Napoleonic Wars

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Napoleonic Wars


Top: Battle of Austerlitz
Bottom: Battle of Waterloo
Date c.1803–1815
Location Europe, Atlantic Ocean, Río de la Plata, Indian Ocean, North America
Result Coalition victory, Congress of Vienna
Belligerents
Coalition forces:

Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
 Austria[a]
 Russia[b]
Flag of Prussia Prussia[a]
 Spain[c]
Flag of Portugal Portugal
Sicily[d]
Flag of Sardinia Sardinia
 Sweden[e]
Flag of Province of Hanover Hanover
Flag of the Netherlands United Kingdom of the Netherlands
Nassau
French Royalists(1815)
Brunswick

French Empire and allies:
Flag of France French Empire

Flag of the Netherlands Holland[f]
Flag of Napoleonic Italy Italy
Flag of Napoleonic Italy Etruria[g]
Flag of Two Sicilies Naples[h]
Duchy of Warsaw[i]
Confederation of the Rhine[j]:

Flag of Denmark Denmark-Norway[k] Ottoman flag Ottoman Empire
United States[m]

Commanders
Flag of the United Kingdom The Duke of Wellington

Flag of the United Kingdom Horatio Nelson 
Flag of Austria Francis I of Austria
Flag of Austria Archduke Charles
Flag of Austrian Empire Prince Schwarzenberg
Flag of Austrian Empire Archduke John
Flag of Russia Alexander I of Russia
Flag of Russia Mikhail Kutuzov
Flag of Russia Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly
Flag of Russia Count Bennigsen
Flag of Prussia Gebhard von Blücher
Flag of Prussia Duke of Brunswick 
Flag of Prussia Prince of Hohenlohe
Flag of Spain Francisco Castaños
Flag of Spain Miguel de Alava
Ferdinand IV of Sicily
Flag of Sweden Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden
Flag of Sweden Prince Charles John[l]
Flag of the Netherlands William, Prince of Orange
Flag of the Netherlands Prince Frederik
Louis XVIII

Flag of France Napoléon I

Flag of France Joseph Bonaparte
Flag of France Louis Alexandre Berthier
Flag of France Louis Nicolas Davout
Flag of France Jean Lannes
Flag of France André Masséna
Flag of France Michel Ney
Flag of France Jean-de-Dieu Soult
Flag of France and other Marshals Flag of France Admiral Villeneuve
Flag of Napoleonic Italy Prince Eugène
Flag of Two Sicilies Joachim Murat
Prince Poniatowski 
Flag of Bavaria Maximilian I
Flag of Saxony Frederick Augustus I
Flag of Westphalia Jérôme Bonaparte
Flag of Württemberg Frederick I
Flag of the Netherlands Louis Bonaparte
Ottoman flag Selim III
James Madison
Andrew Jackson

Casualties and losses
from 3,350,000 to 6,500,000, see Full list
  1. Both Austria and Prussia briefly became allies of France and contributed forces to the French invasion of Russia in 1812.
  2. Russia became an ally of France following the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807. The alliance broke down in 1810, which led to the French invasion in 1812. During that time Russia waged war against Sweden (1808-1809) and the Ottoman Empire (1806-1812), and nominally went to war against Britain (1807-1812).
  3. Spain, an ally of France until a stealthy French invasion in 1808, defected and fought against France in the Peninsular War.
  4. Sicily remained in personal union with Naples until the latter became a French client-republic following the Battle of Campo Tenese in 1806.
  5. Nominally, Sweden declared war against the United Kingdom after its defeat by Russia in the Finnish War (1808-1809).
  6. The French Empire annexed the Kingdom of Holland in 1810. Dutch troops fought against Napoleon during the Hundred Days in 1815.
  7. The French Empire annexed the Kingdom of Etruria in 1807.
  8. The Kingdom of Naples, briefly allied with Austria in 1814, allied with France again and fought against Austria during the Neapolitan War in 1815.
  9. Napoleon established the Duchy of Warsaw in 1807. Polish Legions had already served in the French army beforehand.
  10. Sixteen of France's allies among the German states (including Bavaria and Württemberg) established the Confederation of the Rhine in July 1806 following the Battle of Austerlitz (December 1805). Following the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt (October 1806), various other German states that had previously fought alongside the anti-French allies, including Saxony and Westphalia, also allied with France and joined the Confederation. Saxony changed sides once again in 1813 during the Battle of Leipzig, causing most other member-states to quickly follow suit and declare war on France.
  11. Denmark remained neutral until the Battle of Copenhagen (1807).
  12. Was a commander for the French Empire, as Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, 1804-1810.
  13. The United States was at war with Great Britain from 1812-1815, and the fighting ended according to the Treaty of Ghent.

The Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) involved Napoleon's French Empire and a shifting set of European allies and opposing coalitions. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionized European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to the application of modern mass conscription. French power rose quickly, conquering most of Europe, but collapsed rapidly after France's disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812. Napoleon's empire ultimately suffered complete military defeat, resulting in the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in France. The wars resulted in the dissolution of th