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The Napoleonic War, 1803-1815
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The Napoleonic War, 1803-1815
The Peace of Amiens was merely a truce, for the reorganization of France failed to satisfy Napoleon's ambitions, and his aggressive policy made the renewal of war inevitable. The First Consul annexed Piedmont and Elba. As a mediator he intervened in Germany and reconstructed the boundaries of its states so as to suit French interests; he sent thirty thousand soldiers to Switzerland and gave that country a new constitution. Above all, he virtually .annexed Holland, and thus once again British supremacy was threatened in the North Sea. But Napoleon's ambitions were not limited to Europe. The official report of a French colonel who had been sent to Egypt aroused great indignation in Great Britain; for the colonel expressed the opinion that six thousand French troops would be sufficient to recapture that country; and the fact that this report was published in the official French newspaper showed that Napoleon had not renounced French ambitions in that quarter. We now know also - though Great Britain did not realize it at the time - that Napoleon had designs upon the. Cape of Good Hope, upon India, and upon Australia. Napoleon on his side made bitter complaints because Great Britain, contrary to the terms of peace, still retained Malta in her hands, and because the British newspapers made attacks upon him. War eventually broke out in 1803. It was fortunate, perhaps, that it came as quickly as it did. Napoleon was building a very large fleet, which might have successfully challenged our maritime supremacy if time had been given for its completion.
- Napoleon and the Invasion of England, 1803-1805
- Growth of Napoleon's Power, 1805-1809, and the Continental System
- The Peninsular War and the Fall of Napoleon, 1809-1814
- The "Hundred Days", 1815
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Chronology
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