Key Events- State of Britain Following Napoleonic War (1793-1815)

Britain was at war with France from 1793 until 1815 (with a brief pause in 1802), in a period of history known as the Napoleonic Wars- named after Napoleon, leader of France. Whilst it did end in a coalition victory, the overall impacts on Britain were huge. They can be divided into three sections- Political Impacts, Economic Impacts, and Social Impacts.  

Political Impacts

• Any war puts a huge amount of pressure on Government- uphold country's pride, their own pride, make sure the people are in a stable condition, etc
• First phase brought to an end by Treaty of Amiens in 1802 (after eight years, lead by William Pitt) 
• Second brought about by new PM, Henry Addington declaring war on Napoleon- after he breached peace term and began preparations for making an attack on Britain- 
• Many condemned Addington for hesitating about retaliation 
• Put into place the Levee en Masse Act in 1803- all those from 17-55 enlisted and trained for war- effected all classes
• Estimated 800'000 people ready for battle (thought to be largest faction in British history)
• Income tax re-introduced by Addington as a war time measure
• Addington's government widely denounced- Pitt re-elected in May 1804
• Pitt's government was not much better- started weakly 
• Pitt himself widely known as a bad war minister (Asa Briggs, historian- Pitt was "ineffective... and... lacked boldness of imagination to frame a comprehensive war strategy")
• Pitt died in 1806- Britain's allies fell to Napoleon 
• Lord Grenville took over- failed to establish an efficient strategy 
• Spencer Percival then took over- his government was weak but some credit it with conducting war positively
• No leaders managed to form a decent war strategy, all were regularly let down by allies
• Napoleons ostentatious attitudes and over-ambition lead to his own defeat, Britain merely took advantage of it

Economic Impacts 

• In 1801 National debt reached £46 million- Sinking Fund still in place 
• 1815- debt grew to £867 million 
• Pitt implemented the first income tax in 1793, used initially as a war time measure- taxes were raised in 1815 as debt got worse
• Britain was not self sufficient- as an island it depended on trade
• Napoleon prevented Britain from trading- could no longer get a provide or import enough goods to go around- increase in National Debt
• Britain responded with Orders in Council (1807)- stated countries involved in the blockade would suffer from their own one from Britain
• Both intended destruction of the other- both refused to back down 
• Industrialisation continued in spite of war- created some money
• War time industries flourished (textiles, steel etc)- Napoleon even lifted his blockade to buy supplies from Britain and export French wheat to help his own farmers (especially following poor harvests)
• Suffered significant economic and political crisis in 1810 and 1811- Orders in Council blamed 

Social Impacts

• Unemployment went down as enlistment was made compulsory for many and factory work for those remaining was in great demand (including children)- many would have otherwise been out of a job  
• Life was especially difficult for the working class- many struggled to afford the bare necessities as national debt increased. 
• Not being able to trade made food more expensive- Britain did not have the capacity to be fully self sufficient 
• Has a negative impact to those with fixed incomes 
• It largely thought that people did not suffer as harshly as they could have, and that the war placed Britain in a much better place in the end (because they had to come up with solutions to problems and overcome troubling times- which meant, coming out of it, they had fewer problems)
• Many people were unhappy with how the government were handling the war- angry and blamed the government for failure after failure
• Morale and patriotism did increase at Waterloo, following Nelson's success 
• Radicalism from the lower classes continued- e.g. Luddites 
• Working class suffered starvation and distress- they still had no political voice to resolve their problems 
• 1812- intense social unrest and national anger at the repressive, corrupt government which was not working efficiently to end the war  

Click here for page on the Social and Political Impacts of the Napoleonic War