Chronology: Key Events in Napoleon and Europe, 1799–1807

1799: Napoleon seizes power in the Coup of Brumaire.

1800: Battles of Marengo and Hohenlinden force Austria to make peace at Luneville (1801) and the Second Coalition breaks up (1).

1802: Without a Continental ally, Britain makes peace with France at Amiens (2).

1804: Napoleon becomes Emperor.

1805: Britain organises the Third Coalition (Britain, Austria and Russia) against France.
October: Britain wins the naval victory at Trafalgar; Napoleon defeats the Austrians at Ulm.
December: Napoleon defeats the Austrian and Russian armies at Austerlitz; Austria leaves the Third Coalition.

1806: Prussia joins the Third Coalition (3).
October: Napoleon defeats the Prussian armies in the twin battle of Jena-Auerstadt (4).
December: Napoleon, having entered the Prussian capital Berlin, institutes the Continental Blockade against Britain in the Berlin Decrees (5).

1807: January: Napoleon and Russia fight the bloody but indecisive battle of Eylau (6).
June: Napoleon inflicts a decisive defeat on Russia at Friedland and subsequently Alexander I of Russia and the king of Prussia sign the Treaties of Tilsit (7).

(1) The military strategy that culminated in the Battle of Marengo involved an enveloping manoeuvre by which Napoleon led his army across the Alps into northern Italy behind the Austrian forces under Melas which were besieging Genoa. Napoleon’s advance towards Melas lacked proper reconnaissance and, with only a portion of his forces, Napoleon ran into the main Austrian force near Marengo. It was only the timely arrival of Desaix and the cavalry charge of Kellerman which saved Napoleon from defeat. The victory was decisive in that it secured Napoleon’s reputation and position in France and forced Austria to open peace negotiations. Austria, however, did not sign a peace treaty until after General Moreau, in command of the French forces in Germany, inflicted a second defeat at Hohenlinden in December 1800.

(2) It is probable that neither France nor Britain regarded Amiens as more than a truce. Both sides were guilty of breaching its terms and inevitably tensions rose. As France gathered an army to invade Britain, Britain, promising subsidies, negotiated a new coalition against France including Austria and Russia. It was to deal with this new continental threat that Napoleon abandoned any plan to invade Britain and marched his Grand Armée to the impressive victories at Ulm and Austerlitz. The manoeuvre towards the Danube is a good example of the speed of march of the French forces divided into separate corps and the strategy of envelopment. Austerlitz is remembered as perhaps Napoleon’s finest victory, although some historians like Corelli Barnett question how far the battle was planned.

(3) Prussia had been kept out of the Third Coalition partly by the timidity of the Prussian King, Frederick William III, and partly because Napoleon dangled the tempting bribe of Hanover (once British) to Prussia to stay out of the war. Once it became clear that Napoleon could not be trusted, Prussia joined the coalition, confident its army, which had been pre-eminent in the eighteenth century, could defeat France.

(4) To deal with Prussia, Napoleon advanced rapidly northwards, aiming to defeat Prussia before the Russians arrived. The rapid advance found the Prussian army split into two main forces. Napoleon defeated the first at Jena, sending Davout (and Bernadotte) in an enveloping manoeuvre to cut off the Prussian line of retreat. Davout’s force ran into the second main Prussian force at Auerstadt and defeated it with only 10,000 men. The victories were decisive and Prussia was rapidly overrun.

(5) The Continental Blockade was Napoleon’s attempt to defeat Britain using economic warfare by closing off the Continent to British trade. It did not work.

(6) Napoleon claimed Eylau as a French victory on the grounds that at the end of the day the Russians withdrew from the battlefield. This bloody battle was not planned by Napoleon and was fought in a blizzard. Casualties were high on both sides. Even if French claims to victory are accepted, it was not a decisive battle. That came in the summer at Friedland.

(7) After his victory at Friedland, peace terms were negotiated. Napoleon charmed the Russian Tsar during discussions and meetings at Tilsit and Russia (and Prussia) agreed to become French allies and to impose the Continental Blockade against Britain. Prussian interests were largely ignored, but the King of Prussia, without Russian support was forced to accept humiliating terms.