Editing Napoleonic Wars (section)

==War between Britain and France, 1803–1814==
{{Main|United Kingdom in the Napoleonic Wars}}

===British motivations===
Britain ended the uneasy truce created by the Treaty of Amiens when it had declared war on France in May 1803. The British were increasingly angered by Napoleon's reordering of the international system in Western Europe, especially in Switzerland, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Kagan argues that Britain was especially alarmed by Napoleon's assertion of control over Switzerland. The British felt insulted when Napoleon said it deserved no voice in European affairs (even though King George was an [[Prince-elector|elector]] of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]) and sought to restrict the London newspapers that were vilifying him.{{sfn|Kagan|2007|pp=42–43}}

Britain had a sense of loss of control, as well as loss of markets, and was worried by Napoleon's possible threat to its [[British Empire|overseas colonies]]. 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." McLynn concludes that it proved to be the right choice for Britain because, in the long run, Napoleon's intentions were hostile to the British national interest. Napoleon was not ready for war, and so this was the best time for Britain to stop them. Britain seized upon the Malta issue, refusing to follow the terms of the Treaty of Amiens and evacuate the island.{{sfn|Roberts|2014|p=309}}

The deeper British grievance was their perception that Napoleon was taking personal control of Europe, making the international system unstable, and forcing Britain to the sidelines.{{sfnm |1a1=Grainger |1y=2004 |2a1=Schroeder |2y=1994 |2p=231}}{{sfn|Bryant|1944}}{{page needed|date=May 2021}}{{sfn|Kagan|2007|pp=42–43}}{{page needed|date=May 2021}} Numerous scholars have argued that Napoleon's aggressive posture made him enemies and cost him potential allies.{{sfn|Tulard|1984|p=351}} As late as 1808, the continental powers affirmed most of his gains and titles, but the continuing conflict with Britain led him to start the [[Peninsular War]] and the [[French invasion of Russia|invasion of Russia]], which many scholars see as a dramatic miscalculation.{{sfnm |1a1=Gray |1y=2007 |1p=47 |2a1=Malia |2y=2006 |2p=205}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Robin Neillands |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eC7AAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA22 |title=Wellington & Napoleon: Clash of Arms |publisher=Pen and Sword |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-85052-926-5 |page=22 |access-date=18 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150930122957/https://books.google.com/books?id=eC7AAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA22 |archive-date=30 September 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Horne |first=Alistair |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ls0zJPyWEl8C&pg=PT161 |title=What If?: The World's Foremost Historians Imagine What Might Have Been |publisher=Penguin |year=2000 |isbn=978-1-101-11891-7 |editor-last=Cowley |editor-first=Robert |page=161 |access-date=18 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150930192640/https://books.google.com/books?id=ls0zJPyWEl8C&pg=PT161 |archive-date=30 September 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Duckworth's action off San Domingo, 6 February 1806, Nicholas Pocock.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of San Domingo]], 6 February 1806]]
[[File:Battle of the Pyrenees, July 28th 1813 - Fonds Ancely - B315556101 A HEATH 035.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of the Pyrenees]], July 1813]]

There was one serious attempt to negotiate peace with France during the war, made by [[Charles James Fox]] in 1806. The British wanted to retain their overseas conquests and have [[Electorate of Hanover|Hanover]] restored to George III in exchange for accepting French conquests on the continent. The French were willing to cede Malta, Cape Colony, [[Tobago]], and [[French India]]n posts to Britain but wanted to obtain Sicily in exchange for the restoration of Hanover, a condition which the British refused.{{sfn|Burke|1808}}{{page needed|date=May 2021}}

Unlike its many coalition partners, Britain remained at war during the period of the Napoleonic Wars. Protected by naval supremacy (in the words of Admiral [[John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent|Jervis]] to the House of Lords "I do not say, my Lords, that the French will not come. I say only they will not come by sea"), Britain did not have to spend the entire war defending itself and could thus focus on supporting its embattled allies, maintaining low-intensity land warfare on a global scale for over a decade. The British government paid out a large amount of money to other European states so that they could pay armies in the field against France. These payments are colloquially known as the [[Golden Cavalry of St George]]. The [[British Army]] provided long-term support to the Spanish rebellion in the Peninsular War of 1808–1814, assisted by Spanish [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla]] ('little war') tactics. Anglo-Portuguese forces under [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Arthur Wellesley]] supported the Spanish, who campaigned successfully against the French armies, eventually driving them from Spain and allowing Britain to invade southern France. By 1815, the British Army played the central role in the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.
[[File:BritishEmpire1815.png|thumb|upright 1.2|The British managed to occupy and take control of [[Cape Colony]], [[British Guiana]], [[Crown Colony of Malta|Malta]], [[British Mauritius|Mauritius]] and [[British Ceylon|Ceylon]] during the Napoleonic Wars.]]
Beyond minor naval actions against British imperial interests, the Napoleonic Wars were much less global in their scope than preceding conflicts such as the [[Seven Years' War]], which historians term a "[[world war]]".

===Economic warfare===
In response to the naval blockade of the French coasts enacted by the British government on 16 May 1806, Napoleon issued the [[Berlin Decree]] on November 21, 1806, which brought into effect the [[Continental System]].{{sfn|Schroeder|1994|pp=307–310}} This policy aimed to eliminate the threat from Britain by closing French-controlled territory to its trade. Britain maintained a standing army of 220,000 at the height of the Napoleonic Wars, of whom less than 50% were available for campaigning. The rest were necessary for garrisoning [[British rule in Ireland|Ireland]] and the colonies and providing security for Britain. France's strength peaked at around 2,500,000 full-time and part-time soldiers including several hundred thousand [[National Guard (France)|National Guardsmen]] whom Napoleon could draft into the military if necessary. Both nations enlisted large numbers of sedentary militia who were unsuited for campaigning and were mostly employed to release regular forces for active duty.{{sfn|Kennedy|1989|pp=128–129}}

The Royal Navy disrupted France's extra-continental trade by seizing and threatening French shipping and [[French colonial empire|colonial possessions]], but could do nothing about France's trade with the major continental economies, and posed little threat to French territory in Europe. France's population and agricultural capacity greatly outstripped Britain's. Britain had the greatest industrial capacity in Europe, and its mastery of the seas allowed it to build up considerable economic strength through trade. This ensured that France could never consolidate its control over Europe in peace. Many in the French government believed that cutting Britain off from the Continent would end its economic influence over Europe and isolate it.

===Financing the war===
A key element in British success was its ability to mobilise the nation's industrial and financial resources, and apply them to defeating France. Though the UK had a population of approximately 16&nbsp;million against France's 30&nbsp;million, the French numerical advantage was offset by British subsidies that paid for many of the Austrian and Russian soldiers, peaking at about 450,000 men in 1813.{{sfn|Kennedy|1989|pp=128–129}}{{sfn|Sherwig|1969}}{{page needed|date=May 2021}} Under the Anglo–Russian agreement of 1803, Britain paid a subsidy of £1.5&nbsp;million for every 100,000 Russian soldiers in the field.{{sfn|Palmer|1974|p=86}}

British national output continued to be strong, and the well-organised business sector channeled products into what the military needed. Britain used its economic power to expand the Royal Navy, doubling the number of [[frigate]]s, adding 50 per cent more large [[ship of the line|ships of the line]], and increasing the number of sailors from 15,000 to 133,000 in eight years after the war began in 1793. France saw its navy shrink by more than half.{{sfn|Briggs|1959|p=143}} The smuggling of finished products into the continent undermined French efforts to weaken the British economy by cutting off markets. Subsidies to Russia and Austria kept them in the war. The British budget in 1814 reached £98&nbsp;million, including £10&nbsp;million for the Royal Navy, £40&nbsp;million for the army, £10&nbsp;million for the allies, and £38&nbsp;million as interest on the national debt, which had soared to £679&nbsp;million, more than double the GDP. This debt was supported by hundreds of thousands of investors and taxpayers, despite the higher taxes on land and a new income tax. The cost of the war amounted to £831&nbsp;million.{{refn|£3 trillion in modern economic cost terms.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Measuring Worth – Purchase Power of the Pound |url=https://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/relativevalue.php?use2=a%3A5%3A{i%3A0%3Bs%3A3%3A%22CPI%22%3Bi%3A1%3Bs%3A6%3A%22DEFIND%22%3Bi%3A2%3Bs%3A4%3A%22WAGE%22%3Bi%3A3%3Bs%3A5%3A%22GDPCP%22%3Bi%3A4%3Bs%3A4%3A%22GDPC%22%3B}&amount=0.831&year_source=1815&year_result=2016&button=Submit |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160601215026/https://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/relativevalue.php?use2=a%3A5%3A%7Bi%3A0%3Bs%3A3%3A%22CPI%22%3Bi%3A1%3Bs%3A6%3A%22DEFIND%22%3Bi%3A2%3Bs%3A4%3A%22WAGE%22%3Bi%3A3%3Bs%3A5%3A%22GDPCP%22%3Bi%3A4%3Bs%3A4%3A%22GDPC%22%3B%7D&amount=0.831&year_source=1815&year_result=2016&button=Submit |archive-date=1 June 2016 |access-date=15 February 2016 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>|group=lower-alpha}} In contrast, the French financial system was inadequate and Napoleon's forces had to rely in part on requisitions from conquered lands.{{sfn|Halévy|1924|pp=205–228}}{{page range too broad|date=May 2021}}{{sfn|Knight|2013}}{{page needed|date=May 2021}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Watson |first=J. Steven |title=The Reign of George III 1760–1815 |year=1960 |pages=374–377, 406–407, 463–471}}</ref>

From London in 1813 to 1815, [[Nathan Mayer Rothschild]] was crucial in almost single-handedly financing the British war effort, organising the shipment of bullion to the Duke of Wellington's armies across Europe, as well as arranging the payment of British financial subsidies to their continental allies.{{sfn|Ferguson|2008|p=78}}