by Roger Knight
9 November: 18 Brumaire Coup: Bonaparte overthrows the Directory and establishes himself in power
1800
24 January: Convention of El Arish negotiated by Sidney Smith and the Turks with Kléber for the evacuation of the French Army; not ratified by the British government
April: Second Coalition collapses
21 April: Admiral Lord St Vincent takes command of the Channel Fleet
14 June: Bonaparte’s victory over the Austrians at Marengo
2 July: Ireland becomes part of the British state as the Act of Union passed and Irish parliament abolished
25 July: British arrest a Danish convoy off Gibraltar
26 August: Failed British amphibious attack on Ferrol
29 August: British Fleet off Copenhagen forces an agreement with Denmark over neutral trade
5 September: French garrison in Malta surrenders to the British under General Graham
30 September: Franco-American ‘quasi war’ ended
3 October: Cabinet decides to send 14,000 troops under Abercromby to Egypt
6 October: Aborted landing at Cádiz by the combined operation commanded by Sir Ralph Abercromby and Lord Keith
16 December: Formation of the Second Armed Neutrality hostile to Britain, signed by Sweden, Denmark, Russia, supported by Prussia
24 December: Attempted assassination of Bonaparte in the rue Saint-Nicaise
1801
1 January: Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland comes into force
15 January: Armistice between France and Austria
23 January: Ganteaume breaks British blockade, sails from Brest with seven sail of the line, heading to Egypt to relieve French troops; reaches Egyptian coast but turns for home when he sees British ships
9 February: Peace of Lunéville between France and Austria: Austria is driven out of the war
16 February: Resignation of Pitt’s government
8 March: British Army under General Abercromby lands in Aboukir Bay under fire; warships and transports commanded by Lord Keith
12 March: Sir Hyde Parker and Nelson sail from Yarmouth for the Baltic
19 March: Addington’s government decides to sue for peace
21 March: Battle of Alexandria: British victory over the French but General Abercromby killed
21 March: Treaty of Aránjuez between France and Spain: Spain cedes Louisiana to France
24 March: Assassination of Tsar Paul I
28 March: Treaty of Naples
30 March: Prussians occupy Hanover
2 April: Bombardment of Copenhagen by British Fleet under Admiral Sir Hyde Parker and Nelson
17 June: Britain signs convention with Russia
6 July: Battle of Algeciras: Rear-Admiral Saumarez unsuccessful against Linois, British ship captured
12 July: Battle of the Straits: Saumarez successful in night action
15 August: Nelson’s unsuccessful attack on Boulogne
2 September: Menou capitulates at Alexandria
1 October: Preliminaries of Peace of Amiens signed between Britain and France
1802
25 March: Peace of Amiens concluded: Britain returns former French and Dutch colonies except Trinidad and Ceylon; the French retain their conquests except Rome and Naples; Malta undecided
29 June: British general election
2 August: Bonaparte appointed first consul for life
11 September: Annexation of the Kingdom of Piedmont to the French Republic as six new departments, followed in 1805–8 by that of Republic of Genoa and Tuscany and Parma
29 December 1802: royal assent given to bill to set up a Commission of Naval Enquiry
1803
30 April: USA purchases Louisiana and New Orleans from France
18 May: Britain declares war on France: Napoleonic War begins with king’s order-in-council
May: French retake San Domingo; British troops under General Grinfield reconquer Tobago, St Lucia, Demerara, Essequibo and Berbice
22 May: French decree: all English males in France aged between eighteen and sixty to be prisoners of war
5 June: French occupy Hanover
23 July: Emmet’s insurrection in Ireland
19 October: Secret Franco-Spanish military alliance
2 December: Establishment of the ‘Armée d’Angleterre’ at Boulogne
1804
7 January: British capture the Diamond Rock, Martinique
14 February: Battle of Pulo Aor, South-east coast of Malaya: by forming a line of battle, Commodore Nathaniel Dance of the East India Company fools the French Admiral Linois into thinking that his unescorted East Indiamen are warships; Linois retreats
21 March: Execution of the duc d’Enghien
12 May: Addington government resigns; Pitt forms a government
18 May: Bonaparte declares himself emperor of the French
6 October: Spanish treasure ships attacked off Cádiz
2 December: Coronation of Napoleon at Notre-Dame
12 December: Spain declares war on Britain
1805
11 January: Britain declares war on Spain
11 January: Missiessy sails from Rochefort for the West Indies
14 January: Villeneuve sails from Toulon but is driven back by a storm
28 March: Missiessy leaves Martinique to return to France
30 March: Villeneuve sails again from Toulon
April: Treaty of St Petersburg between Britain and Russia
10 April: Villeneuve and Gravina sail from Cádiz for the West Indies
19 April: Troops under Sir James Craig sail in convoy for the Mediterranean
11 May: Nelson leaves the Spanish coast in pursuit of Villeneuve and Gravina
16 May: Villeneuve and Gravina reach Martinique
26 May: Napoleon crowned king of Italy in Milan
June: Commission of Naval Revision ordered
5 June: Commission of Military Enquiry receives royal assent
11 June: Villeneuve’s Franco-Spanish Fleet leaves the West Indies, Nelson sailing in pursuit two days later
17 July: Allemand sails from Rochefort
20 July: Nelson arrives back at Gibraltar after failing to catch the French Fleet
22 July: Calder’s Action indecisive off Cape Finisterre
3 August: Napoleon arrives at Boulogne to take command of the army of invasion
9 August: Third Coalition of Britain, Russia and Austria is completed
11 August: Villeneuve sails from Ferrol for the Mediterranean
26 August: The Grande Armée breaks camp at Boulogne, abandoning the attempted invasion of Britain, and sets out towards the Rhine
28 August: Sir Home Popham’s expedition to the Cape sails from Cork, with Sir David Baird in command of the troops
28 September: Nelson resumes command of the Mediterranean Fleet off Cádiz
8 October: Treaty of Naples
19 October: The French and Spanish Combined Fleet sails from Cádiz
20 October: Austrian Army surrenders at Ulm
21 October: Battle of Trafalgar and death of Nelson
30 October: French victory over the Austrians in Italy at Caldiero
4 November: Strachan’s Action: four French ships of the line from the Trafalgar Fleet captured
November: Napoleon enters Vienna
20 November: Anglo-Russian expedition reaches Naples
2 December: Napoleon defeats Russian–Austrian Army at Austerlitz, driving both out of the war; news reaches London on 29 December
12 December: General Lord Cathcart, commanding 26,000 troops on expedition to north Germany, lands at Cuxhaven; sails home, having achieved nothing, on 15 February 1806
13 December: French squadron under Leissegues and Willaumez sail from Brest
26 December: Treaty of Pressburg between France and Austria
1806
10 January: Troops under General Sir David Baird recapture Cape of Good Hope
19 January: Withdrawal of
British forces from Naples, reaching Messina in Sicily on 22 January
22 January: Death of William Pitt
6 February: Vice-Admiral Sir John Duckworth’s victory off San Domingo
10 February: Grenville and Fox form an administration, the ‘Ministry of All the Talents’
15 February: Craig’s troops disembark at Messina and occupy the forts; on the same day Joseph Bonaparte proclaimed king of Naples and Sicily
May: Order-in-council promulgates a blockade of French ports between Brest and the River Elbe
28 June: Beresford captures Buenos Aires
4 July: British victory at the Battle of Maida in southern Italy
July: Confederation of the Rhine constituted
18 August: Jérôme Bonaparte proclaimed king of Westphalia
13 September: Death of Charles James Fox
14 October: Battle of Jena and Battle of Auerstädt: Prussians lose 25,000 men and 200 guns
27 October: Napoleon enters Berlin
8 November: Capitulation of Magdeburg
21 November: Berlin Decrees announce the blockade of Britain
28 November: French Army enters Warsaw
1807
7 January: British orders-in-council issued
3 February: General Auchmuchty captures Montevideo
7 February: Battle of Eylau: drawn battle between Napoleon and the Russian Army
19 February: Duckworth passes the Dardanelles in an effort to pressurize the Turks so as to help the Russians
17 March: British forces land in Egypt under Major General Fraser Mackenzie but to no purpose
24 March: Fall of the Ministry of All the Talents, formation of the duke of Portland’s ministry
April: Convention of Bartenstein between Russia, Prussia and Sweden
14 June: Battle of Friedland: Napoleon overcomes a much larger Russian army, which leads the tsar to make peace with Napoleon
22 June: Leopard–Chesapeake incident
23 June: Convention of subsidy with Sweden signed at Stralsund (£1,100,000)
7 July: Franco-Russian agreement signed at Tilsit
10 July: General Whitelocke’s attack on Buenos Aires fails disastrously
4 September: British capture Heligoland
7 September: British attack on Copenhagen leads to the surrender of the Danish Fleet of seventeen ships of the line
October: Treaty of Fontainebleau between France and Spain
11 November: Order-in-council further strengthens British powers of seizure
23 November and 17 December: Milan Decrees
29 November: British squadron under Sir Sidney Smith escorts the Portuguese Fleet and royal family from Lisbon to Brazil, hours before a French army under General Junot occupies Lisbon
2 December: Russian declaration of war on Britain becomes known in London
22 December: US Embargo Act
26 December: British occupation of Madeira
1808
27 February: Invasion of Spain by French troops
23 March: French forces enter Madrid
17 April: Bayonne Decree orders the seizure of American ships in European ports
2 May: Spanish revolt in Madrid against French rule
May: Joseph Bonaparte becomes king of Spain
10 May: Sir John Moore’s army leaves Great Yarmouth for Sweden, arriving off Gothenburg on 17 May
21 May: British take Torshaven, Faroe Islands, and dismantle the fortifications
15 June: Siege of Saragossa begins
25 June: Shutter telegraph line from London to Great Yarmouth commissioned
15 July: Moore and his army arrive back in the Downs from Sweden
19 July: A Spanish army soundly beats a French army at Baylen, south of Madrid, forcing 18,000 troops to lay down their arms
1 August: General Arthur Wellesley commands a force of 9,000 British troops, which lands at Mondego Bay, Portugal
11 August: La Romana’s Spanish troops begin the voyage from Denmark back to Spain, transported by the British
21 August: Wellington defeats Junot at Vimeira
25 August: Anglo-Swedish Fleet fights the Russians off Hango Head
30 August: Convention of Cintra
9 October: La Romana’s 9,000 troops from Denmark land at Santander
4 December: Surrender of Madrid to Napoleon; Junta Suprema Central flees to Seville
1809
January: Treaty of the Dardanelles between Britain and Turkey
January: Committee appointed to investigate the duke of York’s involvement in the sale of army commissions
9 January: Anglo-Spanish treaty of alliance
16 January: Battle of Corunna and evacuation of Moore’s army
21 February: Capitulation of Saragossa
24 February: Surrender of Martinique
15–17 March: Duke of York’s case debated in the House of Commons
18 March: Duke of York resigns as commander-in-chief, replaced by General Sir David Dundas
11 April: Basque Roads action: French lose four ships of the line
20 April: Battle of Abensberg: Napoleon defeats the Austrian Army
22 April: Arthur Wellesley assumes command of British troops in Portugal
12 May: Wellesley drives Marshal Soult out of Oporto
13 May: Napoleon enters Vienna
21–22 May: Battle of Aspern–Essling: Austrians catch Napoleon’s army crossing the Danube and inflict rare defeat
5–6 July: Battle of Wagram: French defeat the Austrians, although not decisively; leads to an armistice
13 July: British capture of Senegal
28 July: Wellesley’s victory at Talavera, after which British forces retreat to Portugal
28 July: Walcheren expedition sails
21 September: Duel between George Canning and Lord Castlereagh
14 October: Peace of SchÖnbrunn between France and Austria: Austria driven out of the war
25 October: Collingwood defeats French convoy bound for Barcelona
30 October: Death of the duke of Portland: Spencer Perceval forms an administration
13 November: British East India forces destroy Ras al-Khaima
19 November: Spanish defeat at Ocana leads to French conquest of all Andalusia except Cádiz
23 December: Final British evacuation of Walcheren
1810
6 January: Treaty of Paris between France and Sweden
6 February: Capture of Guadeloupe
17 February: Annexation of Rome to French Empire, with provision that Napoleon’s heir shall bear title of king of Rome
19 February: Surrender of Amboina to the British in the East Indies
19 February: British treaty with Portugal (ensuing subsidies: 1810 – £1,237,518; 1811 – £1,832,168; 1812 – £2,167,832; 1813 – £1,644,063; 1814 – £1,500,00)
1 April: Marriage of Napoleon and Marie-Louise of Austria
9 July: The Netherlands is annexed to the French Empire
9 July: Capture of Réunion by British expedition
19 July: Norwegian ships take a British convoy off the Skaw
5 August: Trianon Tariff allows the import of colonial goods into France rather than total prohibition
9 August: Capture of Banda Neira, Moluccas, by British
23 August: British defeat at the Battle of Grand Port, Mauritius, in which three British frigates are sunk
27 September: Battle of Busaco: Marshal Masséna defeated
10 October: French Army stopped by the lines of Torres Vedras outside Lisbon
18 October: Fontainebleau Decree tightens up French blockade restrictions
17 November: Sweden declares war on Britain
3 December: Surrender of Mauritius
13 December: French annex north-west Germany (Hamburg, Bremen, Lübeck and Hanover); French Empire now consists of 130 departments
31 December: Alexander I opens Russian ports to neutral shipping
1811
5 February: Princ
e of Wales given virtually full powers as prince regent after George III’s illness
5 March: French retreat from Torres Vedras towards Spain
March: Beginning of the Luddite disturbances in the West Midlands
13 March: Battle of Lissa in the Adriatic: William Hoste’s squadron victorious
6 June: Reinstatement of the duke of York as commander-in-chief debated in parliament
4 August: British landing on Java
18 September: Surrender of Java
24 December: Loss of the St George, Defence and Hero, returning from the Baltic, in a storm on the Jutland coast
1812
January–September: Luddite disturbances spread to Yorkshire and Lancashire; frame-breaking made a capital offence
19 January: Wellington takes Ciudad Rodrigo
11 March: French shortages lead to food riots in Caen
7 April: Badajoz falls to Wellington after a long siege
April: Height of the Luddite disturbances
8 May: French impose price control on grain
11 May: Murder of Spencer Perceval; Lord Liverpool forms an administration
18 June: USA declares war on Britain
24 June: French Army invades Russia
22–23 July: Wellington wins the Battle of Salamanca
12 August: Wellington enters Madrid
16 August: Detroit surrenders to a British force
19 August: USS Constitution captures HMS Guerrière
7 September: Battle of Borodino: inconclusive, with huge casualties on both sides; Russian Army retreats
15 September: Napoleon enters Moscow
19 October: Napoleon begins the retreat from Moscow
18 December: Napoleon returns to Paris
1813
3 March: Treaty of subsidy with Sweden (£1,320,000)