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Abc-Clio Continental System Essay Continental System One of Europes most storied leaders, Napoleon I is remembered for his dramatic victories as the leader of France, conquering large swathes of Europe until his ultimate downfall following the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Despite his military prowess, Napoleon was never able to conquer the United Kingdom, his archrival to the north. As Europes most successful economic power and the nation with the most powerful navy in the world, Britain relied on its trade with foreign nations to fuel its own economy. In an effort to undermine his rival, Napoleon initiated the Continental System, a wide-ranging system of tariffs and embargoes against Britain. The Continental System ultimately had a far more negative impact on France, however, much to the chagrin of its illustrious emperor. Origins of the Continental System Hostilities between France and Britain had boiled for many centuries, but the French Revolution, with its antimonarchical republican values and extreme violence, initiated a new low in relations between those two nations. Fearful of republican ideology spreading to its shores, Britain was staunchly opposed to the French Revolution from its inception, and as the French Army began its conquest of Europe, the island nation sought allies in its struggle against France. By 1799, Napoleon had used the support of the military to overthrow the French Directory and effectively take full control of the nation; the French coup dà ©tat of 1799 established the French Consulate as the new government of France, with Napoleon assuming the ultimate executive position of first consul. Meanwhile, French armies successfully conquered the Papal States, Sardinia-Piedmont, and Switzerland, and even occupied Ottoman Egypt for three years. Such conservative forces on the European continent as Austria and Russia shared Britains fears and quaked at the thought of French invasion. They knew that the French would not only bring occupying armies to their lands, but also displace their monarchies and establish republics, and that was something the ruling elite could not accept. With a successful general like Napoleon now at the helm of the government, the issue appeared more urgent than ever before. To counteract the threat of French invasion, monarchies across Europe banded together in a series of coalitions. In 1798, Austria, Britain, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, and Russia formed the Second Coalition, but their infighting prevented any effective concerted movement to stop the French war machine. By 1805, France had firmly established itself as an imperial power, having gained control over large portions of the Continent. In response, Britain and Russia, later joined by Austria and Sweden, formed the Third Coalition. This was a crucial move for the British; Napoleon had begun to amass troops in Boulogne—on the northern coast of France—in 1803 in preparation for invading Britain. The powerful British Royal Navy was able to prevent French invasion through a blockade, however, and with the decisive British naval victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in October 1805, Napoleon realized he would not be able to launch a successful land inv asion of Britain. A New Strategy Defeated, but not demoralized, Napoleon plotted a new way to attack the British. If he could not take them on militarily, the French emperor (Napoleon had proclaimed himself emperor of the First French Empire in May 1804) determined to attack their economy. Calling the British a nation of shopkeepers in a derogatory tone, Napoleon nevertheless knew that the Industrial Revolution, along with the riches flooding into the country from the burgeoning British Empire, had made the United Kingdom the most powerful economic power in the world. Because the nation was an island, it needed trade of its finished goods to buy enough raw materials and supplies for its population to live at a level that made it possible for them to be consumers and continue their rapidly expanding industrial output. He also knew that industrialization had ravaged the rural population of Britain, as well as its artisan crafts and cottage industries. As a consequence, he believed that a massive embargo of British goods throughout the European continent would destroy the British economy and incite a popular uprising that would bring down the government, as deprivation among the poor had done in France in the 1780s. Meanwhile, despite the loss of the French Navy at Trafalgar, the French Army (renamed the Grande Armà ©e in 1805) continued its domination of Europe. By the fall of 1806, nearly all of the Continent, from the Atlantic Coast to the borders of Russia, was either under French control, occupation, or allied to France. The only exceptions, most notably Portugal and Sweden, were unable to effectively take on French military might and stood waiting to see when they too might fall under French rule. With his power seemingly uncontested in Europe, Napoleon determined that it was time to strike at the British with his new strategy of economic embargo. Economic Warfare Begins On November 21, 1806, Napoleon issued the Berlin Decree, which declared that France would henceforth blockade all British ships and refuse them entry into any port under French control. In December 1807, Napoleon issued the Milan Decree as well, which stated that any ships coming into French waters that had previously docked in British ports would be confiscated, along with their cargo and crews, by French officials. That new policy was meant to include such neutral nations as the United States, which at that time was Britains most important trading partner; U.S. cotton in particular was essential for fueling the textile industry, Britains most important manufacturing base at the time. To counteract Napoleons moves, the British passed their own laws, known as the Orders in Council of 1807, forbidding their trading partners from dealing with France. As a consequence, the United States was forced to cease all trade with both Britain and France, a move passed into law by the Embargo Act of 1807. The U.S. withdrawal from international trade caused significant problems in the British economy and forced British industrialists to look elsewhere for cotton and other raw materials that had previously come from America. The expansion of the second wave of British colonization in the 19th century traces its origins to that period, as does the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom. Effects of the Continental System Napoleons attempts at economic warfare were shocking at first, but they did not fully cripple the British economy. Russia was not under French control in 1806, so in the beginning phase of the blockade, goods from Britain were still able to enter Europe through Russian-controlled Baltic ports. By July 1807, however, France and Russia concluded peace with the Treaty of Tilsit, and Russia—along with Prussia—joined the Continental System as a term of the treaty. By 1808, the value of British exports had fallen from  £40.8 million to  £35 million, and there was a visible decline in the import of grain. Moreover, industrialists, unable to get raw materials from abroad, began to lay off their industrial workers. At the same time, there were many crop failures in Britain, leading to extreme hunger for many of the poor who, without jobs or sufficient hours and pay, were unable to afford higher prices for rarer staples. Food riots resulted, but Napoleons hopes for a popular uprising that would overthrow the government never materialized. Though deeply affected, Britains economy was able to survive the blockade in the end, largely thanks to trade with its colonies and a marked growth in smuggling. While the consequences of the Continental System were dire for the United Kingdom, historians are adamant that the system actually had a far more punishing impact on France. Europeans, both in France and in its conquered and allied territories, were bitter that the system was denying them access to many of the consumer goods they relied on that originated from Britain and its colonies, like sugar, coffee, inexpensive textiles, and tobacco. Meanwhile, smugglers thrived in the environment of the embargo, and such goods that did get into Europe from Britain were far more expensive than they had ever been. Moreover, European nations conquered by the French resented the partner laws of the Continental System, which privileged French goods by placing high tariffs on other European goods. Prices throughout Europe skyrocketed under the Continental System, giving Europeans living under French rule new reasons to resent their imperial overlords. That resentment ultimately shook the foundations of support for Napoleons empire. Resentment, War, and Defeat The economic hardships wrought by the embargo led European nations that had not fallen under French rule to resist the Continental System. Portugal entirely refused to take part, forcing Napoleon to invade the nation and attempt to capture its fleet and depose its monarchy. However, King John VI of Portugal fled his home for Brazil, Portugals largest colony, and his naval fleet went with him. His people responded by revolting against the French invasion, and the British sent an expeditionary force to support them. This was the preliminary phase of the Peninsular War, a brutal struggle for independence from the French for Portugal and Spain, most famous in the United States today for its astonishing and heartbreaking war images captured by the master painter Francisco de Goya. The war was extremely costly for the French and played a significant role in Napoleons eventual downfall. The Swedish also decided to reject Napoleons demand that they join the Continental System, an act that resulted in that nation being invaded by Russia in 1808. The war that ensued—known today as the Russo-Swedish War of 1808–1809—raged from February 1808 until September 1809 and resulted in Finland being separated from Sweden and established as a semiautonomous entity closely tied to the Russian government. Also, the Russians forced the Swedes to join the Continental System, and all Swedish ports were closed to British shipping. Like other parts of Europe living under the Continental System, the Swedes were furious at the results of the embargo, namely higher prices and scarcity of goods. Anti-French sentiment increased, and Sweden subsequently took part in the final campaigns to overthrow Napoleons empire in 1813–1815. As prices skyrocketed, Napoleons Continental System was increasingly resented in France as well. Moreover, the human and financial costs of the wars in which the system played a causative role—like the Peninsular War—wore on the French public. Napoleons popularity began to plummet, and by 1812, the economy of all of Europe was collapsing. In that year, Russia decided to stop participating in the Continental System, and Napoleon responded by launching a massive land invasion of the vast country. Ill prepared for the elusive tactics employed by the Russian Army and the harsh nature of the Russian winter, Napoleon suffered the worst military defeat of his career during the Russian invasion; the human carnage was devastating for both sides, and Napoleons Grande Armà ©e was practically decimated. The resentful nations of Europe, including former allies of France, seized the opportunity and rose up in unison against Napoleons weakened regime. Within three years, the emperors fate would be sealed with his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, the final proof that his Continental System was, in the end, a failure. Continental System. World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 3 Mar. 2011. Chicago World History: The Modern Era, s.v. Continental System, accessed March 3, 2011. http://worldhistory.abc-clio.com/. APA Continental System. (2011). In World History: The Modern Era. Retrieved March 3, 2011, from http://worldhistory.abc-clio.com/