Napoleonic Wars

(noun)

A series of battles in which the French Empire fought opposing coalitions; a continuation of the conflicts sparked by the French Revolution of 1789.

Related Terms

Examples of Napoleonic Wars in the following topics:

  • The British Strategy

    • Britain, still engaged in the Napoleonic wars, struggled to formulate an effective strategy against the colonists in the war of 1812.
    • Britain was heavily engaged in the Napoleonic Wars, most of the British Army was deployed in the Peninsular War (in Spain), and the Royal Navy was compelled to blockade most of the coast of Europe.
    • Throughout the war, the British Secretary of State for War and the Colonies was the Earl of Bathurst.
    • After Napoleon abdicated in 1814, the British could send veteran armies to the United States, but by then the Americans had learned how to mobilize and fight.
    • Once Britain and The Sixth Coalition defeated Napoleon in 1814, France and Britain became allies.

  • The Panic of 1819

    • The first major economic crisis after the War of 1812 was due, in large measure, to factors in the larger Atlantic economy.
    • British textile mills voraciously consumed American cotton, and the devastation of the Napoleonic Wars had made Europe reliant on other American agricultural commodities such as wheat.
    • During the war, the Bank of the United States had suspended payments in specie.
    • After the Napoleonic Wars came to an end, European demand for American foodstuffs decreased as agriculture in Europe began to recover.
    • Prices had already begun falling in 1815 at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, when Britain began to “dump” its surplus manufactured good (the result of wartime overproduction), in American ports, where they were sold for low prices and competed with American-manufactured goods.

  • The War's Aftermath

    • However, all the causes of the war had disappeared with the end of the war between Britain and France and with the destruction of the power of First Nation Indian tribes.
    • After Napoleon's defeat in 1814, Britain was no longer at war with France and there were no restrictions on neutral trade; the British suspended their policy of impressment of American sailors, and never resumed it—but they insisted they still had the right to resume it.
    • The War of 1812 was highly significant in Britain's North American colonies.
    • Chiefly, this is because it was overshadowed by the dramatic events of the contemporary Napoleonic wars, and because Britain herself neither gained nor lost anything by the peace settlement, except for the fact that it kept control of Canada.
    • Summarize the results of the War of 1812, dubbed the "Second War of Independence" by the Americans

  • The Treaty of Ghent

    • The treaty released all prisoners and restored all war lands and boats.
    • The treaty made no major changes to the pre-war situation, and most land that had been taken during the war was returned.
    • After Napoleon's defeat in 1814, Britain was no longer at war with France, and there were no restrictions on neutral trade; the British suspended their policy of impressment of American sailors, and never resumed it—but they insisted they still had the right to.
    • The War of 1812 was highly significant in Britain's North American colonies.
    • In England, in contrast, the War of 1812 was largely overshadowed both by the dramatic events of the contemporary Napoleonic Wars, and because Britain neither gained nor lost anything by the peace settlement, except for the fact that it kept control of Canada.

  • Origins of the War of 1812

    • The War of 1812 arose from unfinished business of the Revolutionary War and pressures stemming from Britain's war with France.
    • The origins of the War of 1812, often called the "Second War of American Independence," are found in the unresolved issues between the United States and Great Britain.
    • France and England, engaged in the Napoleonic Wars (which raged between 1803 and 1815), both openly seized American ships at sea.
    • Napoleon, seeing an opportunity to make trouble for Great Britain, promised to leave American ships alone, and the United States reinstated the embargo with Great Britain, moving closer to a declaration of war.
    • Opposition to the war came from Federalists, especially those in the Northeast, who knew war would disrupt the maritime trade on which they depended.

  • The War in the South

    • In the South, the War of 1812 manifested itself as the Creek Wars and culminated in the Battle of New Orleans.
    • European-American historians often discuss the Creek War as part of the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain, as tribal tensions were exacerbated during this war.
    • The Creek War (1813–1814), also known as the "Red Stick War," began as a civil war within the Creek (Muscogee) nation.
    • On January 8, 1815 (despite the official end of the war), a force of battle-tested British veterans of the Napoleonic Wars attempted to take the port.
    • Discuss the intersection of Native American civil wars and the War of 1812

  • International Diplomacy

    • Meanwhile, the war created employment for arms makers, ironworkers, and British ships to transport weapons.
    • War loomed in late 1861 between the United States and Britain over the Trent Affair, involving the U.S.
    • Throughout the early years of the war, the British foreign secretary, Emperor Napoleon III of France, and, to a lesser extent, the British prime minister, showed interest in recognition of the Confederacy or at least mediation of the war.
    • War meant higher taxes, another invasion of Canada, and full-scale worldwide attacks on the British merchant fleet.
    • News of Lee's decisive victory at Chancellorsville had reached the Continent, and French Emperor Napoleon III assured Confederate diplomats that he would make a "direct proposition" to England for joint recognition.

  • The Quasi-War

    • The Quasi-War was an undeclared naval war fought between France and the United States in the Caribbean Sea.
    • Instead, the Quasi-War began in July of 1798.
    • American commissioners then negotiated the Treaty of Mortefontaine with Napoleon's ministers in September 1800, which ended all hostilities.
    • However, the Quasi-War also had a negative affect on political relations between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans.
    • The USS Constellation and L'Insurgente battle during the Quasi-War between the United States and France.

  • The Louisiana Purchase

    • The city of New Orleans, originally French, had been governed by Spain since the end of the French and Indian War (1754–1763), when France ceded Louisiana to Spain.
    • At the turn of the century, the war between France and Britain raged on.
    • This colony had been France's wealthiest in the Caribbean, and Napoleon wanted its productivity restored.
    • Southerners also feared Napoleon would free all of the slaves in Louisiana, which could prompt slave uprisings elsewhere.
    • On the other hand, he was aware of the potential threat that France could pose in that region and was prepared to go to war to prevent a strong French presence there.

  • Incorporating Louisiana

    • While the sale of the territory by Spain back to France in 1800 went largely unnoticed, fear of an eventual French invasion spread nationwide when, in 1801, Napoleon sent a military force to secure New Orleans.
    • Southerners feared that Napoleon would free all the slaves in Louisiana, which could trigger slave uprisings elsewhere.
    • This colony had been the wealthiest for France in the Caribbean, and Napoleon wanted its productivity restored.
    • On the other hand, he was aware of the potential threat that France could be in that region and was prepared to go to war to prevent a strong French presence there.
    • The Americans thought that Napoleon might withdraw the offer at any time, preventing the United States from acquiring New Orleans, so they agreed and signed the Louisiana Purchase Treaty on April 30, 1803.