bombarded for several days, the Danes surrendered their fleet.

Walcheren
In 1809, Austria declared war on France. To provide a diversion, a British force consisting mainly of the troops recently evacuated from Corunna was dispatched to capture the Dutch ports of Flushing and Antwerp. There were numerous delays, and the Austrians had already surrendered when the army sailed. The island of Walcheren, where they landed, was pestilential and disease-ridden (mainly with malaria or "ague"). Although Flushing was captured, more than one third of the soldiers died or were incapacitated before the army was withdrawn.

Indian Ocean

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To clear nests of French privateers and raiders, the Army captured the French dependencies in the Indian Ocean in the Mauritius campaign of 18091811. With substantial contingents from the East India Company, British troops also captured the Dutch colonies in the Far East in 1810 and 1811, with Java falling in 1811.

Peninsular War
Those veterans had won nineteen pitched battles and innumerable combats; had made or sustained ten sieges and taken four great fortresses; had twice expelled the French from Portugal, once from Spain; had penetrated France, and killed wounded or captured two hundred thousand enemies leaving of their own number forty thousand dead, whose bones whiten the plains and mountains of the Peninsula. In 1808, after Bonaparte overthrew the monarchs of Spain and Portugal, an expedition under Sir Arthur Wellesley which was originally intended to attack the Spanish possessions in Central America was diverted to Portugal. Wellesley won the Battle of Vimeiro while reinforcements landed at nearby Maceira Bay. Wellesley was superseded in turn by two superiors, Sir Harry Burrard and Sir Hew Dalrymple, who delayed further attacks. Instead, they signed the Convention of Sintra, by which the French evacuated Portugal (with all their loot) in British ships. Although this secured the British hold on Lisbon, it resulted in the three generals' recall to England, and command of the British troops devolved on Sir John Moore. In October, Moore led the army into Spain, reaching as far as Salamanca. In December, they were reinforced by 10,000 troops from England under Sir David Baird. Moore's army now totalled 25,000, but his advance was cut short by the news that Napoleon had defeated the Spanish and captured Madrid, and was approaching with an army of 200,000. Moore retreated to Corunna over mountain roads and through bitter winter weather. French cavalry pursued the British Army the length of the journey, and a Reserve Division was set to provide rearguard protection for the British troops, which were engaged in much fighting. About 4,000 troops separated from the main force and marched

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to Vigo. The French caught up with the main army at Corunna, and in the ensuing Battle of Corunna in January 1809, Moore was killed; the remnant of the army was evacuated to England. In 1809, Wellesley returned to Portugal with fresh forces, and defeated the French at the Second Battle of Porto, driving them from the country. He again advanced into Spain and fought the Battle of Talavera and the Battle of the Ca. He and the Spanish commanders were unable to cooperate, and he retreated into Portugal, where he constructed the defensive Lines of Torres Vedras which protected Lisbon, while he reorganised his Anglo-Portuguese Army into divisions, most of which had two British and one Portuguese brigades. The next year, when a large French army under Marshal Andr Massna invaded Portugal, Wellesley fought a delaying action at the Battle of Bussaco, before withdrawing behind the impregnable Lines, leaving Massena's army to starve in front of them. After Massena withdrew, there was fighting for most of 1811 on the frontiers of Portugal, as Wellesley attempted to recover vital fortified towns. A British and Spanish force under Beresford fought the very bloody Battle of Albuera, while Wellesley himself won the Battle of Sabugal in April, and the Battle of Fuentes de Onoro in May.

Holland 1814
In 1814, the British government had sent a small force to Holland under Sir Thomas Graham to capture the fortress of Bergen op Zoom. The attack, on 8 March 1814, failed and the British were repelled, with heavy losses.