Editing War of the Third Coalition (section)

===From Amiens to the Third Coalition===
In March 1802, hostilities between France and the Allies came to an end. However it was clear to the leading European politicians, and especially to Napoleon, that the peace treaties of Lunéville (1801) and Amiens (1802), which ended the Second War of Coalition, were not a lasting solution. Tensions between Napoleon-ruled France and Great Britain had been rising again since the second half of 1802. The fact that Napoleon played an active role in the Caribbean contributed to this. There were also indications that he was once again interested in Egypt and the Middle East. There were reports in French newspapers that 10,000 men would be enough to reconquer Egypt.
In Italy, Napoleon increased his influence when he transformed the Cisalpine Republic into the Italian Republic and made himself president. He annexed Piedmont to France. Contrary to the peace treaty of Amiens, the French army was not withdrawn from the Netherlands; instead, the Batavian Republic was given a new constitution based on the French model. The Helvetic Republic was also closely dependent on France. Napoleon had given the country a new federalist constitution with the Act of Mediation. At the same time, the country had had to bind itself politically to France for fifty years. 

The peace treaty stipulated that Great Britain was to return all conquered territories except Ceylon and Trinidad to their respective previous owners. Minorca to Spain and Malta to the Order of St. John. In return, France was to leave Egypt and Naples and guarantee the independence of Portugal and the Ionian Islands.{{sfn|Chandler|1966|pp=319–320}} In order to prevent Napoleon from advancing further into the Levant, it was necessary for Great Britain to keep Malta and a fleet in the Mediterranean. Russia's interest in Malta offered Napoleon an ideal opportunity for a war in which he hoped to play Britain and Russia off against each other. Napoleon indirectly threatened war on 13 March 1803 when he criticized Britain's refusal to fully implement the terms of the Treaty of Amiens to British ambassador Lord Whitworth. Whitworth returned to London and shortly afterwards, on May 18, Great Britain declared war on France.{{sfn|Rodger|2004|p=528}}{{sfn|Schneid|2005|p=57}}