| |
| 1807–10 |
| |
| Consolidation of the Continental System. Denmark was summoned to join system (Sept. 1807). The British bombarded Copenhagen and carried off the Danish fleet. Denmark allied itself with France. Portugal was occupied by France after refusing to join the system (Nov. 1807); its royal family fled to Brazil. | 1 |
| |
| 1807, Dec. 17 |
| |
| The Milan Decree reiterated the blockade. On paper, Napoleon had now closed the entire European coastline to British trade. The pope continued to refuse to join the system. | 2 |
| |
| 1809, Feb. 2 |
| |
| The French occupied Rome and incorporated the Papal States into France by declaration on May 17, 1809. Pope Pius VII excommunicated Napoleon, who had him arrested (July 6) and removed to Savona and then to Fontainebleau. | 3 |
| |
| 1810 |
| |
| Further consolidation led to France's closing of the North Sea to British trade. Louis, king of Holland, abdicated on July 1, 1810, and Holland was annexed to France (July 9). A military takeover in Sweden replaced King Gustavus IV with Charles XIII and restored the power of the aristocracy. The new king concluded the Treaty of Fredrikshamm (Sept. 17) with Russia, which received control of Finland as far as the Tornea River and the Aaland Islands. Russia mediated a treaty of Paris between France and Sweden, which included Sweden in the Continental System. A French general, Bernadotte, was named Swedish crown prince (later king). | 4 |
| Reforms in Prussia and Austria were spurred by the disasters of 1805–6. Both states sought to modernize and develop greater strength for a further contest with Napoleon. Prussia had already commuted the labor contracts of the peasantry into rent payments between 1799 and 1805. In 1807, the Prussian government, under Baron Karl von Stein, proclaimed that the peasantry would be freed on St. Martin's Day in 1810. City governments were reorganized, and the tax legislation changed to resemble the distribution of the population. Military officers were now to be chosen by education and experience rather than merely by social status, and the principle of universal service was introduced by military planners including Scharnhorst and Clausewitz. Guilds were abolished as complete freedom of trade was proclaimed. The University of Berlin was established (1810). Fichte's Addresses to the German Nation helped stimulate profound national feeling. Similar, but less extensive, reforms were introduced in Austria, where Count Johann von Stadion became the leading figure. Archduke Charles reorganized the Austrian army. | 5 |
| |
| 1809, April 6 |
| |
| Archduke Charles appealed to the whole German people to embark on a war of liberation and began the invasion of Bavaria. Only Tyrol responded and rose in revolt under Andreas Hofer. Napoleon, having hurried back from Spain, engaged the Austrians in Bavaria and drove the archduke across the Danube into Bohemia. | 6 |
| |
| May 13 |
| |
| The French took Vienna, but the Austrians defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Aspern and Essling (May 21–22). Napoleon recrossed the Rhine, joined forces with the Italian viceroy, Eugene, and, after crossing the Rhine again, defeated Charles at the Battle of Wagram (July 5–6). | 7 |
| |
| Oct. 14 |
| |
| The Austrians, completely exhausted, agreed to the Treaty of Schönbrunn (Treaty of Vienna). Austria lost 32,000 square miles of territory and 3,500,000 inhabitants to Russia, Bavaria, the duchy of Warsaw, and the new Illyrian provinces along the Adriatic coast. The Tyrolese continued the war. In Nov. 1809, Hofer was captured by the French and shot. Tyrol was annexed to the kingdom of Italy. Separate attempts at precipitating a war of liberation were made by Maj. Schill, a Prussian who fell at Stralsund (May 31), and the duke of Brunswick, whose volunteers were evacuated by the British navy after fighting their way across Germany to the North Sea. | 8 |
| |
| |
