Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of conflicts fought between the First French Empire under Napoleon (1804–1815), and a fluctuating array of European coalitions. The wars originated in political forces arising from the French Revolution (1789–1799) and from the French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802) (the War of the First Coalition (1792–1797) and the War of the Second Coalition (1798–1802)), and produced a period of French domination over Continental Europe. There were seven Napoleonic Wars, five named after the coalitions that fought Napoleon, plus two named for their respective theatres: (i) the War of the Third Coalition (1803–1806), (ii) the War of the Fourth Coalition (1806–1807), (iii) the War of the Fifth Coalition (1809), (iv) the War of the Sixth Coalition (1813–1814), (v) the War of the Seventh Coalition (1815), (vi) the Peninsular War (1807–1814), and (vii) the French invasion of Russia (1812).

Napoleonic Wars
Part of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
Click an image to load the campaign. Left to right, top to bottom: Battles of Austerlitz, Berlin, Friedland, Lisbon, Madrid, Vienna, Moscow, Leipzig, Paris, Waterloo
Date 18 May 1803 – 20 November 1815 (1803-05-18 – 1815-11-20) (12 years, 5 months and 4 weeks) Location Atlantic Ocean, Caucasus, Europe, French Guiana, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, North America, North Sea, Río de la Plata, West Indies, Southern Africa, East Indies, Middle East, South America, Pacific Ocean Result Coalition victory Congress of Vienna Full results Second Treaty of Paris Coalition occupation of France Exile of Napoleon I to Saint Helena[1] Fall of the First French Empire Restoration of the Bourbon monarchy Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and Denmark–Norway. Decline of the Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch Empires. Rise of the British Empire as the dominant world superpower[2] Establishment of the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway,[3] and the United Kingdom of the Netherlands[4][citation not found][5] Rise of Prussia as a great power[6] Beginning of Italian[7][8] and German unifications[9] Widespread rise of nationalism and liberalism in Europe[10][citation not found][11] Major population loss[12][page needed]
Belligerents
Coalition forces:  United Kingdom  Holy Roman Empire (until 1806)  Austria[lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 2][lower-alpha 3]  Prussia[lower-alpha 4]  Russia[lower-alpha 5][lower-alpha 6] Spain[lower-alpha 7][lower-alpha 8]  Sweden[lower-alpha 9][lower-alpha 10] Portugal[lower-alpha 11] Baden  Bavaria[lower-alpha 12] Brunswick[lower-alpha 13] French Royalists Hanover[lower-alpha 14]  Hungary[lower-alpha 15][lower-alpha 16]  Liechtenstein Montenegro[lower-alpha 17] Nassau[lower-alpha 13] Netherlands[lower-alpha 13] Ottoman Empire[lower-alpha 18][lower-alpha 19] Papal States Qajar Iran[lower-alpha 18][lower-alpha 20] Sardinia  Saxony[lower-alpha 12] Sicily[lower-alpha 21][lower-alpha 22] Switzerland Tuscany[lower-alpha 13]  Württemberg[lower-alpha 12] Denmark[lower-alpha 23]	France and its client states: French Republic (until 1804) French Empire (from 1804) French clients:  Batavian Republic [lower-alpha 24] Bonapartist Spain[lower-alpha 8] Confederation of the Rhine[lower-alpha 25][lower-alpha 26][lower-alpha 27] Bavaria  Saxony Westphalia Württemberg Duchy of Warsaw[lower-alpha 28] Etruria[lower-alpha 29] Holland[lower-alpha 30] Italy Lucca-Piombino Naples[lower-alpha 31] Polish Legions[lower-alpha 28] Switzerland Austria[lower-alpha 2][16][lower-alpha 32] Denmark–Norway[lower-alpha 33][lower-alpha 34] Qajar Iran[lower-alpha 35][lower-alpha 20] Ottoman Empire[lower-alpha 18][lower-alpha 19] Prussia[lower-alpha 18][16] Russia[lower-alpha 18][lower-alpha 6] Spain[lower-alpha 36][lower-alpha 8]
Commanders and leaders
Francis I Frederick William III Alexander I George III Ferdinand VII Gustav IV Adolf Charles John Maria I William I Louis XVIII	Napoleon I Maximilian I Joseph[lower-alpha 37] Frederick VI Józef Poniatowski † Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck Louis Bonaparte Eugène de Beauharnais Joachim Murat  Frederick Augustus I[lower-alpha 37] Joseph I Jerôme I Frederick I[lower-alpha 38]
Strength
Russians: 900,000 regulars, Cossacks and militia at peak strength (1812)[17] Prussians: 320,000 regulars and militia at peak strength (1806)[16] British: 250,000 regulars, sailors, marines and militia at peak strength (1813)[18][citation not found] Austrians: 300,000 regulars and militia at peak strength (1809) Spaniards: 100,000 regulars, guerrillas and militia at peak strength (1812) Portuguese: 50,000 regulars, guerrillas and militia at peak strength (1809) Swedish: 50,000 regulars and militia at peak strength (1813) Dutch: 36,500 regulars and militia at peak strength (1815) Ottomans: 350,000 regulars Other coalition members: 100,000 regulars and militia at peak strength (1813) Total: 3,000,000 regulars and militia at peak strength (1813)	French: 1,200,000 regulars, sailors, marines and militia at peak strength (1813)[19] French clients and allies: 500,000 regulars and militia at peak strength (1813) Total: 2,000,000 regulars and militia at peak strength (1813)
Casualties and losses
Austrians: 350,220 killed in action[20] (500,000 total dead) Spanish: more than 300,000 killed in action[21] and more than 586,000 dead in total including civilians[22] Russians: 289,000 killed in action[23] (600,000 total dead including civilians) Prussians: 134,000 killed in action (300,000 total dead including civilians) British: 125,000[24] killed in action (300,000 total dead) Portuguese: up to 250,000 total dead or missing including civilians[24] Italians: 120,000 total dead or missing including civilians[21] Ottomans: 50,000 total dead or missing[25] Total: 4,000,000 total military and civilian dead or missing	306,000 French killed in action[26] 65,000 French allies killed in action[27] 800,000 French and allies killed by wounds, accidents or disease[27] 600,000 civilians killed[27] Total: 2,000,000 dead[28][page needed]

Napoleonic Wars

[Interactive fullscreen map + nearby articles]

Key:-

1

Third Coalition: Germany 1803:...Austerlitz...

2

Fourth Coalition: Prussia 1806:...Jena...

3

Peninsular War: Portugal 1807...Torres Vedras...

4

Peninsular War: Spain 1808...Vitoria...

5

Fifth Coalition: Austria 1809:...Wagram...

6

French invasion of Russia 1812:...Moscow...

7

Sixth Coalition: Germany 1813:...Leipzig...

8

Sixth Coalition: France 1814:...Paris...

9

Hundred Days 1815:...Waterloo...

Upon realising the Coup of 18 Brumaire, whereby he became the First Consul of France in 1799, Napoleon assumed control of the politically chaotic French First Republic. He then organised a financially stable French state with a strong bureaucracy and a professional army. War broke out soon after, with Britain declaring war on France on 18 May 1803, ending the Peace of Amiens, and forming a coalition made up of itself, Sweden, Russia, Naples, and Sicily. Frank McLynn argues that Britain went to war in 1803 out of a "mixture of economic motives and national neuroses—an irrational anxiety about Napoleon's motives and intentions." The British fleet under Admiral Nelson decisively crushed the joint Franco-Spanish navy in the Battle of Trafalgar in October 1805. This victory secured British control of the seas and prevented a planned invasion of Britain. In December 1805, Napoleon defeated the allied Russo-Austrian army at Austerlitz, effectively ending the Third Coalition and forcing Austria to make peace. Concerned about increasing French power, Prussia led the creation of the Fourth Coalition with Russia, Saxony, and Sweden, which resumed war in October 1806. Napoleon soon defeated the Prussians at Jena-Auerstedt and the Russians at Friedland, bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. The treaty failed to end the tension, and war broke out again in 1809, with the badly prepared Fifth Coalition, led by Austria. At first, the Austrians won a significant victory at Aspern-Essling, but were quickly defeated at Wagram.

Hoping to isolate and weaken Britain economically through his Continental System, Napoleon launched an invasion of Portugal, the only remaining British ally in continental Europe. After occupying Lisbon in November 1807, and with the bulk of French troops present in Spain, Napoleon seized the opportunity to turn against his former ally, depose the reigning Spanish royal family and declare his brother King of Spain in 1808 as José I. The Spanish and Portuguese revolted with British support and expelled the French from Iberia in 1814 after six years of fighting.

Concurrently, Russia, unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade, routinely violated the Continental System, prompting Napoleon to launch a massive invasion of Russia in 1812. The resulting campaign ended in disaster for France and the near-destruction of Napoleon's Grande Armée.

Encouraged by the defeat, Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and Russia formed the Sixth Coalition and began a new campaign against France, decisively defeating Napoleon at Leipzig in October 1813 after several inconclusive engagements. The Allies then invaded France from the east, while the Peninsular War spilled over into southwestern France. Coalition troops captured Paris at the end of March 1814 and forced Napoleon to abdicate in April. He was exiled to the island of Elba, and the Bourbons were restored to power. However, Napoleon escaped in February 1815, and reassumed control of France for around One Hundred Days. The allies formed the Seventh Coalition, defeated him at Waterloo in June 1815, and exiled him to the island of Saint Helena, where he died six years later.[29]

The wars had profound consequences on global history, including the spread of nationalism and liberalism, advancements in civil law, the rise of Britain as the world's foremost naval and economic power, the appearance of independence movements in Spanish America and subsequent decline of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires, the fundamental reorganization of German and Italian territories into larger states, and the introduction of radically new methods of conducting warfare. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Congress of Vienna redrew Europe's borders and brought a relative peace to the continent, lasting until the Crimean War in 1853.