The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

I. Introduction

II. Legacies of the War of American Independence

A. William Pitt’s Policies

1. Financial Ordering

2. Military Implications

III. Outbreak of the French Revolution

A. Reasons for British Involvement

B. Early British Strategy

1. Continental Strategy

2. Naval and Colonial Strategy

IV. Threat of Invasion

A. Battle of Trafalgar

B. Defeat of the Third Coalition

V. Economic Warfare

A. Continental System (1806-1810)

B. Orders of Council (1807)

VI. Peninsular War

A. Expansion of the Army

B. Napoleon’s ‘bleeding ulcer’

VII. Conclusion: Victories

Key Terms

William Pitt (the Younger)

Henry Addington

Peace of Amiens

Cape of Good Hope

Battle of Austerlitz

Admiral Horatio Nelson

Battle of Trafalgar

Continental System
Peninsular War

Arthur Wellesley

Duke of Wellington

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