Editing British Empire (section)

=== Wars with France ===
{{Main|French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars}}
[[File:Battle of Waterloo 1815.PNG|thumb|upright=1.5|The [[Battle of Waterloo]] in 1815 ended in the defeat of [[Napoleon]] and marked the beginning of ''[[Pax Britannica]]''.]]
Britain was challenged again by France under Napoleon, in a struggle that, unlike previous wars, represented a contest of ideologies between the two nations.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=152}} It was not only Britain's position on the world stage that was at risk: Napoleon threatened to invade Britain itself, just as his armies had overrun many countries of [[continental Europe]].{{Sfn|James|2001|p=151}}

The Napoleonic Wars were therefore ones in which Britain invested large amounts of capital and resources to win. French ports were blockaded by the [[Royal Navy]], which won a decisive victory over a [[French Imperial Navy]]-[[Spanish Navy]] fleet at the [[Battle of Trafalgar]] in 1805. Overseas colonies were attacked and occupied, including those of the Netherlands, which was annexed by Napoleon in 1810. France was finally defeated by a coalition of European armies in 1815.{{Sfn|Lloyd|1996|pp=115–118}} Britain was again the beneficiary of peace treaties: France ceded the [[United States of the Ionian Islands|Ionian Islands]], [[Malta Protectorate|Malta]] (which it had occupied in 1798), [[British Mauritius|Mauritius]], [[St Lucia]], the [[Seychelles]], and [[Tobago]]; Spain ceded [[Trinidad]]; the Netherlands ceded [[British Guiana|Guiana]], [[British Ceylon|Ceylon]] and the [[Cape Colony]], while the Danish ceded [[British Administration of Heligoland|Heligoland]]. Britain returned [[Guadeloupe]], [[Martinique]], [[French Guiana]], and [[Réunion]] to France; [[Menorca]] to Spain; [[Danish West Indies]] to Denmark and [[Java]] and [[Suriname]] to the Netherlands.{{Sfn|James|2001|p=165}}<!--Aruba and Curaçao were returned as well I think-->