Revisiting Napoleon’s Continental System: Local, Regional and European Experiences

305 Pages·2015·2.56 MB·English

by  Katherine B. Aaslestad, Johan Joor (eds.)

War, Culture and Society, 1750– 1850
Series Editors: Rafe Blaufarb (Tallahassee, USA), Alan Forrest (York, UK), and Karen
Hagemann (Chapel Hill, USA)
Editorial Board: Michael Broers (Oxford, UK), Christopher Bayly (Cambridge, UK),
Richard Bessel (York, UK), Sarah Chambers (Minneapolis, USA), Laurent Dubois
(Durham, USA), Etienne François (Berlin, Germany), Janet Hartley (London, UK),
Wayne Lee (Chapel Hill, USA), Jane Rendall (York, UK), Reinhard Stauber (Klagenfurt,
Austria)
Titles include:
Katherine B. Aaslestad and Johan Joor (editors)
REVISITING NAPOLEON’S CONTINENTAL SYSTEM
Local, Regional and European Experiences
Richard Bessel, Nicholas Guyatt and Jane Rendall (editors)
WAR, EMPIRE AND SLAVERY, 1770– 1830
Eveline G. Bouwers
PUBLIC PANTHEONS IN REVOLUTIONARY EUROPE
Comparing Cultures of Remembrance, c. 1790– 1840
Michael Broers, Agustin Guimera and Peter Hick (editors)
THE NAPOLEONIC EMPIRE AND THE NEW EUROPEAN POLITICAL CULTURE
Gavin Daly
THE BRITISH SOLDIER IN THE PENINSULAR WAR
Encounters with Spain and Portugal, 1808– 1814
Alan Forrest, Etienne François and Karen Hagemann (editors)
WAR MEMORIES
The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in Modern European Culture
Alan Forrest, Karen Hagemann and Jane Rendall (editors)
SOLDIERS, CITIZENS AND CIVILIANS
Experiences and Perceptions of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1 790– 1820
Alan Forrest and Peter H. Wilson (editors)
THE BEE AND THE EAGLE
Napoleonic France and the End of the Holy Roman Empire, 1806
Rasmus Glenthøj and Morten Nordhagen Ottosen
EXPERIENCES OF WAR AND NATIONALITY IN DENMARK AND NORWAY,
1807– 1815
Karen Hagemann, Gisela Mettele and Jane Rendall (editors)
GENDER, WAR AND POLITICS
Transatlantic Perspectives, 1755– 1830
Leighton James
WITNESSING THE REVOLUTIONARY AND NAPOLEONIC WARS IN GERMAN
CENTRAL EUROPE
Catriona Kennedy
NARRATIVES OF THE REVOLUTIONARY AND NAPOLEONIC WARS
Military and Civilian Experience in Britain and Ireland
Catriona Kennedy and Matthew McCormack (editors)
SOLDIERING IN BRITAIN AND IRELAND, 1750– 1850
Men of Arms
Ralph Kingston
BUREAUCRATS AND BOURGEOIS SOCIETY
Office Politics and Individual Credit, France 1789– 1848
Mark Lawrence
SPAIN’S FIRST CARLIST WAR, 1833– 40
Kevin Linch
BRITAIN AND WELLINGTON’S ARMY
Recruitment, Society and Tradition, 1807– 1815
Pierre Serna, Antonino De Francesco and Judith Miller
REPUBLICS AT WAR, 1776– 1840
Revolutions, Conflicts and Geopolitics in Europe and the Atlantic World
Marie- Cécile Thoral
FROM VALMY TO WATERLOO
France at War, 1792– 1815
Mark Wishon
GERMAN FORCES AND THE BRITISH ARMY
Interactions and Perceptions, 1742– 1815
Christine Wright
WELLINGTON’S MEN IN AUSTRALIA
Peninsular War Veterans and the Making of Empire c.1820 – 40
War, Culture and Society, 1750 – 1850
Series Standing Order ISBN 978–0–230–54532–8 (hardback)
978–0–230–54533–5 (paperback)
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Revisiting Napoleon’s
Continental System
Local, Regional and European Experiences
Edited by
Katherine B. Aaslestad
Professor of History, West Virginia University, USA
and
Johan Joor
Honorary Fellow, International Institute of Social History, The Netherlands
Editorial matter and selection © Katherine B. Aaslestad and Johan Joor 2015
All chapters © respective authors 2015
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-34556-1
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication
may be made without written permission.
No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted
save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence
permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency,
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Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may
be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2015 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
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registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
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ISBN 978-1-349-46657-3 ISBN 978-1-137-34557-8 (eBook)
DOI. 10.1057/9781137345578
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Revisiting Napoleon’s continental system : local, regional and European experiences / [edited
by] Katherine B. Aaslestad, Johan Joor.
pages cm. — (War, culture and society, 1750-1850)
Summary: “Napoleonic warfare spread to the high seas, harbors and marketplaces across Europe
and the Atlantic through the Continental System. This volume addresses the illicit commerce,
new merchant networks, ‘daily life’, and tensions with neutral states generated by Anglo-French
economic warfare. It also reveals the contradictions inherent in the Napoleonic Empire - at once
rational and progressive, but also coercive and exploitative. Regional and urban case studies offer
a more complete understanding of the significance of economic warfare during the Napoleonic
era, and explore the experiences and consequences of the conflict through several key themes: a
re-evaluation of the historiography of the Continental System, the uneven power triangle of the
French, British and neutral powers, and the strategies of merchants and smugglers to adapt to or
circumvent the system. Transnational case studies underscore the vulnerability and ingenuity of
Europeans as they faced transformative social and economic challenges.”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-1-349-46657-3
1. Continental System (Economic blockade) 2. Napoleonic Wars, 1800–1815—Economic
aspects. 3. France—History—Consulate and First Empire, 1799–1815. 4. Europe—
Commerce—History. 5. Europe—Economic conditions—1789–1900. 6. Europe—Politics
and government—1789–1815. I. Aaslestad, Katherine. II. Joor, Johan.
HF1543.R49 2014
337.44—dc23
2014025898
Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India.
Contents
List of Illustrations, Maps and Tables vii
Series Preface ix
Acknowledgements x
Notes on Contributors xii
General Maps xvi
Introduction
Revisiting Napoleon’s Continental System:
Consequences of Economic Warfare 1
Katherine B. Aaslestad
Part I Looking Forward and Backward:
The Historiography and Origins of the Continental System
1 The Continental System Revisited 25
Geoffrey Ellis
2 French Representations of the Continental Blockade:
Three Kinds of Narratives for and against 40
Annie Jourdan
3 Russia and the Continental System:
Trends in Russian Historiography 56
Alexandre Tchoudinov
4 Speculations and Embargoes on the Grain Trade at
the Time of the Revolutionary Wars (1 792– 1795) 69
Pierrick Pourchasse
Part II Regional Approaches to the Practice and Consequences
of the Continental System
5 The Continental System: A View from the Sea 83
Silvia Marzagalli
6 The Kingdom of Italy and the Continental Blockade 98
Alexander Grab
7 Rhine River Commerce and the Continental System 114
Robert Mark Spaulding
v
vi Contents
Part III Adapting to Economic Warfare:
New Networks and Illicit Trade
8 Trading Networks across the Blockades: Nathan Mayer
Rothschild and His Commodity Trade during the Early Years
of the Blockades ( 1803– 1808) 135
Margrit Schulte Beerbühl
9 Smuggling and Blockade- Running during the Anglo– Danish
War from 1807 to 1814 153
Jann M. Witt
10 Defying the Continental System in the Periphery:
Political Strategies and Protests by Norwegian Magnates 170
Bård Frydenlund
11 Economic Warfare, Organized Crime and
the Collapse of Napoleon’s Empire 187
Michael Rowe
Part IV Urban Experiences and the Napoleonic Continental System
12 Experiencing the Continental System
in the Cities of the French Atlantic 207
Alan Forrest
13 Choices and Opportunities amid Economic Warfare:
Strategic Decisions of the Business Elite in the Young
Harbour Town of Antwerp during the Napoleonic Era 223
Hilde Greefs
14 Riga Export Trade at the Time of the Continental Blockade
( 1807– 1812) 241
Č
Anita erpinska
15 Significance and Consequences of the Continental System for
Napoleonic Holland, Especially for Amsterdam 259
Johan Joor
Select Bibliography 277
Index 280
List of Illustrations, Maps and Tables
Figures
1 The Sea Is Open. Trade Revives, cartoon, 1813 18
5.1 Origin of coffee imports in Hamburg 88
8.1 John Parish, Baron of Senftenberg (1774–1858) 141
8.2 Portrait of the Rothschild brothers 146
11.1 Soldiers and officers of French customs (Douaniers) 189
13.1 Napoleon’s New Shipyards in Antwerp, c.1804 226
15.1 Amsterdam in Decay, 1808 265
15.2 The Meeting of the Cellar Rats with Those of the Regie,
cartoon, 1813–14 266
15.3 Revolt in Amsterdam, November 1813 267
Maps
7.1 The Rhine valley in 1808 115
8.1 The Rothschilds’ places of residence 1806–09 147
Tables
3.1 Trade via Petersburg port in 1802 (in rubles) 57
3.2 Average prices of grain in M ay– June 1811 (in French francs) 59
3.3 Import of cotton to Russia (in English pounds) 60
3.4 The content of Russian trade in 1799 62
3.5 Annual average of Russian trade (in millions of silver rubles) 63
3.6 Annual Russian trade (in millions of silver rubles) 63
3.7 Custom revenues 1 802– 12 (in millions of silver rubles) 64
4.1 Ships arriving in the port of Le Havre (J une– September 1793) 76
5.1 Ships clearing Gothenburg, 1807– 14 92
5.2 Official value of British exports and r e- exports to Gibraltar and
Malta, 1802– 12 (in thousands of British pounds) 93
7.1 Upstream toll revenues (in francs) 119
vii
viii List of Illustrations, Maps and Tables
7.2 Upstream toll revenues: 1810 and 1811 as per cent of 1807 120
7.3 Toll revenues (in francs) and per cent change from previous
year, 1808– 12 121
7.4 Toll revenues: per cent change from 1810 to 1811 122
7.5 Downstream toll revenues (in francs) 124
7.6 Downstream toll revenues: 1810 and 1811 as per cent of 1806 124
14.1 Companies – owners of the goods sequestrated in Riga 245
14.2 Dynamics of Riga export trade, 1 801– 17 246
14.3 Riga exports (average data per year in thousands of units) 246
14.4 Countries – recipients of Riga export goods (per cent of the
total amount) 248
14.5 Export via Riga 250
14.6 Salt imports (in lasts) 251
Series Preface
The century from 1750 to 1850 was a seminal period of change, not just
in Europe but across the globe. The political landscape was transformed by
a series of revolutions fought in the name of liberty, most notably in the
Americas and France, of course, but elsewhere too: in Holland and Geneva
during the eighteenth century and across much of mainland Europe by
1848. Nor was change confined to the European world. New ideas of
freedom, equality and human rights were carried to the furthest outposts
of empire, to Egypt, India and the Caribbean, which saw the creation in
1801 of the first black republic in Haiti, the former French colony of Saint
Domingue. And in the early part of the nineteenth century they continued
to inspire anticolonial and liberation movements throughout Central and
Latin America.
If political and social institutions were transformed by revolution in
these years, so too was warfare. During the q uarter- century of the French
Revolutionary Wars, in particular, Europe was faced with the prospect of
‘total’ war, on a scale unprecedented before the twentieth century. Military
hardware, it is true, evolved only gradually, and battles were not necessarily
any bloodier than they had been during the Seven Years War. But in other
ways these can legitimately be described as the first modern wars, fought by
mass armies mobilized by national and patriotic propaganda, leading to the
displacement of millions of people throughout Europe and beyond, as sol-
diers, prisoners of war, civilians and refugees. For those who lived through
the period these wars would be a formative experience that shaped the
ambitions and the identities of a generation.
The aims of the series are necessarily ambitious. In its various volumes,
whether single- authored monographs or themed collections, it seeks to
extend the scope of more traditional historiography. It will study warfare
during this formative century, not just in Europe but in the Americas, in
colonial societies and across the world. It will analyse the construction of
identities and power relations by integrating the principal categories of dif-
ference, most notably class and religion, generation and gender, race and
ethnicity. It will adopt a multifaceted approach to the period, and turn to
methods of political, cultural, social, military and gender history in order to
develop a challenging and multidisciplinary analysis. Finally, it will exam-
ine elements of comparison and transfer and so tease out the complexities
of regional, national, European and global history.
Rafe Blaufarb, Alan Forrest and Karen Hagemann
ix