III.

The War of the Third Coalition, 1803-1805

Forced to fight alone—in 1803 neither Austria, nor Prussia nor Russia had the slightest desire to go to war with Napoleon—Britain therefore faced a major challenge. All the more was this the case as the reduced size of her regular army meant that her chief weapons in any war with France must normally be colonial operations and naval blockades, the trouble with these being that they were inclined to reduce her chances of obtaining the allies she needed in continental Europe. What saved Britain, of course, was the fact that she was an island. Other than harassing Britain's trade by occupying certain strategic ports in Germany and Italy and seizing the German state of Hanover, whose ruler was George III, the only thing that Napoleon could do was to mass a large army at Boulogne in the hope that he would be able to get it across the Channel. Taken seriously by the British though the threat was—enormous home defence forces were mobilized and elaborate defences constructed along the coast of Kent and Sussex—so long as a strong fleet was kept in the vicinity there was no chance of this whatsoever, and there therefore ensued a prolonged stalemate.

On the military front, the months that followed were chiefly marked by repeated efforts to divert the Channel fleet for long enough for Napoleon's army to get on board ship and reach the coast. More important by far, however, was the changing diplomatic situation. In brief, this was transformed in that Britain had by the middle of 1805 become the centre of a powerful “third coalition”. Much weight is often given here to the kidnapping and execution of the Duc d'Enghien, a distant connection of the French royal family, on suspicion of involvement in a royalist conspiracy, but only in Sweden did this affair have the effect of a casus belli, or pretext for starting a war. To understand the origins of the Third Coalition we must rather turn to the war against England. For all the eastern powers Napoleon's early moves on the Continent were at the very least alarming and in some cases actually injurious, although it was, in fact, initially only Russia that hit back. Alexander I, having for various reasons been particularly annoyed by Napoleon's highhandedness, augmented conscription, sent an amphibious force to the Mediterranean, and gave the British government to understand that he was prepared to negotiate a defensive alliance against Napoleon. Then, on May 18, 1804, there came the declaration that France was to become a hereditary empire. With French power as unrivalled as it was, this was not to be endured, for, by enabling Napoleon to lay claim to the mantle of Charlemagne, it opened the way for him formally to supplant the Holy Roman Emperor as overlord of Germany, and in consequence Russia began to work for a new coalition that would drive Napoleon back at least to the limits he had agreed upon at Lunéville and Amiens, obtaining for this purpose the promise of substantial British subsidies. Meanwhile, an ultimatum was sent to Napoleon demanding that he evacuate Hanover and Naples, the French ruler's predictable refusal to comply leading Russia to break off diplomatic relations in September 1804.

Even now, however, a general war seemed a long way off. Anglo-Russian relations were disrupted by serious quarrels over Malta, while Austria would agree to no more than a defensive alliance with Russia. As for Prussia, fears that Napoleon might launch a surprise attack upon her were countered by suspicions of Austria, Russia, and Sweden that led her actually to explore the possibility of an alliance with France. At the beginning of 1805, then, the Third Coalition was really no closer than before. Yet again, however, what changed the situation was the behaviour of Napoleon. Early in 1805 he announced that he was to take the title of King of Italy, the ci-devant Italian Republic now being restyled as a kingdom with his step-son, Eugène de Beauharnais, as its viceroy. Nor was Napoleon finished: formally placing the new crown on his own head in Milan on May 26, in early June he announced the annexation of Genoa, Parma, and Piacenza, and appropriated Lucca as a principality for his younger sister, Elise. As a result on April 11 Britain and Russia signed a treaty of alliance that committed the latter to war unless Napoleon agreed to conform to the terms of the treaties of Amiens and Lunéville. With Russia committed to war, Vienna had to follow suit. Either Austria renounced all thought of recovering her influence in Italy, deserted her only ally, and risked fighting alone later, or she took up arms. On August 9, 1805, then, Austria formally joined the Third Coalition, this soon being further swelled by Sweden, and, after some hesitation, Naples, which the French had hastily evacuated for fear that their forces would be overwhelmed.

With Austrian forces moving into Bavaria and northern Italy, a Russo-Swedish army concentrating at Stralsund, British troops preparing to invade Hanover, an Anglo-Russian force landing at Naples, and 95,000 more Russians marching for the Danube, the coalition desired by the British since 1803 was now a fait accompli. Only the Prussians remained aloof, kept neutral by their distrust of the other eastern powers, guarantees that their neutrality would be respected, and hopes of obtaining Hanover (which they had long coveted) and an alliance with France. In reality, however, Napoleon had little to fear. Having spent its time on the Channel coast engaging in intensive training, the army that he now set in motion was at the peak of its abilities, while its mobility and striking power had been greatly enhanced by the introduction of the so-called corps system (the organization of the French army into independent forces of all arms). At all events, the campaign was a triumph. In brief, the Austrians were crushed at Ulm, Vienna occupied, and the Russians defeated at Austerlitz. For good measure, Ferdinand and Maria Carolina of Naples were forced to flee to Sicily, and Joseph Bonaparte placed upon the throne. As it happened, these crushing blows, for which the British naval victory at Trafalgar was little or no compensation, did not bring peace, but for some months it appeared that they might do so. Austria was forced to surrender, being stripped in the process of much of its territory in Germany and Italy, not to mention an indemnity of 40,000,000 francs, while Russia and Britain, too, were inclined to seek a settlement and opened peace negotiations.