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The 2nd of the 3 episodes on Copenhagen.

This covers Nelson's attack on Copenhagen and the Danish defense. The controversies about the battle are all explored in depth, the death of Tsar Paul, who was involved and who knew what when. The signaling fiasco between Admiral Parker and Nelson, and Nelson's decision to reach a cease fire rather than continue with his annihilation victory.

There is a good deal of perspective from the Danish side as well.

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First episode of a 3-episode arc on the British attacks on Copenhagen.

This covers Danish history and Copenhagen history through the long 18th century. Conflict with Sweden, intervention and peace making by Britain.
the long neutrality, Denmark as a Russian client state. "The League of Armed Neutrality will save us!"

The Palmy Days and how Denmark octupled its trade, rose to the 2nd largest merchant fleet in the world, and then sailed too close to the wind. The Danes benefit greatly from this situation the Royal Navy has established, driving the French, Dutch and Spanish off the high seas, but they refuse to play by the Royal Navy's rules. The whole episode is a colossal misjudgment by Czar Paul and Denmark. Czar Paul at least has the excuse of being insane.

This makes heavy use of Gareth Glover's The Two battles of Copenhagen.

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The defense of England is reviewed in terms of manpower, construction and engineering and advanced technology.

We start off with the empirical philosophy of Smith and Hume, look at the WWI level of mobilization Britain was able to achieve, a level of mobilization 3-4 times that of France. This was the real Levee En Masse.

We get some scale for Britain's financial intervention and subsidization of her allies.

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One of the most important things that ever happened was this thing that never happened. And that of course was Napoleon's invasion of Britain.

French preparations for the invasion ad numerous consequences, one of which was the training and creation of the Grand Armee. The weapon Napoleon used to dominate Europe from 1805-1807 was forged in the Camp of Boulogne.

This is that story.

It is also the story of Napoleon's invasion plans, the 1805 plan and the 1812 plan. And what did Napoleon really know about what was needed to invade England and were there not times when Napoleon had doubts, such as when he witnessed the Boulogne Fiasco?

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Britain begins the war and many of the French banks teeter on the edge of destruction as a consequence.

This episode covers the opening moves of the war, now the Napoleonic Wars, including the very controversial ones, the imprisonment of all Britons in France, even the tourists and the British seizure of the Spanish Treasure Fleet without declaring war.

Most of the episode takes a look at the situation from the perspective of Austria, Prussia, Russia and Spain as well as France and Britain.

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We take a look at how the Napoleonic Wars broke out.

Napoleon had a different understanding of the world situation than the Addington government and the British public. We also examine the failure of Russia to mediate between the two powers.

We go into both the understanding of the British for why restating the war was a good idea, and Napoleon's of keeping the peace. In the end Napoleon would haver had to concede a commercial treaty, but he was convinced he needed to protect French industry from British competition.

And so, 12 years of war ensue.

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Napoleon, from his bath, angrily threw a snuffbox at his brothers Joseph and Lucien. Worse, a lot of the nice warm bathwater splashed out, right onto Joseph's shoes.....
With the naval armistice of late 1801, Napoleon quickly put together a huge invasion force to retake Haiti.
American food and natural resources, rich exotic crops from Haiti and the Windward Islands, manufactures supplied by France. This was his dream of increasing the 180 million francs a year in revenue for the French government that had been achieved in the 1790s.

But it all came crashing down. The Louisiana Purchase was the way out.

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A peace that leads to War?

We look at the clash of realities from philosophical to practical questions of empire between France and Britain.

From the beginning, key British decision makers like George 3 and Pitt the Younger, saw the peace as an experiment. It wasn't likely to work, so much against it. However, the war had run on too long. The people were demanding peace, the mob both demanded peace and associated the decline in wheat prices with the naval armistice of the previous year.

But what kind of peace was it? What did the two sides give up, and what did they get in return?

These questions illustrate a major flaw in this peace and Napoleon's many peaces generally. Britain got so little from the peace that it was only lightly attached to it.

Napoleon was unwilling to allow trade between Britain and France. He feared to expose key constituents to British competition, which most expected to penetrate deeply into French markets for textiles, ores, metal and metalware. In short, without being able to name it, Napoleon feared the miracle.