The Empire and Its Cracks

CHAPTER 7 · 1807–1812 · The Age of Revolutions, 1775–1848

The map at 1810 is the Grand Empire at high tide — France swollen past its “natural frontiers,” satellites tan from Warsaw to Naples, the Illyrian coast annexed outright. But study the western edge, because the Empire is already bleeding there. The chain begins with economics: the Continental System, Napoleon’s attempt to strangle Britain by closing Europe’s ports, requires every coastline. Portugal — Britain’s oldest ally — won’t comply, so a French army crosses Spain to Lisbon (1807); then Napoleon, contemptuous of his Spanish Bourbon allies, deposes them at Bayonne and crowns his brother Jo

The turn: Bailén, 19 July 1808.

This chapter is one scene of an interactive atlas: the map repaints as the dates advance, campaigns draw themselves, and every chapter argues its causes and consequences — then a field exam asks you to prove it on the map.