Fourth Coalition, War of the
Years: 1806 - 1807
The Fourth Coalition against Napoleon's French Empire is defeated in a war spanning 1806–1807.
Coalition partners include Prussia, Russia, Saxony, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.Many members of the coalition had previously been fighting France as part of the Third Coalition, and there is no intervening period of peace.
In 1806, Prussia joins the coalition fearing the rise in French power after the defeat of Austria.
Prussia and Russia mobilize for a fresh campaign, and Prussian troops mass in Saxony.
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As a continuation of the wars sparked by the European monarchies against the French Republic, changing sets of European Coalitions declare wars on Napoleon's Empire.
His armies conquer most of continental Europe with swift victories such as the battles of Jena-Auerstadt or Austerlitz.
Members of the Bonaparte family are appointed as monarchs in some of the newly established kingdoms.
These victories lead to the worldwide expansion of French revolutionary ideals and reforms, such as the Metric system, the Napoleonic Code and the Declaration of the Rights of Man.
After the catastrophic Russian campaign, and the ensuing uprising of European monarchies against his rule, Napoleon is defeated and the Bourbon monarchy restored.
About a million Frenchmen die during the Napoleonic Wars.
The Congress of Vienna creates the Kingdom of Poland (Russian Poland), to which Alexander grants a constitution.
Thus, Alexander I becomes the constitutional monarch of Poland while remaining the autocratic tsar of Russia.
He is also the limited monarch of Finland, which had been annexed in 1809 and awarded autonomous status.
In 1813 Russia gains territory in the Baku area of the Caucasus at the expense of Persia.
The empire is by now firmly ensconced in Alaska also.
Fearing Napoleon's expansionist ambitions and the growth of French power, Alexander joins Britain and Austria against Napoleon.
Napoleon defeats the Russians and Austrians at Austerlitz in 1805 and trounces the Russians at Friedland in 1807.
Alexander is forced to sue for peace, and by the Treaty of Tilsit, signed in 1807, he becomes Napoleon's ally.
Russia loses little territory under the treaty, and Alexander makes use of his alliance with Napoleon for further expansion.
He wrests the Grand Duchy of Finland from Sweden in 1809 and acquires Bessarabia from Turkey in 1812.
Napoleon is concerned about Russia's intentions in the strategically vital Bosporus and Dardenelles straits.
At the same time, Alexander views the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, the French-controlled reconstituted Polish state, with suspicion.
The requirement of joining France's Continental Blockade against Britain is a serious disruption of Russian commerce, and in 1810 Alexander repudiates the obligation.
In June 1812, Napoleon invades Russia with six hundred thousand troops—a force twice as large as the Russian regular army.
Napoleon hopes to inflict a major defeat on the Russians and force Alexander to sue for peace.
As Napoleon pushes the Russian forces back, however, he becomes seriously overextended.
Obstinate Russian resistance combines with the Russian winter to deal Napoleon a disastrous defeat, from which fewer than thirty thousand of his troops return o their homeland.
As the French retreat, the Russians pursues them into Central and Western Europe and to the gates of Paris.
After the allies defeat Napoleon, Alexander becomes known as the savor of Europe, and he plays a prominent role in the redrawing of the map of Europe at the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
In the same year, under the influence of religious mysticism, Alexander initiates the creation of the Holy Alliance, a loose agreement pledging the rulers of the nations involved—including most of Europe — to act according to Christian principles.
More pragmatically, in 1814 Russia, Britain, Austria, and Prussia had formed the Quadruple Alliance.
The allies create an international system to maintain the territorial status quo and prevent the resurgence of an expansionist France.
The Quadruple Alliance, confirmed by a number of international conferences, ensures Russia's influence in Europe.
The temporary peace between Britain and Napoleonic France had crumbled into open hostilities, while Napoleon had been strengthening his influence on the Batavian Republic (which he will subsequently abolish later this year).
The British, who hope to keep Napoleon out of the Cape, and to control the Far East trade routes, had dispatched a fleet to the Cape in July 1805, to forestall French troopships that Napoleon had sent to reinforce the Cape garrison.
The colony is governed by Lieutenant General Jan Willem Janssens, who is also commander-in-chief of its military forces.
The forces are small and of poor quality, and include foreign units hired by the Batavian government.
They are backed up by local militia units.
The first British warship had reached the Cape on Christmas Eve 1805, and attacked two supply ships off the Cape Peninsula.
Janssens had placed his garrison on alert.
When the main fleet sailed into Table Bay on January 4, 1806, he mobilizes the garrison, declares martial law, and calls up the militia.
The terms of the capitulation had been reasonably favorable to the Batavian soldiers and citizens of the Cape.
Janssens and the Batavian officials and troops are sent back to the Netherlands in March.
The British forces will occupy the Cape until August 13, 1814, when the Netherlands cede the colony to Britain as a permanent possession.
It will remain a British colony until it is incorporated into the Union of South Africa on May 31, 1910.
French forces under General André Masséna invade the Kingdom of Naples in the spring of 1806, after the British and Russian forces supposedly defending the kingdom have evacuated Italy altogether: the British to Sicily and the Russians to Corfu.
The Neapolitan-Sicilian army is crushed at the Battle of Campo Tenese, forcing Ferdinand to flee to Sicily and concede the Neapolitan crown to the French.
Napoleon now installs his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the Neapolitan throne on March 30, 1806.
The Fourth Coalition (1806–1807) of Prussia, Russia, Saxony, Sweden and Britain forms against France within months of the collapse of the previous coalition.
Napoleon, following his triumph at the Battle of Austerlitz and the subsequent demise of the Third Coalition, had looked forward to achieving a general peace in Europe, especially with his two main remaining antagonists, Britain and Russia.
He has meanwhile sought to isolate Prussia from the influence of these two powers by offering a tentative alliance, while also seeking to curb Prussia's political and military influence among the German states.
Despite the death of William Pitt in January 1806, Britain and the new Whig administration have remained committed to checking the growing power of France.
Peace overtures between the two nations early in the new year prove ineffectual due to the still unresolved issues that had led to the breakdown of the Peace of Amiens.
One point of contention is the fate of Hanover, a German electorate in personal union with the British monarchy that has been occupied by France since 1803.
Dispute over this state will eventually become a casus belli for both Britain and Prussia against France.
This issue will also drag Sweden into the war, whose forces have been deployed there as part of the effort to liberate Hanover during the war of the previous coalition.
The path to war seems inevitable after French forces eject the Swedish troops in April 1806.
Rather, there is an escalation in the ongoing economic warfare between the two powers.
With Britain still retaining its dominance of the seas, Napoleon will look to break this dominance (after his defeat of Prussia) with his issuance of the Berlin Decree and the beginnings of his Continental System.
Britain will retaliate with its Orders in Council several months later.
In the meantime, Russia has spent most of 1806 still licking her wounds from the previous year's campaign.
Napoleon had hoped to establish peace with Russia and a tentative peace treaty is signed in July 1806, but this is vetoed by Tsar Alexander I and the two powers remain at war.
"If you would understand anything, observe its beginning and its development."
— Aristotle, Politics, Book I, Chapter 2