2H - Challenges to the Empire: the continental blockade
Learn how Napoleon's victories after 1806 generated new commitments, why blockade and resistance challenged imperial control, and how the Austrian and Russian campaigns exposed the limits of military dominance.
The Fourth Coalition and an incomplete victory
The War of the Fourth Coalition in 1806–07 enlarged Napoleon's power without eliminating resistance. Prussia joined the conflict as French dominance in Germany, including the Confederation of the Rhine, threatened its position. Britain continued fighting, while Russia supplied a major continental opponent. Napoleon's victory was therefore a struggle against several powers whose interests and military contributions differed.
On 14 October 1806 Napoleon defeated a Prussian force at Jena, while Davout defeated the main Prussian army at Auerstedt. Rapid pursuit and the surrender of fortresses magnified the military disaster. Napoleon occupied Berlin and imposed severe demands. The campaign demonstrated French speed and organisation, but also the contribution of commanders acting separately from the emperor.
Russia continued the war. The Battle of Eylau in February 1807 was costly and inconclusive, challenging the idea that Napoleon could always force an easy decision. Victory at Friedland in June created the opportunity for the treaties of Tilsit in July. Russia agreed to cooperate with France, while Prussia lost extensive territory and faced occupation and financial demands. The Duchy of Warsaw and Kingdom of Westphalia were created from parts of the defeated order.
Tilsit was a diplomatic success built on military pressure, but not a permanent reconciliation. Prussia had strong reasons to reform and seek recovery. Russia's cooperation depended on its own strategic and economic interests. Britain remained undefeated at sea and could support further resistance. Napoleon had acquired more resources and a larger area of influence, alongside resentful opponents and contingent allies.
The blockade as a demand for control
The Continental System attempted to defeat Britain through its trade rather than an invasion Napoleon could not safely undertake. The Berlin Decree of November 1806, issued after victory over Prussia, excluded British goods and commerce from territories he controlled. The Milan Decree of December 1807 extended the pressure on shipping that complied with British requirements. The measures interacted with British naval blockade and Orders in Council, placing neutral merchants between rival powers.
The system's success depended on widespread enforcement. Britain could seek other markets and use naval power to maintain access to trade; continental merchants could smuggle goods through long coastlines and land borders. Shortages and high prices encouraged evasion. Licences permitting selected transactions also weakened the claim that a complete, consistent exclusion was operating.
Enforcement consequently drove expansion. Portugal's connections with Britain encouraged the French invasion in 1807. Dissatisfaction with Dutch enforcement contributed to the annexation of Holland in 1810. Control of northern German ports and the Papal States similarly widened Napoleon's territorial demands. The Fondation Napoléon account of the economic war connects commercial pressure to this growing political reach.
The blockade created a contradiction. Napoleon needed subjects and allies to sacrifice trade for an imperial objective, but those sacrifices reduced their willingness to cooperate. French producers could benefit from protection while allied economies bore substantial costs. Russia's relaxation of restrictions and new tariff policies in 1810 helped worsen its relationship with France. Blockade was one major dispute among several, including influence in Poland and the balance of power in Europe.
The enforcement problem
The Continental System required control over countries whose economic interests made enforcement unpopular. Expanding to compel obedience increased the military commitments that economic warfare was intended to resolve.
The Peninsular War and popular resistance
French intervention in Iberia became a prolonged war because removing rulers did not secure obedience. Napoleon first invaded Portugal in 1807 to enforce exclusion of British trade. In 1808 he exploited disputes within the Spanish royal family, obtained the abdications of Charles IV and Ferdinand VII at Bayonne, and installed his brother Joseph. Many Spaniards rejected this externally imposed settlement. The uprising in Madrid on 2 May and French repression intensified hostility.
Resistance combined several forces. Local juntas claimed authority against Joseph, regular Spanish armies fought campaigns, and guerrillas disrupted roads, supplies and communications. Religious feeling, loyalty to Ferdinand and hostility to occupation could reinforce one another. It is misleading to describe the entire war as guerrilla conflict or to assume every participant fought for the same modern national ideal.
The French surrender at Bailén in July 1808 damaged their reputation for invincibility. Napoleon's own intervention later in 1808 recovered much ground and forced the British army under Sir John Moore to retreat to Corunna. Yet victory over a field army did not destroy local resistance. French forces had to occupy towns and protect communications across difficult terrain, reducing the troops available for concentration.
Britain's naval strength allowed it to supply armies in Portugal and support a sustained continental front. Wellington's cooperation with Portuguese forces was crucial. The fortified Lines of Torres Vedras helped halt Masséna's invasion of Portugal in 1810–11; French shortages exposed the difficulty of sustaining a large force where local resources could be denied. British and allied victories at Salamanca in 1812 and Vitoria in 1813 helped drive French armies back towards France. The National Army Museum's account of the Peninsular War places the regular allied armies alongside the wider resistance.
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