Britain's Rise to Global Superpower in the Age of Napoleon

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The art of power consists of getting what one wants. That is never more challenging than when a nation is at war. Britain fought a nearly non-stop war against first revolutionary then Napoleonic France from 1793 to 1815. During those twenty-two years, the British government formed, financed, and led seven coalitions against France. The French inflicted humiliating defeats on the first five coalitions. Eventually Britain and its allies prevailed, not once but twice by vanquishing Napoleon temporarily in 1814 and definitively in 1815.French revolutionaries had created and a new form of warfare, which Napoleon perfected. Never before had a government mobilized so much of a realm''s manpower, industry, finance, and patriotism, nor, under Napoleon, wielded it more effectively and ruthlessly to pulverize and conquer one''s enemies.Britain struggled up a blood-soaked learning curve to master this new form of warfare. With time the British made the most of their natural strategic and economic advantages. Britons were