Editing Napoleonic Wars (section)

==Overview==
[[Napoleon|Napoleon Bonaparte]] seized power in a [[Coup of 18 Brumaire|coup on 9 November 1799]], establishing a [[military dictatorship]].{{sfn|Jones|1994|pp=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgeillustr00jone_0/page/193 193–194]}} There are numerous opinions on the date to use as the formal beginning of the Napoleonic Wars; 18 May 1803 is often used, when Britain and France ended the only short period of peace between 1792 and 1814.{{sfn|Kagan|2007|pp=42–43}} The Napoleonic Wars began with the [[War of the Third Coalition]], which was the first of the [[French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars|Coalition Wars]] against the [[First French Republic]] after Napoleon's accession as leader of France.

Britain ended the [[Treaty of Amiens]], declaring war on France in May 1803. Among the reasons were Napoleon's changes to the international system in Western Europe, especially in [[Switzerland in the Napoleonic era|Switzerland]], Germany, [[Italian Republic (Napoleonic)|Italy]], and the [[Batavian Republic|Netherlands]]. Historian [[Frederick Kagan]] argues that Britain was irritated in particular by Napoleon's assertion of control over Switzerland. Furthermore, Britons felt insulted when Napoleon stated that their country deserved no voice in European affairs, even though King [[George III]] was an [[Prince-elector|elector]] of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. For its part, Russia decided that the intervention in Switzerland indicated that Napoleon was not looking toward a peaceful resolution of his differences with the other European powers.{{sfn|Kagan|2007|pp=42–43}}

The British hastily enforced a naval [[blockade]] of France to starve it of resources. Napoleon responded with economic embargoes against Britain and sought to eliminate Britain's Continental allies to break the coalitions arrayed against him. The so-called [[Continental System]] formed a [[Second League of Armed Neutrality|League of Armed Neutrality]] to disrupt the blockade and enforce free trade with France. The British responded by capturing the Danish fleet at the [[Battle of Copenhagen (1801)|Battle of Copenhagen]], breaking up the league, and later secured dominance over the seas at the [[Battle of Trafalgar]], allowing it to freely continue its strategy.

Napoleon won the War of the Third Coalition at the [[Battle of Austerlitz]], forcing the [[Austrian Empire]] [[Treaty of Pressburg (1805)|out of the war]] and formally dissolving the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. Within months, [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]] declared war, triggering a [[War of the Fourth Coalition]]. This war ended disastrously for Prussia, which was defeated and occupied at the [[Battle of Jena–Auerstedt]] within 19 days of the beginning of the campaign. Napoleon subsequently [[Battle of Friedland|defeated Russia]] at Friedland, creating powerful client states in [[Eastern Europe]] and ending the Fourth Coalition.

Concurrently, the refusal of [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]] to commit to the Continental System and [[History of Spain (1700-1808)|Spain]]'s failure to maintain it led to the [[Peninsular War]] and the outbreak of the [[War of the Fifth Coalition]]. The French occupied Spain and formed a [[Spain under Joseph Bonaparte|Spanish client kingdom]], ending the alliance between the two. Heavy British involvement in the [[Iberian Peninsula]] soon followed, while a [[Walcheren Campaign|British effort to capture Antwerp]] failed. Napoleon oversaw the situation in Iberia, [[Battle of Somosierra|defeating the Spanish]] and [[Battle of Corunna|expelling the British]] from the Peninsula. Austria, eager to recover territory lost during the War of the Third Coalition, invaded France's client states in Eastern Europe in April 1809. Napoleon defeated the Fifth Coalition at the [[Battle of Wagram]].

Plans to invade British North America pushed the United States to declare war on Britain in the [[War of 1812]], but it did not become an ally of France. Grievances over control of [[Duchy of Warsaw|Poland]] and Russia's withdrawal from the Continental System led to [[French invasion of Russia|Napoleon invading Russia]] in June 1812. The invasion was an unmitigated disaster for Napoleon; [[Scorched-earth|scorched earth]] tactics, desertion, French strategic failures at the [[Battle of Borodino]], and the onset of the Russian winter compelled Napoleon to retreat with massive losses. Napoleon suffered further setbacks: French power in the Iberian Peninsula was broken at the [[Battle of Vitoria]] the following summer, and a new alliance began, the [[War of the Sixth Coalition]].

The coalition [[Battle of Leipzig|defeated Napoleon at Leipzig]] in October 1813, precipitating his fall from power and abdication on 6 April 1814. The victors exiled Napoleon to [[Elba]] and [[Bourbon Restoration in France|restored the Bourbon monarchy]]. Napoleon escaped from Elba in 1815, gathering enough support to overthrow the monarchy of [[Louis XVIII]], triggering a [[Hundred Days|seventh, and final, coalition against him]]. Napoleon was then [[Battle of Waterloo|decisively defeated at Waterloo]] on 18 June 1815, and he abdicated again on 22 June. On 15 July he surrendered to the British at [[Rochefort, Charente-Maritime|Rochefort]] and was permanently exiled to remote [[Saint Helena]]. The [[Treaty of Paris (1815)|Treaty of Paris]], signed on 20 November 1815, formally ended the war.

The Bourbon monarchy was once again restored, and the victors began the [[Congress of Vienna]] to restore peace to Europe. As a direct result of the war, the Kingdom of Prussia rose to become a [[great power]],<ref name="auto3">{{Cite book |last=Dwyer |first=Philip G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FEDKAgAAQBAJ&q=napoleonic+wars+rise+of+prussia&pg=PA255 |title=The Rise of Prussia 1700–1830 |year= 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-88703-4 |access-date=2 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207044936/https://books.google.com/books?id=FEDKAgAAQBAJ&q=napoleonic+wars+rise+of+prussia&pg=PA255 |archive-date=7 February 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> while Great Britain, with its unequalled [[Royal Navy]] and [[British Empire|growing empire]], became the world's dominant [[superpower]], beginning the ''[[Pax Britannica]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ferguson |first=Niall |url=https://archive.org/details/empire00nial |title=Empire, The rise and demise of the British world order and the lessons for global power |publisher=Basic Books |year=2004 |isbn=0-465-02328-2 |url-access=registration}}</ref> The Holy Roman Empire had been dissolved, and the philosophy of [[nationalism]] that emerged early in the war contributed greatly to the later [[Unification of Germany|unification of the German states]], [[Italian unification|and those of the Italian peninsula]]. The war in Iberia greatly weakened Spanish power, and the Spanish Empire began to unravel; [[Spanish American wars of independence|Spain would lose nearly all of its American possessions by 1833]]. The [[Portuguese Empire]] also shrank, with [[Independence of Brazil|Brazil declaring independence]] in 1822.{{sfn|Keen|Haynes|2012|loc=chpt. 8}}

The wars revolutionised European warfare; the application of [[Levée en masse|mass conscription]] and [[total war]] led to campaigns of unprecedented scale, as whole nations committed all their [[Industrial Revolution|economic and industrial resources]] to a collective war effort.{{sfn|Bell|2007|p=[https://archive.org/details/firsttotalwarnap00bell/page/51 51]}} Tactically, the [[French Imperial Army (1804–1815)|French Army]] had redefined the role of [[artillery]], while Napoleon emphasised mobility to offset numerical disadvantages,<ref name="auto1">{{Cite book |last=Geoffrey Wawro |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gtuAhd9qARkC&pg=PA9 |title=Warfare and Society in Europe, 1792–1914 |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-203-00735-8 |page=9 |access-date=18 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150930225924/https://books.google.com/books?id=gtuAhd9qARkC&pg=PA9 |archive-date=30 September 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> and [[aerial surveillance]] was used for the first time in warfare.{{sfn|Palmer|1941|pp=81–83}} The highly successful [[Spanish guerrilla]]s demonstrated the capability of a people driven by fervent nationalism against an occupying force.{{sfn|Tone|1996|pp=355–382}}{{page range too broad|date=May 2021}}
Due to the longevity of the wars, the extent of Napoleon's conquests, and the popularity of the ideals of the [[French Revolution]], the period had a deep impact on European social culture. Many subsequent revolutions, such as the [[Russian Revolution]], looked to the French as a source of inspiration,{{sfnm |1a1=Shlapentokh |1y=1997 |1pp=220–228 |2a1=Palmer |2a2=Colton |2a3=Kramer |2y=2013 |2pp=81–83}} while [[Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen|its core founding tenets]] greatly expanded the arena of [[human rights]] and shaped modern political philosophies in use today.{{sfn|Desan|Hunt|Nelson|2013|pp=3, 8, 10}}