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116-748: The Napoleonic wars (1803–1815) had crippled Spain's navy, and the French occupation had destroyed the logistical base of its dockyards, with the result of the loss of the majority of Spain's navy. Nevertheless, during the Patria Vieja (Old Fatherland) period, the Spaniards and the Royalists of Chile and Peru were able from Callao , the royalist stronghold in Perú, to blockade any Chilean revolutionary ports, to land in Talcahuano ,

232-723: A military dictatorship . There are numerous opinions on the date to use as the formal beginning of the Napoleonic Wars; 18 May 1803 is often used, when Britain and France ended the only short period of peace between 1792 and 1814. The Napoleonic Wars began with the War of the Third Coalition , which was the first of the Coalition Wars against the First French Republic after Napoleon's accession as leader of France. Britain ended

348-553: A US-origin 18-gun brig, reached Valparaíso and was bought and renamed Araucano . As usual at the time all prizes and seized property was subject to rules defining shares and differences between property and ships captured afloat or in transit, or property on land. Note: $ 100,000 was equivalent to £20,000 The first task of the Águila was to bring home 72 patriots being held prisoner in the Juan Fernández Islands . This apparently simple task had an enormous importance: among

464-452: A collective war effort. Tactically, the French Army had redefined the role of artillery , while Napoleon emphasised mobility to offset numerical disadvantages, and aerial surveillance was used for the first time in warfare. The highly successful Spanish guerrillas demonstrated the capability of a people driven by fervent nationalism against an occupying force. Due to the longevity of

580-494: A dramatic miscalculation. There was one serious attempt to negotiate peace with France during the war, made by Charles James Fox in 1806. The British wanted to retain their overseas conquests and have Hanover restored to George III in exchange for accepting French conquests on the continent. The French were willing to cede Malta, Cape Colony, Tobago , and French Indian posts to Britain but wanted to obtain Sicily in exchange for

696-529: A fluctuating array of European coalitions . The wars originated in political forces arising from the French Revolution (1789–1799) and from the French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802) and produced a period of French domination over Continental Europe . The wars are categorised as seven conflicts, five named after the coalitions that fought Napoleon, plus two named for their respective theatres:

812-634: A global scale for over a decade. The British government paid out a large amount of money to other European states so that they could pay armies in the field against France. These payments are colloquially known as the Golden Cavalry of St George . The British Army provided long-term support to the Spanish rebellion in the Peninsular War of 1808–1814, assisted by Spanish guerrilla ('little war') tactics. Anglo-Portuguese forces under Arthur Wellesley supported

928-695: A hot-foot courier over the Andes with the information to warn the Government in Santiago de Chile . On 19 October 1818, under the rebellion of Spanish expeditionary forces, who goes to Buenos Aires and change the side, the first commander of the Chilean Squadron, Manuel Blanco Encalada , was ordered to set sail with San Martín , Lautaro , Chacabuco and Araucano in order to intercept the rest of Spanish convoy. Later Galvarino and Intrépido (an Argentine ship) joint

1044-538: A larger Austro–Russian army under the command of Mikhail Kutuzov , with Emperor Alexander I of Russia personally present. On 2 December, Napoleon crushed the Austro–Russian force in Moravia at Austerlitz (usually considered his greatest victory). He inflicted 25,000 casualties on a numerically superior enemy army while sustaining fewer than 7,000 in his own force. Chilean Brigantine %C3%81guila (1796) Águila

1160-815: A loyal port, and support the advance of the royalist troops of Chile against Santiago de Chile , the main city of the revolutionary forces and crush the rebellion in Chile. Argentine historian Bartolomé Mitre gives the following list of armed Spanish ships in the west coast of South America, but it was never done simultaneously: frigates Venganza (44 guns) and Esmeralda (44), merchant corvettes Milagro (18), San Juan Bautista (18) and Begoña (18), second class frigates Governadora (16), Comercio (12), Presidente (12), Castilla (12) and Bigarrera (12), corvettes Resolución (34), Sebastiana (34) and Veloz (22), brigantine Pezuela (18), plus other 3 unnamed ships with 37 guns. All things considered 17 ships with 331 guns along

1276-533: A new alliance began, the War of the Sixth Coalition . The coalition defeated Napoleon at Leipzig , precipitating his fall from power and eventual abdication on 6 April 1814. The victors exiled Napoleon to Elba and restored the Bourbon monarchy . Napoleon escaped from Elba in 1815, gathering enough support to overthrow the monarchy of Louis XVIII , triggering a seventh, and final, coalition against him . Napoleon

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1392-542: A new income tax. The cost of the war amounted to £831 million. In contrast, the French financial system was inadequate and Napoleon's forces had to rely in part on requisitions from conquered lands. From London in 1813 to 1815, Nathan Mayer Rothschild was crucial in almost single-handedly financing the British war effort, organising the shipment of bullion to the Duke of Wellington's armies across Europe, as well as arranging

1508-524: A pursuit of five months, he blockaded the Spanish ships in the port of Guayaquil . They surrendered to the authorities of the port. The O'Higgins and Valdivia anchored in Valparaiso on 2 June 1822. Cochrane left the service of the Chilean Navy on 29 November 1822. In 1825 a squadron commanded by Manuel Blanco Encalada landed 2,575 troops under the command of Ramón Freire on Chiloé and then blockaded

1624-565: A retention of Malta for at least ten years, the permanent acquisition of the island of Lampedusa from the Kingdom of Sicily, and the evacuation of Holland. They also offered to recognise French gains in Italy if they evacuated Switzerland and compensated the King of Sardinia for his territorial losses. France offered to place Malta in the hands of Russia to satisfy British concerns, pull out of Holland when Malta

1740-751: A standing army of 220,000 at the height of the Napoleonic Wars, of whom less than 50% were available for campaigning. The rest were necessary for garrisoning Ireland and the colonies and providing security for Britain. France's strength peaked at around 2,500,000 full-time and part-time soldiers including several hundred thousand National Guardsmen whom Napoleon could draft into the military if necessary. Both nations enlisted large numbers of sedentary militia who were unsuited for campaigning and were mostly employed to release regular forces for active duty. The Royal Navy disrupted France's extra-continental trade by seizing and threatening French shipping and colonial possessions , but could do nothing about France's trade with

1856-563: A week until, one by one, the Spanish transports Magdalena , Dolores , Carlota , Rosalia and Elena sailed innocently into their arms. Only four Spanish transports could disembark Captain Fausto del Hoyo and 500 men in Talcahuano and continue to Callao. The Reina Maria Isabel was renamed O'Higgins and added to the Chilean Squadron. With the loss of the Reina Maria Isabel , control of

1972-724: The Araucano , O'Higgins , Valdivia , Independencia and the schooner Mercedes in order to scour the Pacific for the last remnants of the Spanish Navy, the frigates Venganza and Prueba . After a month in Guayaquil to refit and to reprovision the ships, the squadron searched the West Coast of the Americas as far north as Loreto, Baja California Sur , where the Araucano was lost to mutineers. After

2088-649: The Austrian Empire out of the war , and formally dissolving the Holy Roman Empire. Within months, Prussia declared war, triggering a War of the Fourth Coalition . This war ended disastrously for Prussia, which had been defeated and occupied within 19 days of the beginning of the campaign. Napoleon subsequently defeated Russia at Friedland , creating powerful client states in Eastern Europe and ending

2204-531: The Battle of Chacabuco (1817), the beginning of the Patria Nueva (New Fatherland), Chilean patriots re-entered Santiago, but Talcahuano and Concepción (until 1819–20), Valdivia (until 1820) and Chiloé (until 1826) remained under Chilean royalist control. The Chilean patriots decided that they needed their own navy with trustworthy crews if they were to protect the long coasts of the state and to mobilize troops against

2320-467: The Battle of Chacabuco , Bernardo O'Higgins remarked that "this triumph and a hundred more will be insignificant if we do not control the sea". Consequently, the Chilean government, led by O'Higgins, on 20 November 1817 authorized privateers to engage as commerce raiders , interrupting the Spanish trade off the west coast of South America. Although Spanish commerce along the whole coast from Chile to Panama

2436-835: The Chilean Constitution of 1833 ), Joaquín Larraín and José Ignacio Cienfuegos , churchmen of the insurgents; Luis de la Cruz , Manuel Blanco Encalada and Pedro Victoriano , eminent military men. Later, the Aguila joined Lautaro to break the blockade of Valparaíso by the Spanish vessel Esmeralda . The end of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe encouraged the Fernando VII 's restored (in 1814) autocracy to make every effort to retain their American colonies. They planned in October 1817 to send 12,000 men to Buenos Aires and 2,000 to Chile to repress

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2552-615: The Consulate and transforming the republic into a de facto dictatorship. He further reorganised the French military forces, establishing a large reserve army positioned to support campaigns on the Rhine or in Italy. Russia had already been knocked out of the war , and, under Napoleon's leadership, the French decisively defeated the Austrians in June 1800 , crippling Austrian capabilities in Italy. Austria

2668-679: The Directory , suffered from heavy levels of corruption and internal strife . The new republic also lacked funds, no longer enjoying the services of Lazare Carnot , the minister of war who had guided France to its victories during the early stages of the Revolution . Bonaparte, commander of the Armée d'Italie in the latter stages of the First Coalition, had launched a campaign in Egypt , intending to disrupt

2784-616: The Erster Napoleonischer Krieg ("First Napoleonic War"). In Dutch historiography, it is common to refer to the 7 major wars between 1792 and 1815 as the Coalition Wars ( coalitieoorlogen ), referring to the first two as the French Revolution Wars ( Franse Revolutieoorlogen ). Napoleon was, and remains, famous for his battlefield victories, and historians have spent enormous attention in analysing them. In 2008, Donald Sutherland wrote: The ideal Napoleonic battle

2900-596: The Esmeralda which he regarded as the responsibility of the Chilean government. Cochrane was furious and, when the Peruvian Treasury and the contents of the mint were loaded onto the schooner Sacramento to avoid an advance by the Spanish army from the interior, Cochrane seized the ship on 14 September and took the money. The amount seized was, according to Peruvian sources, £80,000 or $ 400,000. Now in violent conflict with San Martin, on 6 October 1821 Cochrane sailed with

3016-629: The First Chilean Navy Squadron , under the command of Admiral Lord Thomas Alexander Cochrane to the first blockade of Callao, later Pueyrredón , Galvarino and Araucano under the command of Blanco Encalada. In June were all the Chilean ships back in Valparaíso. On 12 September 1819, Pueyrredón sailed Cochrane and Blanco Encalada again to the second blockade of Callao with a squadron composed of O'Higgins , San Martín , Lautaro , Independencia , Galvarino , and Araucano . Pueyrredón

3132-522: The Reglamento General de Marina , a legal framework for the new institution. José Antonio Álvarez Condarco and Manuel Hermanegildo Aguirre were sent to respectively to London and New York City to recruit men and to acquire warships. A few days after the Battle of Chacabuco, Chilean revolutionaries commissioned their first ship, the old US-smuggler ship Eagle , once captured by the Spaniards and now in

3248-603: The San Telmo was lost in a severe storm rounding Cape Horn with 644 men. Only the transport Mariana (on 9 October) and the frigate Prueba (on 2 October) reached Callao but, the frigate fled to Guayaquil under pursuit by the Chileans. After failing to capture the Spanish fortress of Real Felipe in Callao, in defiance of his orders and without even telling the Chilean authorities what he intended to do, Thomas Cochrane decided to assault

3364-575: The Seven Years' War , which historians term a " world war ". In response to the naval blockade of the French coasts enacted by the British government on 16 May 1806, Napoleon issued the Berlin Decree on November 21, 1806, which brought into effect the Continental System . This policy aimed to eliminate the threat from Britain by closing French-controlled territory to its trade. Britain maintained

3480-507: The Swiss Confederation . Austria joined the alliance after the annexation of Genoa and the proclamation of Napoleon as King of Italy on 17 March 1805. Sweden, which had already agreed to lease Swedish Pomerania as a military base for British troops against France, entered the coalition on 9 August. The Austrians began the war by invading Bavaria on 8 September 1805 with an army of about 70,000 under Karl Mack von Leiberich , and

3596-799: The Treaty of Amiens , declaring war on France in May 1803. Among the reasons were Napoleon's changes to the international system in Western Europe, especially in Switzerland , Germany, Italy , and the Netherlands . Historian Frederick Kagan argues that Britain was irritated in particular by Napoleon's assertion of control over Switzerland. Furthermore, Britons felt insulted when Napoleon stated that their country deserved no voice in European affairs, even though King George III

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3712-739: The War of the Third Coalition , War of the Fourth Coalition , War of the Fifth Coalition , War of the Sixth Coalition , War of the Seventh Coalition , the Peninsular War , and the French invasion of Russia . The first stage of the war broke out when Britain declared war on France on 18 May 1803, alongside the Third Coalition. In December 1805, Napoleon defeated the allied Russo-Austrian army at Austerlitz , thus forcing Austria to make peace. Concerned about increasing French power, Prussia led

3828-616: The British Regulations and the Chileans by the Spain Ordinances. The majority of commanders were of British origin so, in practice, British regulations on the ship under a British captain. The organization of the squadron was complete in January 1819, and the government was able to recruit 1,400 of the 1,610 officers and men it needed. Two-thirds of the seamen and almost all the officers were British or North-Americans. On 14 January 1819

3944-421: The British army, in accordance with the orders which had subsequently been countermanded. On 8 March they ordered military preparations to guard against possible French retaliation and justified them by falsely claiming that it was only in response to French preparations and that they were conducting serious negotiations with France. In a few days, it was known that Cape Colony had been surrendered in accordance with

4060-502: The British control of India . Pressed from all sides, the Republic suffered a string of successive defeats against revitalised enemies, who were supported by Britain's financial help. Bonaparte returned to France from Egypt on 23 August 1799, his campaign there having failed . He seized control of the French government on November 9, in a bloodless coup d'état , replacing the Directory with

4176-585: The British fleet away from the English Channel . A complex plan to distract the British by threatening their possessions in the West Indies failed when a Franco-Spanish fleet under Admiral Villeneuve turned back after an indecisive action off Cape Finisterre on 22 July 1805. The Royal Navy blockaded Villeneuve in Cádiz until he left for Naples on 19 October; the British squadron caught and overwhelmingly defeated

4292-504: The British from evacuating it after three months as stipulated in the treaty. The Helvetic Republic was set up by France when it invaded Switzerland in 1798 . France had withdrawn its troops, but violent strife broke out against the government , which many Swiss saw as overly centralised. Bonaparte reoccupied the country in October 1802 and imposed a compromise settlement . This caused widespread outrage in Britain, which protested that this

4408-654: The Cantabria Regiment, three cavalry squadrons, two artillery and combat engineer companies, for a total of 2,080 men under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Fausto del Hoyo, actually a member of the constitutionalist party in Spain. The naval force was under command of Captain Manuel del Castillo, but suffering from a paralytic stroke, he had to disembark in Tenerife and the command was transferred to Lieutenant Dionisio Capaz . During

4524-405: The Chilean hands: 50 tons gunpowder, 10,000 cannon shot, 170,000 musket balls, small arms, 128 pieces of artillery, and the Dolores . The Chilean Intrépido was lost. The emancipation of Perú was to have been a common enterprise by Chile and Argentina. Argentina, then a loose alliance of provinces, distracted by internal strife and another threat of invasion from Spain was unable to contribute for

4640-418: The Continental System, led to Napoleon invading Russia in June 1812. The invasion was an unmitigated disaster for Napoleon; scorched earth tactics, desertion, French strategic failures and the onset of the Russian winter compelled Napoleon to retreat with massive losses . Napoleon suffered further setbacks: French power in the Iberian Peninsula was broken at the Battle of Vitoria the following summer, and

4756-443: The Expedition. However, undefeated Spanish troops still occupied the highlands. Cochrane clashed with the cautious San Martín because of the unrealistic hope for a national rising in support of Peruvian independence and San Martín's commanders were disenchanted about his inaction. Although San Martín set about raising the bonuses he had promised the fleet after the fall of Lima, he refused to pay its routine expenses or prize money for

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4872-459: The Fourth Coalition. Concurrently, the refusal of Portugal to commit to the Continental System, and Spain 's failure to maintain it, led to the Peninsular War and the outbreak of the War of the Fifth Coalition . The French occupied Spain and formed a Spanish client kingdom , ending the alliance between the two. Heavy British involvement in the Iberian Peninsula soon followed, while a British effort to capture Antwerp failed. Napoleon oversaw

4988-519: The French Revolution had been received with great alarm by the rulers of Europe's continental powers, further exacerbated by the execution of Louis XVI , and the overthrow of the French monarchy . In 1793, Austria , the Kingdom of Sardinia , the Kingdom of Naples , Prussia , the Kingdom of Spain , and the Kingdom of Great Britain formed the First Coalition to curtail the growing power of revolutionary France. Measures such as mass conscription , military reforms, and total war allowed France to defeat

5104-439: The French army marched out from Boulogne in late July 1805 to confront them. At Ulm (25 September – 20 October) Napoleon surrounded Mack's army, forcing its surrender without significant losses. With the main Austrian army north of the Alps defeated (another army under Archduke Charles fought against André Masséna 's French army in Italy ), Napoleon occupied Vienna on 13 November. Far from his supply lines, he faced

5220-412: The French government believed that cutting Britain off from the Continent would end its economic influence over Europe and isolate it. A key element in British success was its ability to mobilise the nation's industrial and financial resources, and apply them to defeating France. Though the UK had a population of approximately 16 million against France's 30 million, the French numerical advantage

5336-481: The Italian peninsula . The war in Iberia greatly weakened Spanish power, and the Spanish Empire began to unravel; Spain would lose nearly all of its American possessions by 1833 . The Portuguese Empire also shrank, with Brazil declaring independence in 1822. The wars revolutionised European warfare; the application of mass conscription and total war led to campaigns of unprecedented scale, as whole nations committed all their economic and industrial resources to

5452-448: The Navy and, in later years, became the first President of Chile and Francisco de la Lastra later Intendant of Santiago and Privy Councillor. As such, he became temporary Supreme Director. On 14 July 1818 she had been renamed Pueyrredón to honour the Argentine Juan Martín de Pueyrredón , Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata who strongly supported the independence of Chile. She captured on 8 October 1818

5568-431: The Royal Navy, doubling the number of frigates , adding 50 per cent more large ships of the line , and increasing the number of sailors from 15,000 to 133,000 in eight years after the war began in 1793. France saw its navy shrink by more than half. The smuggling of finished products into the continent undermined French efforts to weaken the British economy by cutting off markets. Subsidies to Russia and Austria kept them in

5684-636: The Spanish corvette Perla (Ex- US-Pearl ). On 9 October 1818, Pueyrredón sailed from Valparaíso with others ships to deter a Spanish expedition from Cadiz made up of eleven transports and the-then Spanish frigate María Isabel . It carried 2000 soldiers as well as weapons, ammunition, and supplies to reinforce the Viceroyalty of Perú. The Chilean squadron under commander Blanco Encalada captured María Isabel on 28 October in Talcahuano . On 11 November 1818 they captured Dolores , Magdalena , Elena , Jerezana and Carlota at Santa Maria Island. On 16 January 1819, Pueyrredón sailed from Valparaíso with

5800-400: The Spanish, who campaigned successfully against the French armies, eventually driving them from Spain and allowing Britain to invade southern France. By 1815, the British Army played the central role in the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. Beyond minor naval actions against British imperial interests, the Napoleonic Wars were much less global in their scope than preceding conflicts such as

5916-439: The anti-French press. Malta was captured by Britain during the war and was subject to a complex arrangement in the 10th article of the Treaty of Amiens, where it was to be restored to the Knights of St. John with a Neapolitan garrison and placed under the guarantee of third powers. The weakening of the Knights of St. John by the confiscation of their assets in France and Spain along with delays in obtaining guarantees prevented

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6032-499: The area of La Frontera . Valdivia was isolated from the rest of Chile by native Mapuche territory, and the only entrance to Valdivia was via the mouth of Valdivia River ; Corral Bay . The bay was fortified with several forts built to prevent pirate raids or any attack from a foreign nation. The forts of Valdivia were captured on 3 and 4 February 1820, and their fall effectively ended the last vestiges of Spanish power in mainland Chile and put large amounts of military materiel in

6148-460: The circumstances he mistrusted Captain Goñi and his crew. Moreover, he learned that the real destination of the ship was Panama City . Consequently, he ordered the commandants of the ports of Guayaquil and Paita to replace Goñi with a trustworthy captain, to man the ship with at least 2/3 Spaniards (in Spanish europeos ) and to send the ship immediately to Callao on its return from Panama. The Spanish author Gaspar Pérez Turrado supposes that Goñi

6264-403: The city of Valdivia, the most fortified place in southern Chile at the time. Valdivia was a threat to Chilean independence as it was a stronghold and supply base for Spanish troops and was the first landing site for ships coming from Spain after the voyage round Cape Horn . Valdivia provided a safe landing site for sending reinforcements to the loyalist guerrilla fighting the Guerra a muerte in

6380-433: The coalition, despite the concurrent civil war in France . Napoleon , then a general of the French Revolutionary Army , forced the Austrians to sign the Treaty of Campo Formio , leaving only Great Britain opposed to the fledgling French Republic. A Second Coalition was formed in 1798 by Great Britain, Austria, Naples, the Ottoman Empire , the Papal States , Portugal , Russia , and Sweden . The French Republic, under

6496-412: The coalitions arrayed against him. The so-called Continental System formed a League of Armed Neutrality to disrupt the blockade and enforce free trade with France. The British responded by capturing the Danish fleet , breaking up the league, and later secured dominance over the seas , allowing it to freely continue its strategy. Napoleon won the War of the Third Coalition at Austerlitz , forcing

6612-448: The combined enemy fleet in the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October (the British commander, Lord Nelson , died in the battle). Napoleon never again had the opportunity to challenge the British at sea, nor to threaten an invasion. He again turned his attention to the enemies on the Continent. In April 1805, Britain and Russia signed a treaty with the aim of removing the French from the Batavian Republic (roughly present-day Netherlands) and

6728-421: The corvette Independencia (Captain Robert Forster), the brigs Galvarino (Captain John Tooker Spry), Araucano (Captain Thomas Carter), and Pueyrredón (Lieutenant William Prunier) and the schooner Moctezuma (Lieutenant George Young). Every expeditionary ship got a painted number so that it could be identified at a distance. There are discrepancies between authors about the names and number and some names of

6844-442: The counter-orders, but it was too late. Bonaparte berated the British ambassador in front of 200 spectators over the military preparations. The Addington ministry realised they would face an inquiry over their false reasons for the military preparations, and during April unsuccessfully attempted to secure the support of William Pitt to shield them from damage. In the same month, the ministry issued an ultimatum to France, demanding

6960-561: The creation of the Fourth Coalition, which resumed war in October 1806. Napoleon soon defeated the Prussians at Jena-Auerstedt and the Russians at Friedland , bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. The treaty had failed to end the tension, and war broke out again in 1809, with the Austrian-led Fifth Coalition. At first, the Austrians won a significant victory at Aspern-Essling but were quickly defeated at Wagram . Hoping to isolate and weaken Britain economically through his Continental System , Napoleon launched an invasion of Portugal ,

7076-426: The date according to the Republican Calendar then in use; 18 May 1803, when Britain and France ended the one short period of peace between 1792 and 1814; or 2 December 1804, when Bonaparte crowned himself Emperor . British historians occasionally refer to the nearly continuous period of warfare from 1792 to 1815 as the Great French War, or as the final phase of the Anglo-French Second Hundred Years' War , spanning

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7192-453: The east , while the Peninsular War spilled over into southwestern France . Coalition troops captured Paris at the end of March 1814, forced Napoleon to abdicate in April, exiled him to the island of Elba , and restored power to the Bourbons . Napoleon escaped in February 1815 and reassumed control of France for around one Hundred Days . The allies formed the Seventh Coalition, which defeated him at Waterloo in June 1815, and exiled him to

7308-512: The economic consequences of reduced trade, routinely violated the Continental System, prompting Napoleon to launch a massive invasion of Russia in 1812. The resulting campaign ended in disaster for France and the near-destruction of Napoleon's Grande Armée . Encouraged by the defeat, Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Sweden, and Russia formed the Sixth Coalition and began a new campaign against France, decisively defeating Napoleon at Leipzig in October 1813. The Allies then invaded France from

7424-404: The element of surprise had been lost, he was convinced that further attacks would be doomed to failure. A successful campaign was frustrated, in part due to the death of Colonel Charles and the failure of the Congreve rockets. But the Spanish reinforcements sent from Cádiz had shrunk to a fraction of its original size. The Alejandro I had to turn back to Spain because of its leaky condition and

7540-499: The enemy. Without a proper naval force, Chile was vulnerable to enemy landings. The major concern of the British and US governments was the colonial dispute and preservation of their trade. During the Napoleonic wars Britain became committed to defending the status quo in the peninsular Spain in order to ensure Spain's alliance against France. In 1817, Castlereagh secured an order forbidding British subjects from serving in Spanish American armies. Although, in practice, strict neutrality

7656-515: The expedition and ordered José de San Martín back to Argentina. San Martín choose to disobey (see Acta de Rancagua ) and O'Higgins decided that Chile would assume the costs of the Freedom Expedition of Perú. On 20 August 1820 the expedition sailed from Valparaíso for Paracas, near Pisco in Perú. The escort was provided by the squadron and comprised the flagship O'Higgins (under Captain Thomas Sackville Crosbie), frigate San Martín (Captain William Wilkinson), frigate Lautaro (Captain Martin Guise),

7772-480: The first Chilean squadron officially governed by the English language, to the point that an officer of the British Royal Navy said that "even the uniform is very similar to ours." Cochrane was the first vice admiral of Chile. He reorganized the Chilean navy, introducing British naval customs and English language officially. Once Cochrane took command of the squadron, there emerged a new difficulty: what regulation or standard to use on ships. The British were governed by

7888-425: The flotilla off Talcahuano. On 28 October they found the Reina María Isabel at anchor in Talcahuano . The crew of the Reina María Isabel ran their vessel aground to render her useless to the Chileans, but they were able to take the frigate in a brisk action and to repair the damage. With the Spanish prize the squadron sailed to Santa María Island , approximately 30 km south of Talcahuano, where they stayed for

8004-408: The fundamental reorganization of German and Italian territories into larger states, and the introduction of radically new methods of conducting warfare. After the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Congress of Vienna redrew Europe's borders and brought a relative peace to the continent, lasting until the Revolutions of 1848 and the Crimean War in 1853. Napoleon seized power in 1799, establishing

8120-410: The hand of the Chileans. Eagle was first renamed Águila and then later Pueyrredón . The regular Chilean navy began to grow steadily and soon was able to man the East Indiaman Windham , which arrived at Valparaíso in March 1818, and Cumberland , which arrived at Valparaíso in May 1818. The Chileans had bought both in England and renamed and Lautaro and San Martín . In July 1818 the Columbus ,

8236-509: The independent movements in South America. But the Manila Galleons and tax revenues from the Spanish Empire had been interrupted. Spain was all but bankrupt and its government was unstable. On 21 May 1818 eleven Spanish ships set sail from Cádiz escorted by the Spanish frigate Reina María Isabel bound for Talcahuano , a Chilean port still in possession of Spanish King. One of the ships remained in Tenerife . According to Antonio García Reyes in Memoria sobre la Primera Escuadra Nacional

8352-406: The international system unstable, and forcing Britain to the sidelines. Numerous scholars have argued that Napoleon's aggressive posture made him enemies and cost him potential allies. As late as 1808, the continental powers affirmed most of his gains and titles, but the continuing conflict with Britain led him to start the Peninsular War and the invasion of Russia , which many scholars see as

8468-522: The island of Saint Helena , where he died six years later in 1821. The wars had profound consequences on global history, including the spread of nationalism and liberalism , advancements in civil law , the rise of Britain as the world's foremost naval and economic power , the appearance of independence movements in Spanish America and the subsequent decline of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires ,

8584-526: The island. The Royalists on the island, the last bastion of Spain in South America, surrendered on 12 January 1826. Napoleonic wars Other coalition members: 100,000 regulars and militia at peak strength (1813) [REDACTED] French Empire : The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of conflicts fought between the First French Empire under Napoleon Bonaparte (1804–1815) and

8700-491: The line San Telmo (74 guns) and Alejandro I (74 guns, formerly a Russian ship), the frigate Prueba (34 guns) and the transport Mariana sailed from Cádiz bound to Callao. On 12 December 1819, the squadron set sails to renew the attack on the Viceroyalty of Perú. The orders were: The cost of the expedition for the Chilean state was no less than £80,000. As Cochrane found that the forts of Callao had been reinforced and

8816-408: The major continental economies, and posed little threat to French territory in Europe. France's population and agricultural capacity greatly outstripped Britain's. Britain had the greatest industrial capacity in Europe, and its mastery of the seas allowed it to build up considerable economic strength through trade. This ensured that France could never consolidate its control over Europe in peace. Many in

8932-633: The new crew sailed to then Spanish Valparaíso and refitted as a 50-gun ship and was put under the command of Spanish Captain José Anacleto Goñi and manned with 50 Chileans (in Spanish originarios ). The next time the ship was seen in Paita in November 1816 and few days later sailed, allegedly, to the port of destination Galápagos . The Spanish commandant of Callao , Antonio Vacaro , was informed from Paita about this new ship in his naval division, but due to

9048-501: The only remaining British ally in continental Europe. After occupying Lisbon in November 1807, and with the bulk of French troops present in Spain, Napoleon seized the opportunity to turn against his former ally, depose the reigning Spanish royal family , and declare his brother King of Spain in 1808 as José I . The Spanish and Portuguese thus revolted, with British support, and expelled the French from Iberia in 1814 after six years of fighting . Concurrently, Russia , unwilling to bear

9164-570: The orders to not restore Cape Colony. At the same time, Russia finally joined the guarantee regarding Malta. Concerned that there would be hostilities when Bonaparte found out that Cape Colony had been retained , the British began to procrastinate on the evacuation of Malta. In January 1803, a government paper in France published a report from a commercial agent which noted the ease with which Egypt could be conquered. The British seized on this to demand satisfaction and security before evacuating Malta, which

9280-400: The payment of British financial subsidies to their continental allies. Britain gathered allies to form the Third Coalition against The French Empire after Napoleon was self-proclaimed as emperor. In response, Napoleon seriously considered an invasion of Great Britain , massing 180,000 troops at Boulogne . Before he could invade, he needed to achieve naval superiority—or at least to pull

9396-609: The period 1689 to 1815. Historian Mike Rapport (2013) suggested using the term "French Wars" to unambiguously describe the entire period from 1792 to 1815. In France, the Napoleonic Wars are generally integrated with the French Revolutionary Wars: Les guerres de la Révolution et de l'Empire . German historiography may count the War of the Second Coalition (1798/9–1801/2), during which Napoleon had seized power, as

9512-456: The process by which even a smaller French army could defeat the enemy's forces one by one. After 1807, Napoleon's creation of a highly mobile, well-armed artillery force gave artillery usage an increased tactical importance. Napoleon, rather than relying on infantry to wear away the enemy's defences, could now use massed artillery as a spearhead to pound a break in the enemy's line. Once that was achieved he sent in infantry and cavalry. Britain

9628-525: The recently created Chilean Navy. Cochrane arrived in Valparaiso in December 1818, became a Chilean citizen of unrecognized state, was appointed vice admiral , and took command with pay and allowances of £1200 a year. O'Higgins founded the first Squadron of Chile on November 20, 1817. Indeed, one of the characteristics of the first squad was the heterogeneity of its crew, consisting mainly of two large groups: those who spoke English and those who spoke Spanish. It

9744-449: The refusal of their warships to come out of Callao and fight frustrated further success. On 1 June the squadron arrived at Valparaíso from the first expedition to Callao. On 11 May 1819 the King of Spain had dispatched a new expedition to the West Coast of America under the command of Rosendo Porlier , who was to replace the naval chief of Callao Antonio Vacaro . Two poorly provisioned ships of

9860-475: The rescued were Juan Enrique Rosales , Agustín de Eyzaguirre , Ignacio Carrera , Martín Calvo Encalada , Francisco Antonio Pérez , Francisco de la Lastra , José Santiago Portales , members of the first revolutionary governments; Manuel de Salas , (author of the Freedom of wombs law that banned Slavery in Chile in 1811), Juan Egaña , co-author of the first constitution of Chile, Mariano Egaña (main writer of

9976-562: The restoration of Hanover, a condition which the British refused. Unlike its many coalition partners, Britain remained at war during the period of the Napoleonic Wars. Protected by naval supremacy (in the words of Admiral Jervis to the House of Lords "I do not say, my Lords, that the French will not come. I say only they will not come by sea"), Britain did not have to spend the entire war defending itself and could thus focus on supporting its embattled allies, maintaining low-intensity land warfare on

10092-536: The right choice for Britain because, in the long run, Napoleon's intentions were hostile to the British national interest. Napoleon was not ready for war, and so this was the best time for Britain to stop them. Britain seized upon the Malta issue, refusing to follow the terms of the Treaty of Amiens and evacuate the island. The deeper British grievance was their perception that Napoleon was taking personal control of Europe, making

10208-490: The sea passed to the insurgents, making the invasion of Peru itself an imminent danger. Under command of Lord Cochrane, the majority of the officers and sailors in the new Chilean Navy were from Britain. In the middle of 1818, Bernardo O'Higgins, through his agent in London, had recruited Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald , a daring and successful captain of the Napoleonic Wars with well-known radical views to take command of

10324-642: The ship entered Valparaíso and the Chilean Authority assumed command over the ship. Some sources assert that the ship was captured by the Chileans. Anyway, she came under the command of Raymond Morris an Irish mercenary and former lieutenant in the British Royal Navy . The ship sailed on 17 March 1817 to rescue a group of 78 Chilean patriots being held prisoners in the Juan Fernández Islands and came back to Valparaíso fourteen days later. The group included Manuel Blanco Encalada , who subsequently led

10440-774: The situation in Iberia, defeating the Spanish , and expelling the British from the Peninsula. Austria, eager to recover territory lost during the War of the Third Coalition, invaded France's client states in Eastern Europe in April 1809. Napoleon defeated the Fifth Coalition at Wagram . Plans to invade British North America pushed the United States to declare war on Britain in the War of 1812 , but it did not become an ally of France. Grievances over control of Poland , and Russia's withdrawal from

10556-484: The squadron O'Higgins , Lautaro , Chacabuco , and San Martín set sails for the first blockade of Callao. The orders were specific and detailed: to blockade the port of Callao, to cut off the maritime forces of the enemy, and 17 other missions. A second Flotilla Galvarino (Cap. Spry), Aguila (Cap.Prunier) and the Araucano (Cap.Ramsay) followed in March under the command of Manuel Blanco Encalada. The Real Felipe Fortress

10672-453: The transporter were: Rosalía ( Escorpión ), Trinidad , Especulación , Dolores , Javiera ( Jerezana ), Magdalena , Carlota , San Fernando , Mocha ( Atocha ) and Elena (in brackets the names given by Diego Barros Arana in his Historia General de Chile ). This expedition was called "Expedición de la Mar del Sur" in Spain. The eleven transport carried food supplies, ammunition, guns and, more importantly, two infantry battalions of

10788-430: The transports. Notes On 8 September 1820 the liberating army disembarked 100 miles southeast of Lima : 4118 soldiers, 4000 of them were Chileans. On the night of 5 November Cochrane and 240 volunteers wearing white with blue armbands captured the Spanish frigate Esmeralda (1791) within the port of Callao. She was renamed Valdivia and commissioned to the Chilean Navy. Perú was not seen as an enemy territory but

10904-590: The uneasy truce created by the Treaty of Amiens when it had declared war on France in May 1803. The British were increasingly angered by Napoleon's reordering of the international system in Western Europe, especially in Switzerland, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Kagan argues that Britain was especially alarmed by Napoleon's assertion of control over Switzerland. The British felt insulted when Napoleon said it deserved no voice in European affairs (even though King George

11020-450: The voyage the crew of one transport was severely weakened by sickness and at 5°N latitude the soldiers disembarked in Trinidad where they mutinied, executed their officers, deserted the fleet and sailed to Buenos Aires where they surrendered to the revolutionary authorities on 16 August 1818 and handed over orders, signals and rendezvous points of the expedition. The Argentine Government sent

11136-512: The war, the Kingdom of Prussia rose to become a great power , while Great Britain, with its unequalled Royal Navy and growing Empire , became the world's dominant superpower , beginning the Pax Britannica . The Holy Roman Empire had been dissolved, and the philosophy of nationalism that emerged early in the war contributed greatly to the later unification of the German states , and those of

11252-519: The war. In 1819 came the frigate Prueba and 1824 came the 74 guns Asia and the Aquiles . Naval capacity played almost no role for the revolutionary forces in the time from the first declaration of independence 1810 to the Spanish "reconquest" of Chile 1814. Two ships bought by the patriots were defeated in a short fight off Valparaíso in May 1813. After the Argentinians and Chilean insurgency won

11368-505: The war. The British budget in 1814 reached £98 million, including £10 million for the Royal Navy, £40 million for the army, £10 million for the allies, and £38 million as interest on the national debt, which had soared to £679 million, more than double the GDP. This debt was supported by hundreds of thousands of investors and taxpayers, despite the higher taxes on land and

11484-420: The wars, the extent of Napoleon's conquests, and the popularity of the ideals of the French Revolution , the period had a deep impact on European social culture. Many subsequent revolutions, such as that of Russia , looked to the French as a source of inspiration, while its core founding tenets greatly expanded the arena of human rights and shaped modern political philosophies in use today. The outbreak of

11600-505: Was definitively defeated that December , by Moreau 's forces in Bavaria . The Austrian defeat was sealed by the Treaty of Lunéville early the following year, further compelling the British to sign the Treaty of Amiens with France, establishing a tenuous peace. No consensus exists as to when the French Revolutionary Wars ended and the Napoleonic Wars began. Possible dates include 9 November 1799, when Bonaparte seized power on 18 Brumaire ,

11716-473: Was a convenient stepping stone to Egypt. France disclaimed any desire to seize Egypt and asked what sort of satisfaction was required, but the British were unable to give a response. There was still no thought of going to war; Prime Minister Henry Addington publicly affirmed that Britain was in a state of peace. In early March 1803, the Addington ministry received word that Cape Colony had been reoccupied by

11832-622: Was a striking fort built to protect the city against pirate attacks. Only the Baluarte del Rey had 24 iron and 8 bronze guns. The expedition freed 29 Chilean soldiers imprisoned in the San Lorenzo Island , seized ships (best prizes were Moctezuma and Victoria ), property, money, gold and silver, but the massive batteries and Spanish passive system of defence (see map: a Baluarte de la Reina, b Baluarte del Rey, c Baluarte del Príncipe, d Baluarte de San José, e Baluarte de San Felipe) and

11948-488: Was a supporter of the Chilean Independence and that as he learned about the triumph of the Chileans he sailed to Valparaíso in order to hand the ship over to the revolutionaries. Meanwhile, after the defeat in the Battle of Chacabuco (12 February 1817) the Spaniards lost the control of Valparaíso albeit they were able to blockade the port temporarily with the ships Esmeralda and Pezuela . On 26 February 1817

12064-450: Was a violation of the Treaty of Lunéville. Although continental powers were unprepared to act, the British decided to send an agent to help the Swiss obtain supplies, and also ordered their military not to return Cape Colony to Holland as they had committed to do in the Treaty of Amiens. Swiss resistance collapsed before anything could be accomplished, and, after a month, Britain countermanded

12180-527: Was an elector of the Holy Roman Empire ) and sought to restrict the London newspapers that were vilifying him. Britain had a sense of loss of control, as well as loss of markets, and was worried by Napoleon's possible threat to its overseas colonies . McLynn argues that Britain went to war in 1803 out of a "mixture of economic motives and national neuroses—an irrational anxiety about Napoleon's motives and intentions." McLynn concludes that it proved to be

12296-440: Was an elector of the Holy Roman Empire . For its part, Russia decided that the intervention in Switzerland indicated that Napoleon was not looking toward a peaceful resolution of his differences with the other European powers. The British hastily enforced a naval blockade of France to starve it of resources. Napoleon responded with economic embargoes against Britain, and sought to eliminate Britain's Continental allies to break

12412-516: Was evacuated, and form a convention to give satisfaction to Britain on other issues. The British falsely denied that Russia had made an offer, and their ambassador left Paris. Desperate to avoid a war, Bonaparte sent a secret offer where he agreed to let Britain retain Malta if France could occupy the Otranto peninsula in Naples. All efforts were futile, and Britain declared war on 18 May 1803. Britain ended

12528-406: Was interrupted, the military and naval achievements of the privateers were insignificant. But they also violated the rights of neutral vessels. They drew to their crews navy deserters, so that O'Higgins was eventually forced to put a limit to their excesses. O'Higgins set out to create a navy out of nothing. José Ignacio Zenteno was nominated as Minister of Marine and promulgated in November 1817

12644-514: Was irritated by several French actions following the Treaty of Amiens . Bonaparte annexed Piedmont and Elba , made himself President of the Italian Republic , a state in northern Italy that France had set up, and failed to evacuate Holland , as it had agreed to do in the treaty. France then continued to interfere with British trade despite peace having been made and complained about Britain harbouring certain individuals and not cracking down on

12760-508: Was not always observed. Still, British and US public opinion welcomed the end of Spanish autocratic government in South America. In England, the end of the Napoleonic wars permitted the government to reduce the number of ships in the Royal Navy from 700 to 134 and the number of sailors from 140,000 to 23,000, thus lessening the presence of the Royal Navy off the coasts of South America. After

12876-468: Was occupied by Spanish military forces. The commander of the expeditionary troops José de San Martín understand that the task was to neutralise the Spanish army so that the population could liberate themselves and he followed a slow and relentless course. In July 1821 the liberation troops entered Lima, declared Perú's independence, and San Martín was acclaimed as Protector of the new state, and Cochrane considered him (San Martín) relieved as Commander of

12992-554: Was offset by British subsidies that paid for many of the Austrian and Russian soldiers, peaking at about 450,000 men in 1813. Under the Anglo–Russian agreement of 1803, Britain paid a subsidy of £1.5 million for every 100,000 Russian soldiers in the field. British national output continued to be strong, and the well-organised business sector channeled products into what the military needed. Britain used its economic power to expand

13108-434: Was stipulated that each ship should be governed by the language of its commander. As of November 1818, being commanded by Lord Thomas Cochrane, which meant that approximately 500 British, including sailors and officers, were integrated with him. Cochrane distrusted the Chilean officiality, so that upon his arrival he removed all the Chilean commanders and replaced them by British officers or Americans. In this way, in practice,

13224-618: Was the first naval vessel of the Chilean Navy . She was later renamed Pueyrredón . She was the old US-smuggler Eagle , a 220-ton brig with sixteen guns, launched in England in 1796. Coming from Buenos Aires without documents or license with a contraband of lingerie the ship was captured by the Spaniards in Coquimbo but this capture was not informed to the Spanish Navy in Callao . The ship with

13340-459: Was then decisively defeated at Waterloo , and he abdicated again on 22 June. On 15 July, he surrendered to the British at Rochefort , and was permanently exiled to remote Saint Helena . The Treaty of Paris , signed on 20 November 1815, formally ended the war. The Bourbon monarchy was once again restored, and the victors began the Congress of Vienna to restore peace to Europe. As a direct result of

13456-422: Was to manipulate the enemy into an unfavourable position through manoeuvre and deception, force him to commit his main forces and reserve to the main battle and then undertake an enveloping attack with uncommitted or reserve troops on the flank or rear. Such a surprise attack would either produce a devastating effect on morale or force him to weaken his main battle line. Either way, the enemy's own impulsiveness began

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