1^res européennes

16 October 2025

❑ Napoleon Bonaparte made a coup (d’Etat) in November 1799 and established a military dictatorship, called the Consulate.

❑ Bonaparte (as he was called until 1804, nickname ‘Boney’) signed the peace of Amiens with England in 1802.But it was short-lived ( = it did not last). War resumed in 1803. In 1804, England helped French royalists who tried to kill Bonaparte (the plot of Cadoudal).

“The first kiss this ten years or the meeting of Britannia and Citizen François”, drawn by Gillray in 1803, epitomises the uncertainties of the Treaty of Amiens.

November 6

November 13

Paper

November 20

❑ About the paper : subject and possible answer.

England and Napoleon (update)

❑ This was the continuation of the war against revolutionary France.

• England could not accept that France might occupy the continent.
• Conversely, Napoleon could not renounce the conquests of the French revolution.
• In 1805, a great victory took place on both sides : for the French, the battle of Austerlitz (Dec 2) against Austria and Russia was a Napoleonic triumph. But on October 21, the Royal Navy obliterated the French fleet at Trafalgar. Admiral Nelson died in the battle, but his victory gave England naval supremacy for more than a century. Though brilliant Austerlitz might be, it did not have the strategic importance of Trafalgar.
• As a consequence, England was able to undermine France’s efforts on the continent, in particular in Spain. English money fueled the local guerilla.

“The plum-pudding in danger” or state Epicures taking a petit souper, by Gillray (26 February 1805). William Pitt vs Napoleon Bonaparte.

Humorously, Gillray aptly represented the geopolitics of his time. The world was being shared by England, a sea power (Pitt is taking the ocean) and a continental power (France, with Napoleon taking Europe)

The battle of Trafalgar by Clarkson Frederick Stanfield (1836). The victory won by Admiral Nelson, who died in the battle, gave England a naval supremacy that remained unchallenged until WW1, and was only superseded by the United States during WW2. Eventually, it was the economic power of the British Empire and the British sea power that brought about Napoleon's downfall.

On that painting by Samuel Drummond, made shortly after the battle (1806), Nelson's death is clearly represented after the deposition from the Cross : the hero becomes a martyr. © Royal Museum, Greenwich.

November 27

Two subjects on England and Napoleon, available for the next orals.

1. England against Napoleon.

2. England against Napoleon.

From Trafalgar to Waterloo

❑ Trafalgar (October 1805) : the decisive sea battle in which the Royal Navy led by Nelson crushed the French and Spanish fleets. It gave England the mastery of the seas until WW2.

❑ Thanks to Trafalgar, England could withstand the French continental system (CS). The CS intended to ruin the English trade and economy by preventing European countries from having trade with England. We can argue that Trafalgar made the CS pointless even before it was implemented.

❑ And, with the huge resources of a world economy, England could :

• foster the building of coalitions against Napoleon ;
• and fuel the Spanish rebellion against the French. The Spanish war started in 1807. Guerilla was widespread one year later, as epitomised (perfectly exemplified) by Goya painting The Third of May (1808). This was draining the French resources. It was Napoleon’s quagmire. In Spain, the French had to fight a hostile people. It was a people’s war.
• Eventually, this led Napoleon to his fateful decision to invade Russia. Napoleon’s idea was to beat Russia, then to force England to peace. The expedition (as it was foreseeable) ended in a disaster. Napoleon’s army, mostly made of unreliable European troops, vanished during the winter.

December 18

❑ In 1813, Napoleon was defeated by a new coalition in Leipzig. One year later, he had to abdicate. He was sent to the island of Elba, in the Mediterranean. Meanwhile, the great powers, Britain, Russia, Prussia, Austria and France were having a congress in Vienna.
Talleyrand, Napoleon’s former foreign minister, now represented King Louis XVIII, the brother of the late Louis XVI.

❑ Britain’s priority was to establish a balance of power : they did not want any power to get hegemony over Europe.

❑ But in March 1815, Napoleon escaped and came back to power in Paris. Immmediately, England and her allies decided to fight him. The British army met Napoleon at Waterloo (Belgium). General Wellington, the English commander, was in a difficult position, when another army came in. It was Blücher, the Prussian general, with a powerful , battle-hardened army. Napoleon was doomed. Soon, he surrendered.

❑ The British would not make a second mistake. This time, they sent Napoleon to a remote island of the South Atlantic Ocean : Saint Helena. He died there six years later.