THE WORLD ATLAS

War · 18 May 1803 – 20 November 1815

Napoleonic Wars

The brief Peace of Amiens collapsed when Britain declared war on France in May 1803. Napoleon Bonaparte, crowned emperor in 1804, then fought a series of coalitions of European powers.

Britain's navy won at Trafalgar in 1805, but on land Napoleon defeated Austria and Russia at Austerlitz in 1805, Prussia at Jena in 1806 and Russia at Friedland in 1807, and made allies or satellites of much of Europe, from Spain to the Duchy of Warsaw. His attempt to impose his brother on Spain from 1808 began a long, draining war in the Iberian Peninsula, and in 1812 his invasion of Russia ended in a disastrous winter retreat. Prussia, Austria and Sweden then joined Russia and Britain, defeated him at Leipzig in 1813 and took Paris in 1814, forcing his abdication and exile to Elba. He returned in 1815 for the Hundred Days but was defeated at Waterloo, and was exiled to Saint Helena. The Congress of Vienna redrew Europe's map.

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Dates
18 May 1803 – 20 November 1815
Casualties
An estimated 1.8 million or more soldiers died on all sides, over 1 million of them French or French-allied, and civilian deaths, notably in Spain and Russia, added many hundreds of thousands more.

The sides

French Empire and allies

Coalition powers

Timeline of the Napoleonic Wars

  1. Britain declares war on France, ending the Peace of Amiens

    The Peace of Amiens of 1802 had briefly ended the wars of the French Revolution. But Britain distrusted First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte's expansion in Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands, and refused to give up Malta as the treaty required. On 18 May 1803 Britain declared war. Napoleon gathered an army on the Channel coast at Boulogne to invade England, while the Royal Navy blockaded French ports.

  2. Napoleon is crowned Emperor of the French

    Napoleon, ruler of France as First Consul since 1799, was proclaimed emperor in May 1804 and crowned at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris on 2 December, with Pope Pius VII present; he placed the crown on his own head. The new empire alarmed Europe's monarchies. In 1805 Britain, Austria, Russia and smaller powers, including Sweden and Naples, formed the Third Coalition against him.

  3. Austrian army surrenders at Ulm

    Abandoning his invasion plan, Napoleon marched the Grande Armée from the Channel to the Danube at great speed. An Austrian army under Karl Mack had advanced into Bavaria, France's ally, ahead of the Russians; Napoleon swept around it and trapped it at Ulm, where Mack surrendered on 20 October with most of his army. The road to Vienna lay open, and French troops entered the city in November.

  4. Battle of Trafalgar: Nelson destroys the Franco-Spanish fleet

    Off Cape Trafalgar in southern Spain, a British fleet under Admiral Horatio Nelson attacked a combined French and Spanish fleet under Admiral Villeneuve, cutting through its line in two columns. The allied fleet lost most of its ships, captured or destroyed, while no British ship was lost; Nelson was killed by a sniper during the battle. Trafalgar ended any French hope of invading Britain and confirmed British naval supremacy for the rest of the war.

  5. Battle of Austerlitz: Napoleon defeats Austria and Russia

    On the first anniversary of his coronation, Napoleon met the combined Russian and Austrian armies, with both emperors present, near Austerlitz in Moravia. He lured them into attacking his deliberately weakened right, then struck through their centre on the Pratzen Heights and split their army. The 'Battle of the Three Emperors' is often counted his greatest victory. Austria sued for peace and the Russians withdrew.

  6. Treaty of Pressburg: Austria makes peace

    Signed at Pressburg (Bratislava), the treaty took Venetia from Austria and gave it to Napoleon's Kingdom of Italy, and transferred Tyrol and other lands to France's German allies Bavaria and Württemberg, whose rulers became kings. Austria paid a large indemnity. The Third Coalition collapsed, and Napoleon began reorganising Germany around client states. Napoleon's victories in 1805 left Austria humbled, while Prussia, which had stayed neutral, was isolated.

  7. Napoleon forms the Confederation of the Rhine

    In July 1806 sixteen German states, including Bavaria, Württemberg and Baden, left the Holy Roman Empire and formed the Confederation of the Rhine under Napoleon's protection, promising him troops. Weeks later Francis II gave up the title of Holy Roman Emperor and dissolved the thousand-year-old Empire, ruling on as Emperor of Austria. Prussia, alarmed at French power in Germany, moved towards war.

  8. Battles of Jena and Auerstedt: Prussia is crushed

    Prussia joined the Fourth Coalition and declared war in October 1806, before Russian help could arrive. On 14 October Napoleon defeated one Prussian army at Jena while Marshal Davout, though outnumbered, beat the main Prussian army at Auerstedt nearby. The Prussian state collapsed within weeks: fortresses surrendered, and the French entered Berlin later that month. King Frederick William III fled to East Prussia.

  9. Berlin Decree launches the Continental System

    Unable to defeat Britain at sea, Napoleon tried to ruin its economy. His decree issued in Berlin on 21 November 1806 banned trade between Britain and France's allies and dependent states. Britain replied with its own blockade. Enforcing this 'Continental System' drew Napoleon into conflicts with Portugal, Spain and finally Russia, and widespread smuggling undermined it. Neutral shipping, including that of the United States, was caught between the rival British and French blockades.

  10. Battle of Friedland: Napoleon defeats the Russians

    After a winter campaign in Poland and East Prussia, including the bloody but indecisive battle of Eylau, Napoleon caught the Russian army under Bennigsen with a river at its back at Friedland, in East Prussia, on 14 June. The Russians were heavily defeated and Tsar Alexander I asked for an armistice, leaving Prussia without its last ally. Friedland ended the war of the Fourth Coalition on the continent.

  11. Treaties of Tilsit: Napoleon and Alexander I divide Europe

    Napoleon and Alexander I met on a raft on the Niemen River and agreed peace at Tilsit. Russia joined the Continental System against Britain. Prussia, in a separate treaty, lost about half its territory: its Polish lands became the Duchy of Warsaw and lands west of the Elbe went into the new Kingdom of Westphalia, ruled by Napoleon's brother Jérôme. Napoleon's power on the continent was at its height.

  12. Britain attacks Copenhagen and seizes the Danish fleet

    Fearing that Napoleon would take over neutral Denmark's navy, Britain demanded its surrender. When Denmark refused, a British force besieged and bombarded Copenhagen from August 1807, causing heavy civilian losses, and carried off the Danish fleet. Denmark-Norway responded by allying with France, and stayed on Napoleon's side until 1814. The attack, against a neutral state, was controversial even in Britain, but it denied Napoleon a fleet he could have used against British trade and the Royal Navy.

  13. French troops occupy Lisbon

    Portugal, Britain's old ally, refused to join the Continental System. A French army under Junot marched through Spain with Spanish agreement and occupied Lisbon in November 1807; the Portuguese royal family sailed for Brazil under British naval escort just before. French troops now stood in both Iberian kingdoms, a prelude to Napoleon's move against Spain itself. Brazil became the seat of the Portuguese monarchy for the rest of the war.

  14. Dos de Mayo: Madrid rises against the French

    Napoleon lured the Spanish king and his heir to Bayonne, forced them to give up the throne, and made his brother Joseph King of Spain. On 2 May the people of Madrid rose against French troops; the revolt was put down and many prisoners were shot the next day. Uprisings spread across Spain, local juntas declared war on France, and Spain changed sides to fight alongside Britain and Portugal.

  15. Battle of Bailén: a French army surrenders to Spain

    In Andalusia, a Spanish army under Castaños trapped a French corps under General Dupont at Bailén. After fighting from 16 to 19 July Dupont negotiated a surrender, and about 17,000 French troops were captured. It was the first open-field defeat of a Napoleonic army. Joseph fled Madrid, encouraging resistance across Europe, and Napoleon came to Spain himself and retook Madrid by November.

  16. Battle of Wagram: Napoleon defeats Austria again

    Encouraged by French difficulties in Spain, Austria formed the Fifth Coalition with Britain in April 1809. Napoleon took Vienna but was checked at Aspern-Essling in May. In July he crossed the Danube and, in a huge two-day battle at Wagram on 5–6 July, defeated Archduke Charles's army. Austria agreed an armistice days later. It was one of the largest battles yet fought in Europe, and casualties on both sides were very heavy.

  17. Treaty of Schönbrunn imposes a harsh peace on Austria

    Austria lost its Adriatic coast to France, Salzburg to Bavaria and Galician lands to the Duchy of Warsaw and Russia, and had to pay an indemnity and limit its army. In 1810 Napoleon married Emperor Francis's daughter Marie-Louise, binding Austria to France. Of the continental powers, only Russia remained independent of Napoleon, and its relations with him were souring. Britain fought on alone with Portugal and the Spanish resistance.

  18. The Grande Armée crosses the Niemen to invade Russia

    Russia had left the Continental System and the two emperors were rivals over Poland. On 24 June Napoleon crossed the Niemen with more than 450,000 men, including contingents from his allies; Prussia and Austria, now forced into alliance with France, also sent corps. The Russian armies retreated rather than give battle, drawing the invaders deep into the country along failing supply lines.

  19. Battle of Borodino: bloodiest day of the campaign

    About 110 km west of Moscow, the Russian army under Mikhail Kutuzov finally stood and fought at Borodino on 7 September. In a day of massed assaults on Russian earthworks, both sides lost tens of thousands of men. Napoleon held the field but failed to destroy the Russian army, which withdrew in order and abandoned Moscow. It is often described as the bloodiest single day of the Napoleonic Wars.

  20. Napoleon enters a deserted Moscow, which burns

    On 14 September the French entered Moscow, which most inhabitants had left. Fires, set on the orders of governor Rostopchin according to many accounts, soon destroyed much of the city. Napoleon waited about five weeks for Alexander to offer peace, but no offer came. On 19 October, with winter approaching and supplies short, he began to retreat. After a defeat at Maloyaroslavets, he was forced back along the ravaged route by which he had come.

  21. Crossing of the Berezina: the retreat from Moscow

    Snow and frost, hunger and Cossack and peasant attacks destroyed the retreating army. At the Berezina River, with Russian armies closing in, French engineers built bridges in icy water, and between 26 and 29 November the remnants, about 49,000 troops plus many stragglers, escaped across at great cost. Of the more than 450,000 men who had invaded, only around 120,000 survived the campaign.

  22. Battle of Vitoria: Wellington breaks French rule in Spain

    While Napoleon rebuilt his army in Germany, where Prussia had changed sides to join Russia, Wellington's British, Portuguese and Spanish army advanced across northern Spain. At Vitoria on 21 June it broke the French army of King Joseph and Marshal Jourdan, capturing its baggage and artillery. The French withdrew to the Pyrenees, and the defeat encouraged Austria to join the coalition that summer.

  23. Battle of Leipzig, the 'Battle of the Nations'

    Russian, Prussian, Austrian and Swedish armies converged on Napoleon at Leipzig in Saxony. Over four days some 560,000 soldiers fought, the largest battle of the Napoleonic Wars, with about 133,000 casualties. The Saxon and Württemberg troops changed sides during the battle. Napoleon was decisively defeated and retreated to France; the Confederation of the Rhine dissolved, and the allies invaded France in early 1814.

  24. Coalition armies enter Paris

    Napoleon fought a skilful defensive campaign in eastern France in early 1814 and won several battles, but he could not stop the much larger allied armies. While he manoeuvred against their supply lines, the coalition marched on Paris, which capitulated after fighting on 30 March; the allied sovereigns entered the city on 31 March. On 2 April the French Senate declared Napoleon deposed.

  25. Napoleon abdicates at Fontainebleau and is exiled to Elba

    At Fontainebleau, with his marshals unwilling to fight on, Napoleon first offered to abdicate in favour of his son; the allies refused, and on 6 April he gave up the thrones of France and Italy unconditionally. The Treaty of Fontainebleau, signed on 11 April, gave him the island of Elba as a principality for life. The Bourbon king Louis XVIII returned to France, and the powers met at the Congress of Vienna.

  26. Napoleon escapes Elba and lands in France: the Hundred Days

    Napoleon left Elba in February and landed in southern France on 1 March 1815 with a small force. Troops sent to stop him, including Marshal Ney, went over to him, and he reached Paris on 20 March as Louis XVIII fled. The powers at Vienna declared him an outlaw and Austria, Prussia, Russia and Britain each pledged 150,000 men to the Seventh Coalition.

  27. Battle of Waterloo: Napoleon's final defeat

    Napoleon struck into the Netherlands before the allies could unite, beating the Prussians at Ligny on 16 June. Two days later, near Waterloo south of Brussels, his army attacked Wellington's British, Dutch-Belgian and German force of about 68,000 men, which held its ridge all day until Blücher's Prussians arrived on the French flank in the evening. The French army broke, losing nearly 40,000 men; allied losses were about 22,000.

  28. Napoleon abdicates for the second time

    Back in Paris after Waterloo, Napoleon abdicated on 22 June. Coalition armies reached Paris in early July and Louis XVIII was restored on 8 July. Napoleon surrendered to the British and was exiled to the remote South Atlantic island of Saint Helena, where he died in 1821. The second Treaty of Paris, on 20 November 1815, formally ended the wars.

Related

Other wars of the time

Sources