23-Challenges to the Empire

The Continental blockade
Since Britain was a trading nation, it had the resources to finance military coalitions against the French. One aspect of French warfare was undermining British commerce. After abandoning his plans to invade Britain in 1805, Napoleon took economic warfare a stage further. In November 1806, he issued the Berlin Decree, forbidding all states under French control (or allied to France) from buying British goods and declaring Britain and its overseas possessions in a state of blockade.

Britain responded with the ‘Orders in Council’ of November 1807. These imposed reciprocal terms: Britain would not buy goods from France, its allies, or neutral countries that obeyed the French blockade. The Royal Navy would blockade the ports of France and its allies, preventing them from selling to or receiving goods from elsewhere. The Orders demanded that all shipping coming from or heading toward a French-controlled port stop at a British port to be checked for ‘contraband.’ Ships that failed to comply would be seized.

Napoleon took yet another step. In the Milan Decree of December 1807, he authorized French warships to capture neutral ships sailing from any British port or country occupied by British forces. The decree declared that any ships that had allowed themselves to be searched by the British Royal Navy were liable to capture by the French.

This ‘continental system’ lay behind many of the problems Napoleon encountered after 1808 and proved one of his most unpopular policies throughout the Empire. Tea, coffee, sugar, and tobacco became almost unobtainable, provoking complaints and uprisings. The strains of maintaining the system added to Napoleon’s commitments and military engagements. Portugal refused to obey, provoking a damaging Napoleonic entry into Spain in 1808. In 1810, Alexander I chose to opt out of the system, severely damaging Russia’s trade. This led to Napoleon’s disastrous attempt to invade and defeat Russia in 1812.

The Peninsular War

Spain had been in alliance with France since 1795, following its defeat at the hands of the French Revolutionary armies. It briefly allied with Britain from 1805–1807, following its naval defeat at Trafalgar. However, it was won over again in 1807, when a joint Franco-Spanish force was created to take control of Portugal, which was being used by Britain as an entry point for British goods.

This army took Lisbon in December 1807, and the Portuguese royal family fled. However, Franco-Spanish relations soured. Napoleon’s view of the Spanish King, Charles IV, had already been devalued by the latter’s switching of alliances, and Spain was plagued by political chaos and corruption. Napoleon used the opportunity of an attempted coup in March 1808 by Charles’ pro-British son, Ferdinand. Backed by 100,000 French soldiers who had entered Spain under the pretext of reinforcing the Franco-Spanish army occupying Portugal, he forced the abdication of Charles in March, followed by that of Ferdinand in May 1808.

Spaniards were divided among:

• Educated middle-class groups who welcomed French rule and French enlightened reforms.

• Landowners who feared loss of power and influence.

• Powerful clerics who regarded the French as ‘godless’ and opposed Napoleon’s Concordat and secular state.

• Large numbers of conservative and Catholic peasantry, hostile to ‘outsiders’ (particularly Frenchmen), who challenged the authority of the Papacy.

‘Rebel’ Spaniards formed local resistance committees (juntas), and in July 1808, the Spanish Army of Andalusia defeated Napoleon’s forces at the Battle of Bailén, forcing the French to retreat and abandon much of Spain to insurgents. The surrender of 22,000 men was a shattering blow with major consequences:

• August 1808: Napoleon imposed his brother, Joseph, as King of Spain.

• August 1808: Britain sent Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington) to aid the Spaniards. A British-Spanish army defeated the French at the Battle of Vimeiro in Portugal, giving the British ports and bases from which to maintain pressure on the French.

• November 1808: Napoleon took personal command in Spain. On December 4, he entered Madrid with 80,000 troops.

The Peninsular War turned into a long-drawn-out war of attrition. Napoleon’s strategy was to use overwhelming French troop numbers to attack Spanish rebels, but the French found ‘living off the land’ problematic due to the hostility of Spanish peasants and guerrilla warfare. Fighting in mountainous and barren areas where communications were poor, amid a hostile population, was a new experience for French armies. Messages between villages were difficult to deliver, and commanders in different parts of Spain struggled to keep contact. Supply lines back to France were difficult to maintain given the size and geography of the peninsula.

The British replaced Wellesley with Sir John Moore, who took command of British ground forces. These played an important part in harassing the French, although they failed to cut French communication lines in northern Spain. By early 1809, the British army was forced to withdraw to Corunna on the northern coast of Galicia. Both armies suffered from harsh winter conditions, but the French forced a battle to try to prevent the British troops from being evacuated. Moore was killed in action, but the French were repulsed, and British forces were saved by their navy. This left northern Spain to the French, but British action had frustrated the French ambition to retake Portugal and southern Spain.

Napoleon was forced to leave Spain in January 1809 to deal with the Austrians, who, encouraged by French setbacks, were planning renewed attacks on France. Wellesley returned to Lisbon in April 1809 with 30,000 men. They protected themselves by building a series of forts and earthworks from 1809–1810, both to defend Lisbon and to use as a base from which to mount further attacks.

Although a quarter million French troops and huge amounts of money were poured into Spain, the French never achieved the breakthrough they sought. Every victory won by Napoleon’s deputies was countered. The war became known as the ‘Spanish Ulcer,’ as English attacks and Spanish guerrilla warfare gradually wore the French down. By 1813, Wellesley was able to advance, defeat the French at Vitoria, and enter Madrid. At this, Joseph fled, and Wellesley led an invasion of France, defeating the French at Toulouse in 1814.

Austrian Campaign (1809)

Encouraged by French struggles in Spain, Austria re-entered the war in February 1809. Having reformed its army since Austerlitz, Austria improved its tactics and introduced conscription. However, its command structure remained outdated, with conservative generals reluctant to act without written orders.

Austria had an initial advantage due to Napoleon’s uncertainty about its plans. In April 1809, Austrian forces invaded French-controlled Bavaria. Despite delays caused by poor roads and weather, the advancing Bavarian army gradually retreated. Napoleon rushed back from Paris and decisively defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Eckmühl (April 21-22, 1809), inflicting 12,000 casualties while losing 6,000. By May, he had entered Vienna.

However, Napoleon needed to defeat Austrian forces north of the Danube. At the Battle of Aspern-Essling (May 1809), he suffered his first major battlefield defeat, losing 20,000 men and retreating to an island on the Danube. After six weeks of preparation, he re-crossed the river in July with 188,000 troops. The decisive Battle of Wagram (July 5-6, 1809) saw both sides suffer heavy losses (Napoleon lost 34,000 men, Austria 43,000), but Austria ultimately collapsed, leading to the Treaty of Schönbrunn (October 14, 1809). Austria ceded 83,000 square kilometers and one-sixth of its population.

Despite victory, the campaign exposed weaknesses:

• Napoleon was overconfident and poorly prepared.

• His army had fewer veterans and relied more on undisciplined conscripts from satellite states.

• Austrian forces had improved mobility and artillery, proving more formidable.

• The Spanish War and revolts in Germany and the Alps drained French resources.

Russian Campaign (1812)

By 1810, tensions grew between Napoleon and Tsar Alexander I, as Russia suffered under the Continental System and British blockade. Alexander was angered by Napoleon’s marriage to Marie-Louise of Austria and feared French ambitions in Poland. When Russia broke Napoleon’s trade embargo in December 1810 and imposed tariffs on French goods, Napoleon assembled his Grand Armée for an invasion.

In June 1812, Napoleon advanced through Lithuania toward Moscow, expecting a decisive battle, but the Russians adopted a scorched-earth policy, retreating while destroying supplies. This deprived the French of resources, leaving them reliant on weak supply lines. Napoleon’s army suffered from poor planning, disease, and hunger. In September, he won at Borodino but failed to destroy the Russian army. Upon reaching Moscow, he found it deserted and set ablaze by the Russians. With no peace offer, Napoleon was forced into a disastrous winter retreat, harassed by Russian forces, starvation, and frostbite.

By December, Napoleon abandoned his army to return to Paris, learning of a political plot. His army disintegrated, leaving only 10,000 survivors. The failure devastated Napoleon’s position, prompting Austria and Prussia to break their alliances with France.

War of the Fourth Coalition (1813-1814)

Determined to remove Napoleon, Alexander I formed a new coalition. Prussia, initially a reluctant ally of France, joined Russia in early 1813, followed by Britain, Austria, and Sweden. Despite raising a new 250,000-strong army, Napoleon’s victories at Lützen and Bautzen in April–May 1813 failed to bring a decisive outcome.

In October 1813, Napoleon faced overwhelming allied forces at Leipzig (Battle of Nations). Outnumbered, he suffered a major defeat and retreated across Germany. Although he won several smaller battles, the sheer size of the allied forces forced him back. He rejected a peace offer that would have preserved France’s natural frontiers and called for 900,000 new conscripts, but few were raised.

By early 1814, Napoleon’s empire crumbled, leaving him with only Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, and a weakened army. The British captured Madrid and forced his brother Joseph to flee Spain. By March 1814, the allies entered Paris. Napoleon’s marshals forced him to abdicate under the Treaty of Fontainebleau in April 1814. He was exiled to Elba with a small income and retained his title as Emperor. Meanwhile, his wife Marie-Louise abandoned him and returned to Vienna.