Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Napoleon and the War of the Fourth Coalition

Napoleon declared himself Emperor Napoleon I. In 1805 Napoleon was able to crush the Third Coalition which was made up of Russia and Austria, this ended the official Holy Roman Empire. Proud of this accomplishment Napoleon had the Arc de Triomphe built in his honor which now stands for all the lives lost fighting for France. Friedrich Wilhelm III, the King of Prussia felt threatened by Napoleons' rising power and his recent take over of the Holy Roman Empire. 1806Prussia declares war on France, this was the start of the Fourth Coalition which was made up of Prussia, Russia and Great Britain.  In October of 1806, in Jena & Auerstadt, France trounced Prussia. The following year there was a stalemate in Eylau (15-20K deaths!) Napolean met the Russians in  Friedland in June 1807 and defeats the Fourth Coalition!

In July 1807, France signs the Treaties of Tilsit which consists of seperate treaties for Prussia and Russia.  After this, France was friendly with Russia which angered Prussia since it took land away from them and this land becomes the Kingdom of Westphalia where Napoleon puts his brother Jerome as King.  During all of this, Napoleon realized how much control he had over Europe and knew he only had Great Britain to defeat, he knew he could not win on land or by sea so he declared an Economic War on Great Britain and institutes a Continental System which in essence embargoed Great Britain.  Napoleon urged Russia to join this system as well and in return Russia had control of the Ottoman Empire.  This could be viewed as the height of Napoleons power in Europe.

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