Britain & the French Wars, 1793-1815 (Edexcel A Level History: Paper 3 Options): Revision Note

Facing the French threat on land: the role of Wellington

The land war before Wellington, 1793–1807

• Britain’s early land campaigns were mostly unsuccessful

  • In the Flanders campaign (1793–95), a British army under the Duke of York failed to take Dunkirk and was forced into a winter retreat, before being evacuated in 1795

  • An Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland, the Helder expedition (1799), also ended in withdrawal

• There were some successes

  • Sir Ralph Abercromby defeated the French army left in Egypt in 1801

• These failures showed the army needed reform

  • As commander-in-chief, the Duke of York improved training and officer appointments, and Sir John Moore trained new light infantry regiments at Shorncliffe from 1803

  • This helped make Wellington’s later army more effective

The Peninsular War

• The Peninsular War took place on the Iberian Peninsula, which makes up modern-day Spain and Portugal

  • Napoleon's forces occupied Portugal in late 1807 and Spain in 1808

  • The Portuguese royal family fled to Brazil

  • Napoleon installed his brother Joseph as King of Spain

• The Spanish and Portuguese rose in revolt against their new French rulers

  • Sir Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, was given command of a 15,000-strong army and sent to Portugal in 1808 to aid in the fight against the French

  • He defeated a French army at the Battle of Vimeiro but was then replaced as commander

• Sir John Moore became the new commander of the British forces in Portugal, and he took his troops across the border into Spain

  • However, Napoleon sent an enormous army of 200,000 men into Spain to crush the uprising and confront Moore's forces

  • Moore retreated and was killed in battle, but 26,000 British troops were able to escape safely

• Sir Arthur Wellesley returned to Portugal in April 1809 with a 20,000-strong army

  • In July 1809, he crossed into Spain and defeated a 50,000-strong French army at Talavera before retreating back to Portugal

  • Wellesley was then made Viscount Wellington

Torres Vedras

• In 1810, Napoleon's forces advanced into Portugal with an army of 65,000 men

  • Wellington fought a series of defensive battles whilst retreating towards Lisbon

  • Napoleon's forces pursued until they reached the Lines of Torres Vedras

    • These were a formidable series of defences that Wellington had ordered to be secretly constructed in 1809

    • In 1810, a French army of 65,000 men under Marshal Masséna advanced into Portugal

    • Unable to break through the Lines, Masséna's army spent the winter outside them, losing around 25,000 men to starvation and disease, and retreated into Spain in March 1811

• In 1812, Wellington's troops went on the attack, capturing Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz and winning the Battle of Salamanca

  • In August 1812, after victory at Salamanca (22 July), Wellington entered the Spanish capital Madrid in triumph

The invasion of France and Napoleon's abdication

• In June 1813, Wellington's forces defeated a 66,000-strong French army at Vitoria before winning a series of battles across the Pyrenees mountains in July

  • By November 1813, Wellington was fighting in France and advancing north

  • At the same time, Austrian, Prussian and Russian forces were advancing on France from the east

  • On 31 March 1814, they entered Paris, and in April Napoleon abdicated

    • He was exiled to the Mediterranean island of Elba

The role of Wellington

• Wellington was an inspirational and talented leader who never lost a battle

  • He was aided in this by having dedicated and highly motivated Spanish and Portuguese troops under his command

  • He was kept well supplied by the Royal Navy, which also helped transport his troops

Planning and strategy

• Wellington planned carefully and avoided battles he could not win

  • In 1809–10 he had the Lines of Torres Vedras built in secret to protect Lisbon

  • Before falling back behind them in 1810, he ordered a scorched-earth policy, so the French army found no food

• He used intelligence well, including captured French dispatches and information from Spanish guerrillas

Supply and logistics

• Wellington prioritised supply

  • The Royal Navy brought supplies to Lisbon and moved troops along the coast

  • He purchased food for his troops, while the French soldiers lived off the land

    • This helped keep Spanish and Portuguese civilians on Britain’s side

    • It also meant the French soldiers were often short of food

Discipline and training

• Wellington enforced strict discipline, including flogging, and punished looting

  • He retrained the Portuguese army, which became a reliable part of his force

Tactics

• At Waterloo he placed his infantry on the reverse slope of a ridge, out of sight of enemy artillery until the French attack came close

  • His infantry fought in a two-deep line, so every musket could fire at the narrow French attacking columns

  • He turned the farms of Hougoumont and La Haye Sainte into strongpoints in front of his line

  • About 2,600 men held Hougoumont all day against far larger French forces

  • La Haye Sainte held out until early evening, when its defenders ran out of ammunition

  • His infantry formed squares to resist the French cavalry charges led by Marshal Ney

Co-operation with Blücher

• Wellington chose to fight at Waterloo because Blücher promised to bring the Prussian army to support him

  • His army held on until the Prussians attacked the French flank in the afternoon, which decided the battle

Limits to Wellington’s role

• Wellington did not defeat the French alone

  • Spanish guerrillas and armies tied down large French forces across Spain

  • Napoleon withdrew troops from Spain for the invasion of Russia in 1812

  • Wellington failed to take Burgos in 1812 and had to retreat

  • At Waterloo, only about a third of his army was British, and victory depended on the Prussians

Waterloo

• In 1815, Napoleon escaped from exile and staged a dramatic return to power in France

  • Britain joined an alliance with Prussia, Russia and Austria and declared war on France

• Napoleon assembled an army of 120,000 men and immediately set out to crush the allied forces

  • He marched north into modern-day Belgium and defeated the Prussian army at Ligny

  • Believing the Prussians to have been completely crushed, Napoleon marched on towards Wellington at Waterloo

  • The Prussians, however, although defeated, had retreated and remained a formidable fighting force

• On 18 June 1815, Napoleon attacked Wellington's forces, which had been positioned on a low ridge near Waterloo

  • Wellington's troops withstood the attack for long enough for the Prussian army to arrive on the battlefield

  • The Prussian arrival led to Napoleon's defeat, although it was very close-run

  • Wellington's Allied Army suffered about 15,000 casualties, the Prussians 7,000 and the French about 25,000

Facing the French threat at sea: the role of Nelson

Early naval victories, 1793–97

• The Royal Navy won important victories before the Nile

  • At the Glorious First of June (1794), Admiral Howe captured six French ships, although the grain convoy the French fleet was protecting reached France

  • At Cape St Vincent (1797), Admiral Jervis defeated a larger Spanish fleet

    • Nelson left the line of battle without orders to block the Spanish escape, and captured two ships himself

  • At Camperdown (1797), Admiral Duncan destroyed the Dutch fleet

• The navy was not trouble-free

  • In 1797, sailors mutinied at Spithead and the Nore over pay and conditions

  • Nelson lost his right arm in a failed attack on Santa Cruz de Tenerife the same year

The role of Nelson

• Horatio Nelson was an inspirational leader and naval officer and was the key figure in Britain's struggle against France at sea

Leadership and tactics

• He briefed his captains fully before battle, so they could act on their own initiative

• He relied on close-range gunnery and fast, well-drilled crews

Limits to Nelson's role

• Middleton's reforms had improved the navy's administration before Nelson's major victories

• Copper-bottomed hulls and carronades gave British ships advantages that did not depend on Nelson

• French mistakes and poorly trained crews, and Villeneuve's lack of Napoleon's trust, also helped

• Collingwood led the second column at Trafalgar

• Breaking the enemy line was not new, because Rodney had done it before

The Battle of the Nile, 1798

• In 1798, Napoleon invaded Egypt with nearly 38,000 soldiers who were carried there aboard 13 battleships and 280 transport vessels

• Nelson was tasked with destroying this French fleet, and he discovered it anchored at the mouth of the River Nile on 1 August 1798

  • The French and the British fleets were similar in size and strength

  • But Nelson's ships launched a devastating attack that destroyed all but two of the French ships

• The victory at the Nile left Napoleon and his troops stranded in Egypt

  • It also gave the Royal Navy complete control of the Mediterranean

  • This ended the French threat to British interests in India

The Battle of Copenhagen, 1801

• In 1801, there were concerns in Britain over the threat posed by Denmark's fleet to Britain's access to the Baltic Sea

  • This led to the Royal Navy being ordered to launch an attack on the Danish capital, Copenhagen

• The commander of the Royal Navy's Baltic Fleet was Admiral Parker, and he gave the task of leading the attack on Copenhagen to Nelson

  • On 2 April 1801, Nelson sailed his ships through a narrow strip of water that was heavily defended by Danish warships and gun batteries placed on floating rafts and in forts on the shore

• Nelson's ships came under heavy fire, and Parker signalled him to discontinue the attack

  • Nelson ignored the signal from his superior officer

  • He went on to sink three Danish ships, capture 12 and force the Danish to agree to a truce

The Battle of Trafalgar, 1805

• From 1803 onwards, Napoleon began planning to invade Britain

  • To do this, his navy needed to gain control of the English Channel so that his thousands of troops could be safely transported across it

• In 1803, Nelson was given control of the Mediterranean Fleet, with his main task to keep the French fleet out of the Channel

  • After France allied with Spain in 1804, they had a combined fleet of 33 battleships

  • Nelson had 27 battleships

• Napoleon's plan was for his fleet to escape to the Caribbean, draw Nelson after it, then return to seize control of the Channel

• Although Nelson pursued the French fleet across the Atlantic, it was intercepted by another British fleet as it returned, removing the immediate threat of invasion

  • Instead, the French made for the Spanish port of Cadiz

• When it left Cadiz on 19 October 1805, Nelson was lying in wait and gave chase

  • His fleet caught up with the Franco-Spanish ships two days later, off the Cape of Trafalgar, on 21 October 1805

The Nelson Touch

• Rather than fight traditionally and sail in parallel lines to the French ships whilst firing broadsides, Nelson decided to try and force a decisive victory

  • His plan became known as the 'Nelson Touch'

  • It involved splitting his fleet into two divisions or columns and sailing directly towards the enemy lines at right angles

• Nelson's ship, HMS Victory, was at the head of one column, and HMS Royal Sovereign was at the head of the other

  • As guns on 19th-century battleships fired sideways out from the hulls, Nelson's fleet was unable to return the fierce fire that came from the French and Spanish ships

  • However, once they broke through the lines, they were able to fire broadsides from all of their cannons at once

  • Victory fired through the stern of the French flagship Bucentaure as she broke the line, raking the whole length of the ship

• The Nelson Touch allowed the British to use their superior gunnery and secure a massive victory

  • A total of 18 enemy ships were captured or sunk

  • No British ships were lost

• However, Nelson was shot by a French marksman early in the battle and died of his wounds that afternoon, as the battle ended

The consequences of victory at Trafalgar

• Victory at Trafalgar gave Britain almost complete dominance of the seas

  • British ships stopped and searched any ships they suspected of trading with France

  • Troops and supplies were transported to Spain and Portugal to help fight against the French

  • Britain seized overseas French and Dutch colonies that were left without protection

  • The Royal Navy attacked ports and towns on European coasts

  • During the war of 1812 with the USA (1812 to 1815) the Royal Navy also blockaded most American ports

The impact of the wars on the British economy, industry, commerce and agriculture

• Britain was greatly helped in fighting these wars by its very strong economy

• The wars stimulated some industries and damaged others

  • Britain's economy grew steadily, at around 1.5–2% a year, while overseas trade grew much faster

  • This meant it was able to both spend and borrow large sums of money

  • War demand for cannon, shot and muskets pushed up iron output

  • About a sixth of the male workforce served in the forces, and wages stagnated while food prices rose

Industry

• It was industrial growth that drove the British economy at this time

  • The production of cotton cloth tripled between 1793 and 1815

  • This was exported and sold for huge profits all over the world

• Pig iron production tripled between 1793 and 1815

  • This was key in the production of steam engines

  • Steam became an increasingly important and reliable source of power during this period

  • Iron was also key in the production of weapons such as cannons and muskets

• The canal network was built during this time

  • This greatly reduced both the time and cost of transporting heavy goods such as coal and iron

Agriculture

• Corn was vital for the production of bread, which was the staple food of most British people in the period

  • Corn production increased by over 20% between 1790 and 1810 through cultivating unused land and more efficient methods

• However, Britain had to import corn throughout the war and corn shortages drove prices up

  • This was welcomed by British farmers and landowners, who enjoyed increased profits

  • Some of these profits were invested into the farms and led to improvements

Commerce

• Alongside the Industrial Revolution, Britain developed a strong and sophisticated financial system

  • Often referred to as the City of London, this financial system played a key role in enabling the British government to access funds when they needed them

  • Financiers arranged large loans to both the British government and its allies such as Russia and Austria in the fight against France

• Although this greatly assisted Britain's Army and Navy, it added heavily to the National Debt

The length of the conflict

• Britain was at war with France almost continuously for 22 years (1793–1815), with only a short peace in 1802–03

  • A war this long put a heavy strain on Britain’s finances, trade and population

Wartime taxation

• To pay for the war, Pitt introduced Britain’s first income tax, which was announced in 1798 and came into force in 1799

  • Incomes over £200 a year were taxed at 10%, and lower incomes paid less

  • Even so, the government still had to borrow heavily, and the National Debt rose from £292 million in 1793 to £862 million by 1815

• Income tax was abolished in 1816, and the government relied on taxes on everyday goods instead

  • These hit poorer people hardest

The Continental System

• In 1806, Napoleon’s Berlin Decree banned countries under French control from trading with Britain

  • Britain responded with the Orders in Council (1807), which blockaded trade with France and its allies

• British exports fell sharply in 1808 and 1811, which caused unemployment and hardship in manufacturing areas

  • Distress among textile workers contributed to the Luddite machine-breaking of 1811–12

• However, the system was hard to enforce

  • Britain found new markets in South America and the empire, and smuggling was widespread

  • When Russia left the system in 1810, Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812

Agriculture and the Corn Laws

• High prices encouraged enclosure and the farming of poorer land

• When peace came, prices fell, and landowners in Parliament passed the Corn Law (1815)

  • It banned foreign wheat imports until the British price reached 80 shillings a quarter

  • This kept bread prices high for ordinary people

Post-war distress

• After 1815, around 300,000 soldiers and sailors were demobilised into a weak jobs market

  • Unemployment, high bread prices and taxes on everyday goods led to unrest, such as the Spa Fields riots (1816) and Peterloo (1819)

How successfully did Britain meet the French threat

• The length of the war came at a high cost:

  • A much larger National Debt

  • The Continental System’s disruption of trade

  • Post-war distress

• Industry and finance, however, emerged stronger

Judgement on the impact of the conflict

The argument that Britain met the threat successfully

• It is undeniable that Britain avoided invasion, won a series of spectacular victories against France at sea and defeated Napoleon at Waterloo

• The Battle of the Nile, the Battle of Copenhagen, and the crushing victory at Trafalgar severely disrupted Napoleon's plans and ended the threat of invasion

• Britain used its strong economy to finance the armies of other nations, such as Russia and Austria, who fought against Napoleon

• The British Army became increasingly effective under Wellington

  • It won a series of key victories in the Peninsular War and played a key role in the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo

The argument that Britain was less successful than it appears

• The coalitions of allies that it constructed and paid for repeatedly collapsed and were defeated by Napoleon on the battlefield

• Trafalgar may have removed the threat of invasion, but it did not defeat Napoleon

• Napoleon's Grande Armée was severely weakened by the disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812

• The victory at Waterloo depended on the arrival of the Prussian army and would have likely ended in British defeat if they had not arrived

Judgement

• Britain met the threat of Napoleon successfully, but was more successful at fighting defensively than offensively

  • For most of the period, it relied on other nations to fight Napoleon on land and greatly benefited from his defeat in Russia in 1812

  • But Britain did not merely survive, and its armed forces became more effective as the war went on