Originally Posted by
Stanley Alston '61
William Jennings Bryan:
Thanks. As for why I think the crisis ended for Britain is this. Now follow me closely: In 1802, the British and French signed a peace treaty, but it would be better called a temporary cease fire, since both sides knew they would be back at each other throats, and they were in 1803, when Britain refused to leave the island of Malta. Britain at the time had no allies, and the French, under Napoleon, were very strong.
From the very moment of the renewal of hostilities, Napoleon has set up an Army of Invasion, prepared to invade England. The British, for their part, were prepared to defend themselves with a Home Guard, as well as having lookouts and signal beacons along the coast, watching for the first signs of the French Army crossing the channel. But, the only way the French would be able to do that would be if they could gain control of the channel and the only way that would happen would be the defeat of the Royal Navy. At the same time, the British, under William Pitt the younger, who had returned to power in May 1804, signed treaties with the Austrians and Russians, whose armies would then move to the west and, thereby would crush Napoleon from the rear. Napoleon, during the meantime, had himself declared Emperor of France.
In 1805, during the summer, the Austro-Russian armies moved westward, while the combined Frenco-Spanish navy first moved to the west, towards the Caribbean, and then back to the channel, so that it could slip past the ships of the Royal Navy that were under the command of Admiral Nelson, so that they could combine with the French Army that was set to invade England, and defend it during the crossing to England. The results was the destruction of the Franco-Spanish Navy by Nelson's ships at Trafalgar on October 21, while a French army of seven corps that were sent to defend the French 'rear' against the combined Austro-Russian army, forced an Austrian Army of 50,000 men to surrender at Ulm in Bavaria on October 15. The result was that England were now master of the sea for the rest of the so-call Napoleon Wars, and would then be the dominant Navy in the world until the dawn of the 20th Century, while France was becoming the dominant land power in Europe.
Napoleon's army, its naval support now gone, would no longer be able to threathen England/Britain with invasion, but it still had the Austro-Russian armies to worry about. So, the Invasion Army was moved to the east to combine with the units that had already been sent to defend the 'rear' and defeat them. In December, his army met the Austro-Russian army at Austerlitz and destroyed it. The Russian withdrew back to Poland, while the Austrians signed a peace treaty. The following year, the French then faced the Prussian Army, which it destroyed in the battles of Jena and Auerstadt, thus destroying the major proponent of the 'Frederick the Great' style of warfare, while making the Prussian court flee to the east and be defended by the Russians, who in 1807 themselves came to term with Napoleon, ending the Third Coalition. This is important, since days after the Battle of Jena, Napoleon issued the Belin Decrees, which were suppose to cripple Britain economically, by closing the ports of French-controlled Europe from British trade goods. And, he then tried to expand it to the rest of Europe that he didn't have control of militarily.
Of course, Britain retailaited with it orders in council in 1807 which said that neturals trading with the French had to stop by Britain first, which was in reality trying to make the neutrals take on British goods thereby trying to get past the Continental System of Napoleon. So, from 1806, Britain and France were in as much an Economic war as it was a shooting war. But, it was a war that the French lost since they were trying to deny Europe economic goods that the British could mainly supply, as well as having the system put upon the rest of Europe without it approval caused anomosity towards the French, which eventually led to the Spanish Ulser of the Peninsular War of 1808-1814, the disaster of the Russian Campaign of 1812, the War of (German) Liberation of 1813 including the Battle of the Nations of Leipzig, the invasion of France and occupation of Paris of 1813-1814 and the Hundred Days of 1815.
So, Britain, by 1806, which first had a government of all the Talents in control in 1806-07 (after William's death), and then the Duke of Portland ministry that began in 1807, was in an economic frame of mind, with the invasion crisis resolved since the French could no longer attack her since it no longer had a fleet, scooping up the colonies of its defeated allies and attacking French along the edges instead of headon. The French, at the same time, tried to strike at Britain economically, which eventually ended in failure, but the French only tried it since she was the main military power on the European continent and tried to 'bully' the other states to see things its way economically, since it had the military power to do so at the start.
As for a 2nd Turning starting in 1815, I do not see an Awakening happening at all since neither Britain or Europe had had enough time to economically recover from the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Simple as that. A high needed to have had a time to work its course, and neither Britain or Europe had had the time to recover from over 20 years of war.
Stanley
I'm sure they'll be glad to have you clear that up for them. I mean, Russians actually living in Russia seem to have this crazy idea that Russian identity is distinct from both European and Asian (which latter landmass, by the way, is the home of the bulk of the Russian land -- as well as the bulk of the Russian nationalities).
