Britain Against Napoleon

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)