The Age of George III

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The last years of the French Wars: 1812-15

Although Napoleon introduced the Continental System into Europe in 1808, it had disastrous results for the French and led to the rise of nationalism in continental Europe. Until 1812, however, Britain was unable to take advantage of Napoleon's setbacks. In 1812, the Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval, was assassinated in the lobby of the House of Commons by Bellingham; following this event, a Tory government was established under Lord Liverpool. He was the fifth man asked to become PM; he agreed from a sense of duty.

Liverpool appointed Viscount Castlereagh as his Foreign Secretary; it was Castlereagh who negotiated the Fourth Coalition which ultimately resulted in the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig (the Battle of the Nations) in 1814.

Liverpool's government was determined to bring an end to the French Wars and gave more commitment to providing the necessary supplies than previous governments had done. Liverpool's ministry also removed the Orders in Council that had been Britain's answer to Napoleon's Continental System. At the same time, Britain became embroiled in the Anglo-American War of 1812-14 which was terminated by the Treaty of Ghent without resolution.

Fortunately for Britain, Napoleon decided to embark on his ill-fated Moscow Campaign in 1812. Concurrently, the Duke of Wellington was making great advances in the Peninsular Campaign. By 1813, Napoleon's prestige was shattered because

• it had been shown that French armies were not invincible
• Napoleon's best troops (about a million of them) had been lost in Spain and the Moscow campaign
• the new conscripts were multi-national and did not necessarily want to fight for the French
• even the French were becoming disillusioned with the continuing wars and were beginning to think that Napoleon merely sought self-glorification
• European monarchs were able to lead nationalist revivals as liberators against French autocracy:
• Alexander I of Russia wanted revenge for the 1812 Moscow campaign
• Frederick William of Prussia was conducting a secret plan of national revival and reform under Stein (administrative reforms) and Scharnhorst (army reforms)
• Crown Prince Bernadotte of Sweden - who had been one of Napoleon's generals, made puppet ruler of Sweden as part of the Family Plan - was disillusioned with French exploitation of Sweden and joined the allies
• Francis II of Austria-Hungary had been humiliated by defeat and was determined to crush Napoleon, even though Francis' daughter, Marie-Louise, was Napoleon's wife

The finalconflict in this phase of the wars came 15-19 October 1813 when Napoleon lost the Battle of Leipzig - or the Battle of the Nations - so called because the French army fought the Allied armies. These came from Britain, Russia, Austria, Prussia and Sweden. Troops from French held territories also joined the Allied forces. The same nationalities fought in both armies. About 100,000 men were killed in the four days of fighting.

The victorious allies entered Paris on 31 March 1814 and the Treaty of Paris was signed between the allies and Napoleon.

• Napoleon was to abdicate as Emperor of France
• Napoleon was to receive the Principality of Elba and a pension of £180,000 per annum
• the Bourbons were to be restored as rulers of France, in the person of Louis XVIII, brother of Louis XVI. The revolution had gone full circle
• Bourbon autocracy was not to be restored. France was to be governed through the Charter as a constitutional monarchy on the British model: bicameral with a propertied electorate
• the returning émigrés were to be allowed to resume ownership of the properties that they had left

It was a moderate settlement but caused hatred and resentment of Britain in France because

• France had learned to be the proud heart of a European empire over the preceding fifteen years, under Napoleon. The allies entered Paris and dictated the peace terms: an insult to French nationalism (cf the Treaty of Versailles in 1919)
• the restoration of the Bourbons was unpopular: the second and subsequent stages of the Revolution had been all about removing the monarchy. Louis XVIII cut a poor figure: fat, gangrenous and restored by the allies. He did not even have to fight for his throne.
• the returning émigrés were to be given back their lands, depriving people who had bought and lived on those lands for over twenty years of their livelihoods. This was unpopular in France and it also posed a threat of social and economic disorder, and a return to the Ancien Régime

In November 1814 the allied diplomats met at the Congress of Vienna to

• re-draw the map of Europe
• re-define France's boundaries
• complete a full peace settlement

The army of occupation moved to Belgium. In March, Napoleon left Elba and embarked on a renewed campaign: the Hundred Days. This culminated in the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon's exile and death in St Helena, the Treaty of Paris (1814 and also 1815) and the Congress of Vienna. There was peace in Europe until the Crimean War of 1854-6 and then until 1914.

The Battle of Waterloo and the defeat of France was of great importance in determining the attitude of the British government towards reform. The French Revolution had been "defeated" by Britain and her allies, so Liverpool's government - and subsequent governments - felt morally justified in their anti-reform policies. They had the attitude that if reform had been needed in Britain, then the French would not have been defeated; since the French had been defeated, then clearly, there was no need for reform in Britain. The arguments for the maintenance of the status quo became sacrosanct.