William Pitt (28 May 1759 – 23 January 1806) was a British statesman, the youngest and last prime minister of Great Britain from 1783 until the Acts of Union 1800 , and then first prime minister of the United Kingdom from January 1801. He left office in March 1801, but served as prime minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806. He was also Chancellor of the Exchequer for all of his time as prime minister. He is known as " Pitt the Younger " to distinguish him from his father, William Pitt the Elder , who had also previously served as prime minister.
183-591: French victory Fourth Coalition: [REDACTED] France [REDACTED] Spain The War of the Fourth Coalition ( French : Guerre de la Quatrième Coalition ) was a war spanning 1806–1807 that saw a multinational coalition fight against Napoleon 's French Empire , subsequently being defeated. The main coalition partners were Prussia and Russia with Saxony , Sweden , and Great Britain also contributing. Excluding Prussia, some members of
366-463: A British attack on Copenhagen , Denmark–Norway joined the war on the side of Napoleon ( Gunboat War ), opening a second front against Sweden. A short British expedition under Sir John Moore was sent to Sweden (May 1808) to protect against any possible Franco-Danish invasion. At the Congress of Erfurt (September–October 1808) Napoleon and Alexander agreed that Russia should force Sweden to join
549-491: A North German Confederation , but his duplicity regarding Hanover dashed this. A final spark leading to war was the summary arrest and execution of German nationalist Johann Philipp Palm in August 1806 for publishing a pamphlet which strongly attacked Napoleon and the conduct of his army occupying Germany. After giving Napoleon an ultimatum on 1 October 1806, Prussia (supported by Saxony) finally decided to contend militarily with
732-531: A Regency Bill had been introduced and passed in the House of Commons. The general elections of 1790 resulted in a majority for the government, and Pitt continued as prime minister. In 1791, he proceeded to address one of the problems facing the growing British Empire : the future of British Canada . By the Constitutional Act of 1791 , the province of Quebec was divided into two separate provinces:
915-495: A Polish client state , ruled by his new ally the king of Saxony . At the end of the war, there was peace on Continental Europe with Napoleon as master of almost all of western and central continental Europe, except for Spain , Portugal , Austria and several other smaller states. Despite the end of the Fourth Coalition, Britain remained at war with France. War would return to Continental Europe later in 1807, when Napoleon decided to invade Portugal in order to compel Portugal to join
1098-560: A Prussian garrison that was stationed in his newly acquired realm, prompting a stern rebuke from Napoleon. Relations between France and Prussia quickly soured when Prussia eventually discovered that Napoleon had secretly promised to return sovereignty of Hanover back to Britain during his abortive peace negotiations with the British. This duplicity by the French would be one of the main causes for Prussia declaring war that autumn. Another cause
1281-489: A dramatic impression. Sir John Sinclair, member of Parliament for Lostwithiel, thought that Pitt's first speech was never surpassed and ‘rarely equalled by any ever delivered in that assembly.’ When Pitt resumed his seat after finishing speaking there was thunderous applause. Sinclair noted that there was ‘utter astonishment … by an audience accustomed to the most splendid efforts of eloquence.’ Pitt originally aligned himself with prominent Whigs such as Charles James Fox . With
1464-671: A fresh campaign with France, massing troops in Saxony. Napoleon decisively defeated the Prussians in an expeditious campaign that culminated at the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt on 14 October 1806. French forces under Napoleon occupied Prussia, pursued the remnants of the shattered Prussian Army , and captured Berlin . They then advanced all the way to East Prussia , Poland and the Russian frontier, where they fought an inconclusive battle against
1647-480: A friend that 'I do not wish to be thought inlisted [sic] in any party or to call myself anything but the Independent Whig, which in words is hardly a distinction, as every one alike pretends to it.' intent on entering Parliament, Pitt secured the patronage of James Lowther , later 1st Earl Lowther, with the help of his university friend, Charles Manners, 4th Duke of Rutland . Lowther effectively controlled
1830-522: A hostile majority in Parliament, Pitt was able to solidify his position within a few months. Some historians argue that his success was inevitable given the decisive importance of monarchical power; others argue that the king gambled on Pitt and that both would have failed but for a run of good fortune. Pitt, at the age of 24, became Great Britain's youngest prime minister ever. The contemporary satire The Rolliad ridiculed him for his youth: Above
2013-441: A little-used privilege available only to the sons of noblemen, and chose to graduate without having to pass examinations. Pitt's father was said to have insisted that his son spontaneously translate passages of classical literature orally into English, and declaim impromptu upon unfamiliar topics in an effort to develop his oratorical skills. Pitt's father, who had by then been raised to the peerage as Earl of Chatham, died in 1778. As
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#17327651916012196-448: A massive swing to Pitt with the result that many Opposition Members who still had not faced election either defected, stood down, or made deals with their opponents to avoid expensive defeats. A notable exception came in Fox's own constituency of Westminster , which contained one of the largest electorates in the country. In a contest estimated to have cost a quarter of the total spending in
2379-636: A mutineer. In response to the 1797 mutinies, Pitt passed the Incitement to Mutiny Act 1797 making it unlawful to advocate breaking oaths to the Crown. In 1798, he passed the Defence of the Realm act, which further restricted civil liberties. Despite the major concerns to Britain's defences when the navy mutinied Pitt remained calm and in control. He was confident that the matter would be resolved. Lord Spencer,
2562-696: A part of the Rockingham ministry, including Fox, now refused to serve under Lord Shelburne, the new prime minister. Pitt, however, was comfortable with Shelburne, and thus joined his government; he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer . Fox, who became Pitt's lifelong political rival, then joined a coalition with Lord North, with whom he collaborated to bring about the defeat of the Shelburne administration. When Lord Shelburne resigned in 1783, King George III , who despised Fox, offered to appoint Pitt to
2745-567: A political power which had endured for over a thousand years. Prussia had been offered the territory of Hanover to stay out of the Third Coalition. With the diplomatic situation changing, Napoleon offered Great Britain the province as part of a peace proposal. To this, combined with growing tensions in Germany over French hegemony, Prussia responded by forming an alliance with Russia and sending troops into Bavaria on 1 October 1806. During
2928-580: A population over 44 million people, ruled over 90 million subjects throughout Europe and in the overseas colonies, maintained an extensive military presence in Germany , Italy , Spain , and Poland , and counted Austria and Prussia as nominal allies. Early French victories exported many ideological features of the Revolution throughout Europe: the introduction of the Napoleonic Code throughout
3111-654: A renewed bout of madness, with the consequence that Addington could not receive his formal appointment. Though he had resigned, Pitt temporarily continued to discharge his duties; on 18 February 1801, he brought forward the annual budget. Power was transferred from Pitt to Addington on 14 March, when the king recovered. Shortly after leaving office, Pitt supported the new administration under Addington, but with little enthusiasm; he frequently absented himself from Parliament, preferring to remain in his Lord Warden 's residence of Walmer Castle —before 1802 usually spending an annual late-summer holiday there, and later often present from
3294-668: A result of the company's setting up of Penang with their own superintendent (governor), Captain Francis Light , in 1786. Convicts were originally transported to the Thirteen Colonies in North America, but after the American War of Independence ended in 1783, the newly formed United States refused to accept further convicts. Pitt's government took the decision to settle what is now Australia and found
3477-537: A rising of the United Irishmen) was only thwarted by bad weather . To crush the United Irishmen, Pitt sent General Lake to Ulster in 1797 to call out Protestant Irish militiamen and organised an intelligence network of spies and informers. In April 1797, the mutiny of the entire Spithead fleet shook the government (sailors demanded a pay increase to match inflation). This mutiny occurred at
3660-570: A sideshow. By 1795, 50% of the British Army was deployed in the West Indies (with the largest contingent in St. Domingue), whereas the rest of the British Army was divided among Britain, Europe, India, and North America. As the British death toll, largely caused by yellow fever, continued to climb, Pitt was criticised in the House of Commons. Several MPs suggested it might be better to abandon
3843-564: A siege and the Swedish army abandoned Rügen , thus leaving France in control over Swedish Pomerania ; the resulting armistice, agreed by Marshal Brune and Swedish general Johan Christopher Toll , had allowed the Swedish army to withdraw with all its munitions of war. Following the Treaties of Tilsit , Britain and Sweden remained the only two major coalition members still at war with France. Russia soon declared war against Britain and after
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#17327651916014026-494: A supporter of the radical Jacobins during the early days of the Revolution out of pragmatism, Napoleon became increasingly autocratic as his political career progressed, and once in power embraced certain aspects of both liberalism and authoritarianism—for example, public education , a generally liberal restructuring of the French legal system , and the emancipation of the Jews—while rejecting electoral democracy and freedom of
4209-552: A tentative peace treaty was signed in July 1806, but this was vetoed by Tsar Alexander I and the two powers remained at war. Though nominally an ally in the coalition, Russia remained a dormant entity for much of the year (giving virtually no military aid to Prussia in the main battles that October, as Russian armies were still mobilising). Russian forces would not fully come into play in the war until late 1806 when Napoleon entered Poland. Finally, Prussia had remained at peace with France
4392-434: A third of the budget of £24 million went to pay interest. Pitt sought to reduce the national debt by imposing new taxes. In 1786, he instituted a sinking fund so that £1 million a year was added to a fund so that it could accumulate interest; eventually, the money in the fund was to be used to pay off the national debt. Pitt had learned of the idea of the 'Sinking Fund' from his father in 1772. Earl Chatham had been informed of
4575-711: A war zone from the Pyrenees to the Straits of Gibraltar and saw the Grande Armée facing the remnants of the Spanish Army, as well as British and Portuguese forces. General Pierre Dupont capitulated at Bailén to General Francisco Castaños , and Junot at Cintra , Portugal to General Arthur Wellesley . Spain used up the soldiers needed for Napoleon's other fields of battle, and they had to be replaced by conscripts. Spanish resistance affected Austria, and indicated
4758-470: A year. In 1797, Pitt was forced to protect the kingdom's gold reserves by preventing individuals from exchanging banknotes for gold. Great Britain would continue to use paper money for over two decades. Pitt also introduced Great Britain's first-ever income tax . The new tax helped offset losses in indirect tax revenue, which had been caused by a decline in trade. Pitt's two policies of suspending cash payments and introducing Income Tax were later cited by
4941-485: The Grande Armée ), as well as contribute much of the resources needed to support the French armies still occupying western and southern Germany. Prussia was indignant at this increasing French meddling in the affairs of Germany (without its involvement or even consultation) and viewed it as a threat. Napoleon had previously attempted to ameliorate Prussian anxieties by assuring Prussia he was not averse to its heading
5124-623: The Baltic and Mediterranean ports, and to the bombardment of Copenhagen by the Royal Navy he responded with a second decree of blockade, dated from Milan on 17 December 1807. The application of the Concordat and the taking of Naples led to Napoleon's first struggles with the Pope, centred around Pius VII renewing the theocratic affirmations of Pope Gregory VII . The emperor's Roman ambition
5307-592: The Battle of Halle and chased it across the Elbe river, this redeeming himself in Napoleon's eyes. Some 160,000 French soldiers fought against Prussia increasing in number as the campaign went on, with reinforcements arriving across the Wesel bridgehead from the peripheral theatre surrounding the recently formed Kingdom of Holland , advancing with such speed that Napoleon was able to destroy as an effective military force
5490-639: The Battle of Lübeck , Marshal Bernadotte first came to the attention of the Swedish authorities. This would set in motion a chain of events that eventually led to him being elected heir to the Swedish throne, and later King Charles XIV John of Sweden . As for the French, after the Treaty of Tilsit , the Empire was seemingly at its zenith. Flush with triumph and deeming France free from any immediate obligations in Central and Eastern Europe, Napoleon decided to capture
5673-533: The Berlin Decree to bring into effect the Continental System . This policy aimed to control the trade of all European countries without consulting their governments. The ostensible goal was to weaken the British economy by closing French-controlled territory to its trade, but British merchants smuggled in many goods and the Continental System was not a powerful weapon of economic war. Towards
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5856-627: The British Empire and ensuring that the slaves in the British West Indies would not be inspired to revolt likewise. Many of those who owned slave plantations in the British West Indies had been greatly alarmed by the revolution, which began in 1791, and they were strongly pressing Pitt to restore slavery in St. Domingue, lest their own slaves be inspired to seek freedom. Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville , who
6039-780: The Cisalpine Republic . Then he laid siege to the Roman state and initiated the Concordat of 1801 to control the material claims of the Pope . When he recognised his error of raising the authority of the Pope from that of a figurehead, Napoleon produced the Articles Organiques (1802) with the goal of becoming the legal protector of the papacy, like Charlemagne . To conceal his plans before their actual execution, he aroused French colonial aspirations against Britain and
6222-533: The City of London . When he returned from the ceremony to mark this, men of the City pulled Pitt's coach home themselves, as a sign of respect. When passing a Whig club, the coach came under attack from a group of men who tried to assault Pitt. When news of this spread, it was assumed Fox and his associates had tried to bring down Pitt by any means. Pitt gained great popularity with the public at large as "Honest Billy" who
6405-477: The Concordat of 1801 which confirmed the Catholic Church as the majority church of France and restored some of its civil status. Napoleon by this time, however, thought himself more of an enlightened despot. He preserved numerous social gains of the Revolution while suppressing political liberty. He admired efficiency and strength and hated feudalism, religious intolerance, and civil inequality. Although
6588-855: The Confederation of the Rhine . The Treaty of Pressburg , signed on 26 December 1805, extracted extensive territorial concessions from Austria, on top of a large financial indemnity. Napoleon's creation of the Kingdom of Italy , the occupation of Ancona , and his annexation of Venetia and its former Adriatic territories marked a new stage in the French Empire's progress. To create satellite states , Napoleon installed his relatives as rulers of many European states. The Bonapartes began to marry into old European monarchies, gaining sovereignty over many states. Older brother Joseph Bonaparte replaced
6771-629: The Congress of Vienna . Napoleon gained support by appealing to some common concerns of the French people. These included dislike of the emigrant nobility who had escaped persecution, fear by some of a restoration of the Ancien Régime , a dislike and suspicion of foreign countries that had tried to reverse the Revolution—and a wish by Jacobins to extend France's revolutionary ideals. Napoleon attracted power and imperial status and gathered support for his changes of French institutions, such as
6954-467: The Continental System . A joint Franco-Spanish force invaded Britain's ally Portugal, beginning the Peninsular War where Napoleon would also invade Spain as well. A further Fifth Coalition would be assembled when Austria re-joined the conflict in 1809. The Fourth Coalition (1806–1807) of Great Britain, Prussia, Russia, Saxony, and Sweden formed against France within months of the collapse of
7137-463: The Continental System . The treaty was particularly harsh on Prussia, however, as Napoleon demanded much of the Prussian territory along the lower Rhine west of the Elbe and in what was part of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . Respectively, these acquisitions were incorporated into the new Kingdom of Westphalia , led by his brother Jérôme Bonaparte and into the new Duchy of Warsaw ,
7320-489: The East India Company to gain the patronage he so greatly lacked while the king refused to support him. Fox stated the bill was necessary to save the company from bankruptcy. Pitt responded that: "Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves." The king was opposed to the bill; when it passed in the House of Commons, he secured its defeat in
7503-636: The First Empire to distinguish it from the restorationist Second Empire (1852–1870) ruled by his nephew Napoleon III . On 18 May 1804 (28 Floréal year XII on the French Republican calendar ), Napoleon was granted the title Emperor of the French ( Empereur des Français , pronounced [ɑ̃pʁœʁ de fʁɑ̃sɛ] ) by the French Sénat conservateur and was crowned on 2 December 1804 (11 Frimaire year XIII), signifying
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7686-508: The French Revolution and its attendant wars temporarily united Britain and Russia in an ideological alliance against French republicanism. In 1788, Pitt faced a major crisis when the king fell victim to a mysterious illness, a form of mental disorder that incapacitated him. If the sovereign was incapable of fulfilling his constitutional duties, Parliament would need to appoint a regent to rule in his place. All factions agreed that
7869-557: The French revolutionary doctrine of maintaining France's "natural frontiers"). The formation of the Confederation was the final nail in the coffin of the moribund Holy Roman Empire and subsequently its last Habsburg emperor, Francis II , formally abolished the empire. Napoleon consolidated the various smaller states of the former Holy Roman Empire which had allied with France into larger electorates, duchies and kingdoms to make
8052-601: The House of Lords by threatening to regard anyone who voted for it as his enemy. Following the bill's failure in the Upper House, George III dismissed the coalition government and finally entrusted the premiership to William Pitt, after having offered the position to him three times previously. A constitutional crisis arose when the king dismissed the Fox–North coalition government and named Pitt to replace it. Though faced with
8235-823: The Iberian Peninsula as he had done in Italy, in the Netherlands, and in Hesse. However, the exile of the Spanish Royal Family to Bayonne , together with the enthroning of Joseph Bonaparte, turned the Spanish against Napoleon. After the Dos de Mayo riots and subsequent reprisals, the Spanish government began an effective guerrilla campaign, under the oversight of local Juntas . The Iberian Peninsula became
8418-589: The Royal Navy also led to Pitt to introduce the Quota System in 1795 in addition to the existing system of impressment . The war with France was extremely expensive, straining Great Britain's finances. Unlike in the latter stages of the Napoleonic Wars , at this point Britain had only a very small standing army, and thus contributed to the war effort mainly through sea power and by supplying funds to other coalition members facing France. Throughout
8601-520: The Third Coalition was crushed. When Prussia did declare war against France in 1806, its main ally the Russians still remained far away remobilising. The Electorate of Saxony would be Prussia's sole German ally. Napoleon could scarcely believe Prussia would be so foolish to take him on in a straight fight with hardly any allies at hand on its side, especially since most of his Grande Armée
8784-538: The War of the Fourth Coalition , Napoleon destroyed the Prussian armies at Jena and Auerstedt . Successive victories at Eylau and Friedland against the Russians finally ruined Frederick the Great 's formerly mighty kingdom, obliging Russia and Prussia to make peace with France at Tilsit . The Treaties of Tilsit ended the war between Russia and France and began an alliance between the two empires that held as much power as
8967-498: The pocket borough of Appleby ; a by-election in that constituency sent Pitt to the House of Commons in January 1781. Pitt's entry into parliament is somewhat ironic as he later railed against the very same pocket and rotten boroughs that had given him his seat. In Parliament, the youthful Pitt cast aside his tendency to be withdrawn in public, emerging as a noted debater right from his maiden speech . Pitt's first speech made
9150-415: The "great push" in 1795, sending out an even larger British expedition. In November 1795, some 218 ships left Portsmouth for St. Domingue. After the failure of the Quiberon expedition earlier in 1795, when the British landed a force of French royalists on the coast of France who were annihilated by the forces of the republic, Pitt had decided it was crucial for Britain to have St. Domingue, no matter what
9333-602: The "new Toryism", which revived the Tory Party and enabled it to stay in power for the next quarter-century. The historian Asa Briggs argues that his personality did not endear itself to the British mind, for Pitt was too solitary and too colourless, and too often exuded an attitude of superiority. His greatness came in the war with France. Pitt reacted to become what Lord Minto called "the Atlas of our reeling globe". William Wilberforce said, "For personal purity, disinterestedness and love of this country, I have never known his equal." Historian Charles Petrie concludes that he
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#17327651916019516-423: The 'independent Whig' he identified as. In domestic politics, Pitt concerned himself with the cause of parliamentary reform . In 1785, he introduced a bill to remove the representation of thirty-six rotten boroughs, and to extend, in a small way, the electoral franchise to more individuals. Pitt's support for the bill, however, was not strong enough to prevent its defeat in the House of Commons. The bill of 1785
9699-455: The 1790s, the war against France was presented as an ideological struggle between French republicanism vs. British monarchism with the British government seeking to mobilise public opinion in support of the war. The Pitt government waged a vigorous propaganda campaign contrasting the ordered society of Britain dominated by the aristocracy and the gentry vs. the "anarchy" of the French revolution and always sought to associate British "radicals" with
9882-407: The 19th century. It lasted from 18 May 1804 to 4 April 1814 and again briefly from 20 March 1815 to 7 July 1815, when Napoleon was exiled to St. Helena . Although France had already established a colonial empire overseas since the early 17th century, the French state had remained a kingdom under the Bourbons and a republic after the French Revolution . Historians refer to Napoleon's regime as
10065-420: The Act of Union. Throughout the 1790s, the popularity of the Society of United Irishmen grew. Influenced by the American and French revolutions, this movement demanded independence and republicanism for Ireland. The United Irishmen Society was very anti-clerical, being equally opposed to the "superstitions" promoted by both the Church of England and the Roman Catholic church, which caused the latter to support
10248-409: The Allies, and longstanding allied states, such as Saxony and Bavaria, forsook him as well. Following his retreat from Russia, Napoleon continued to retreat, this time from Germany. After the loss of Spain, reconquered by an Allied army led by the Duke of Wellington , the uprising in the Netherlands preliminary to the invasion, and the manifesto of Frankfurt (1 December 1813) which proclaimed it, he
10431-441: The Austrian capital of Vienna for a second time. At Aspern , Napoleon suffered his first serious tactical defeat, along with the death of Marshal Jean Lannes , an able commander and dear friend of the emperor. The victory at Wagram , however, forced Austria to sue for peace. The Treaty of Schönbrunn , signed on 14 December 1809, resulted in the annexation of the Illyrian Provinces and recognised past French conquests. The Pope
10614-404: The British monarchy that had been occupied by France since 1803. Dispute over this state would eventually become a casus belli for both Britain and Prussia against France. This issue also dragged Sweden into the war, whose forces had been deployed there as part of the effort to liberate Hanover during the war of the previous coalition. The path to war seemed inevitable after French forces ejected
10797-409: The British treasury a fortune and weakened British influence in Europe, making British power "fettered, numbered and paralysed", all for nothing. Pitt maintained close control over Ireland. The Lord Lieutenants were to follow his policy of Protestant control and very little reform for the Catholic majority. When the opposition Portland group joined Pitt's ministry, splitting the Foxite opposition, Pitt
10980-454: The Bute family backed off and ceased making their claims. He acquired his legal education at Lincoln's Inn and was called to the bar in the summer of 1780. During the general elections of September 1780, at the age of 21, Pitt contested the University of Cambridge seat , but lost, coming bottom of the poll of the five candidates. Pitt had campaigned on his own merit, not as part of any group or with prominent backers. He explained to
11163-458: The Christmas season, it survived for seventeen years. So as to reduce the power of the Opposition , Pitt offered Charles James Fox and his allies posts in the Cabinet; Pitt's refusal to include Lord North, however, thwarted his efforts. The new government was immediately on the defensive and in January 1784 was defeated on a motion of no confidence . Pitt, however, took the unprecedented step of refusing to resign, despite this defeat. He retained
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#173276519160111346-401: The Continental Blockade by the discontented bourgeoisie, ruined by the crisis of 1811 . Even as he lost his military principles, Napoleon maintained his gift for brilliance. His Six Days' Campaign , which took place at the very end of the War of the Sixth Coalition , is often regarded as his greatest display of leadership and military prowess. But by then it was the end (or "the finish"), and it
11529-450: The Continental System, which led to the Finnish War of 1808–1809 (meaning Sweden played no role in the next coalition against Napoleon ) and to the division of Sweden into two parts separated by the Gulf of Bothnia . The eastern part became the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland . Due to the Continental System, Britain was yet again still at war with Napoleon and was not affected by the peace treaty. In negotiations with captured Swedes after
11712-456: The Continental System. More specifically, Alexander agreed to evacuate Wallachia and Moldavia , which had been occupied by Russian forces as part of the Russo-Turkish War . The Ionian Islands and Cattaro , which had been captured by Russian admirals Fyodor Ushakov and Dmitry Senyavin , were to be handed over to the French. In recompense, Napoleon guaranteed the sovereignty of the Duchy of Oldenburg and several other small states ruled by
11895-480: The Crown. Realising that the Catholic church was an ally in the struggle against the French Revolution, Pitt had tried fruitlessly to persuade the Dublin parliament to loosen the anti-Catholic laws to "keep things quiet in Ireland". Pitt's efforts to soften the anti-Catholic laws failed in the face of determined resistance from the families of the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland, who forced Pitt to recall Earl Fitzwilliam as Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1795, when
12078-411: The Emperor transformed his " Carolingian " feudal republican and federal empire into one modelled on the Roman Empire . The memories of imperial Rome were for a third time, after Julius Caesar and Charlemagne, used to modify the historical evolution of France. Though the vague plan for an invasion of Great Britain was never executed, the Battle of Ulm and the Battle of Austerlitz overshadowed
12261-403: The First Lord of the Admiralty recalled how calm Pitt was. Very late one evening after visiting the Minister with desperate news of the fleet, as Spencer proceeded away from Downing Street he remembered he had some more information to give to Pitt. He immediately returned to Number 10 only to be infomred that Pitt was fast asleep. Henry Dundas, who was President of the Board of Control, Treasurer of
12444-414: The French Emperor. In August 1806, the Prussian king Frederick William III made the decision to go to war independently of any other great power, save the distant Russia, influenced by his wife Queen Louise and the war party in Berlin . Another course of action might have involved openly declaring war the previous year and joining Austria and Russia in the Third Coalition. In fact, the Tsar had visited
12627-537: The French Minister of Finance as being 'genius'. As they had stopped the French from destroying Britain's economy. Pitt sought European alliances to restrict French influence, forming the Triple Alliance with Prussia and Holland in 1788. During the Nootka Sound Controversy in 1790, Pitt took advantage of the alliance to force Spain to give up its claim to exclusive control over the western coast of North and South America. The Alliance, however, failed to produce any other important benefits for Great Britain. Pitt
12810-434: The German states. Despite the death of William Pitt in January 1806, Britain and the new Whig administration remained committed to checking the growing power of France. Peace overtures between the two nations early in the new year proved ineffectual due to the still unresolved issues that had led to the breakdown of the Peace of Amiens . One point of contention was the fate of Hanover , a German state in personal union with
12993-400: The Great, telling his marshals to show their respect, saying, "If he were alive we wouldn't be here today". In total, Napoleon and the Grande Armée had taken only 19 days from the commencement of the invasion of Prussia until essentially knocking it out of the war with the capture of Berlin and the destruction of its principal armies at Jena and Auerstedt. Most of the shattered remnants of
13176-699: The Grenvilles. Suffering from occasional poor health as a boy, he was educated at home by the Reverend Edward Wilson. An intelligent child, Pitt quickly became proficient in Latin and Greek . He was admitted to Pembroke College, Cambridge , on 26 April 1773, a month before turning fourteen, going up to Cambridge in October 1773. He studied political philosophy, classics , mathematics, trigonometry , chemistry and history. At Cambridge, Pitt
13359-533: The Iberian ports of Britain's long-time ally Portugal. His main aim was to close off another strip of the European coast and a major source for British trade. On 27 October 1807, Spain's Prime Minister Manuel de Godoy signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau with France, by which in return for the alliance and passage of French armies through its realm, Spain would receive Portuguese territory. In November 1807, after
13542-631: The Mediterranean, and exclude his chief rival, Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812. Despite his victorious advance, the taking of Smolensk , the victory on the Moskva , and the entry into Moscow, he was defeated by the country and the climate, and by Alexander's refusal to make terms. After this came the terrible retreat in the harsh Russian winter, while all of Europe was turning against him. Pushed back, as he had been in Spain, from bastion to bastion, after
13725-646: The Navy, Secretary at War and a close friend of Pitt, envied the First Minister for his ability to sleep well in all crcumstances. Despite Pitt's efforts, the French continued to defeat the First Coalition , which collapsed in 1798. A Second Coalition , consisting of Great Britain, Austria , Russia , and the Ottoman Empire , was formed, but it, too, failed to overcome the French. The fall of
13908-797: The Peninsular War. Men like Baron von Stein , August von Hardenberg , and Gerhard von Scharnhorst had begun secretly preparing Prussia's retaliation . The alliance arranged at Tilsit was seriously shaken by the Austrian marriage, the threat of Polish restoration to Russia, and the Continental System. The very persons whom he had placed in power were counteracting his plans. With many of his siblings and relations performing unsuccessfully or even betraying him, Napoleon found himself obliged to revoke their power. Caroline Bonaparte conspired against her brother and against her husband Murat;
14091-538: The Prussian army and the displaced royal family escaped to refuge in East Prussia near Königsberg , eventually to link up with the approaching Russians and continue the fight. Meanwhile, on 11 December 1806 the Treaty of Posen elevated Saxony to a kingdom upon allying with France and joining the Confederation of the Rhine , thereby leaving the Allied Coalition. On 21 November 1806, Napoleon issued
14274-478: The Prussian army. At Auerstedt a single French corps defeated the bulk of the Prussian army, despite being heavily outnumbered. Victory at Auerstedt was all but secured once the Duke of Brunswick (as well as fellow commander Friedrich Wilhelm Carl von Schmettau) were mortally wounded, and the Prussian command devolved to the less able King Fredrick William who believed he was facing Napoleon himself. Matters worsened once
14457-505: The Prussian high command that had resulted in division among the Prussian commanders over which plan of action for the war would be adopted. Despite the deficiency in pinpointing the main Prussian army's exact position, Napoleon correctly surmised their probable concentration in the vicinity of Erfurt - Weimar and formulated a general plan of a thrust down the Saale valley towards Gera and Leipzig , then wheeling westward in order to envelop
14640-504: The Prussian king and queen at the tomb of Frederick the Great in Potsdam that very autumn, and the monarchs secretly swore to make common cause against Napoleon. Had Prussian forces been engaged against the French in 1805, this might have contained Napoleon and prevented the eventual Allied disaster at Austerlitz . In any event, Prussia vacillated in the face of the swift French invasion of Austria and then hastily professed neutrality once
14823-624: The Russian emperor's German relatives. The treaty removed about half of Prussia's territory: Cottbus was given to Saxony, the left bank of the Elbe was awarded to the newly created Kingdom of Westphalia, Białystok was given to Russia, and the rest of the Polish lands in Prussian possession were set up as the Duchy of Warsaw . Prussia was ordered to reduce its army to 40,000 men and to pay an indemnity of 100,000,000 francs. Observers in Prussia viewed
15006-432: The Russians at the Battle of Eylau on 7–8 February 1807. Napoleon's advance on the Russian frontier was briefly checked during the spring as he revitalized his army with fresh supplies. Russian forces were finally crushed by the French at the Battle of Friedland on 14 June 1807, and three days later Russia asked for a truce. Through the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807, France made peace with Russia, which agreed to join
15189-716: The Second Coalition with the defeat of the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo (14 June 1800) and at the Battle of Hohenlinden (3 December 1800) left Great Britain facing France alone. Following the Acts of Union 1800 , Pitt sought to inaugurate the new United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland by granting concessions to Roman Catholics, who formed a 75% majority of the population in Ireland, by abolishing various political restrictions under which they suffered. The king
15372-415: The Spanish populace turning on the French occupiers and the beginning of the Peninsular War . First French Empire The First French Empire or French Empire ( French : Empire français ; Latin : Imperium Francicum ) and also known as Napoleonic France , was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte , who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of
15555-599: The Swedish troops in April 1806. Apart from some naval clashes and the peripheral Battle of Maida in southern Italy in July 1806 (though these actions are considered part of the tail end of the War of the Third Coalition), the main conflicts between Britain and France during the Fourth Coalition would involve no direct general military confrontation. Rather, there was an escalation in the ongoing economic warfare between
15738-452: The United Irishmen with the Crown executing about 1,500 United Irishmen after the revolt. The revolt of 1798 destroyed Pitt's faith in the governing competence of the Dublin parliament (dominated by Protestant Ascendancy families). Thinking a less sectarian and more conciliatory approach would have avoided the uprising, Pitt sought an Act of Union that would make Ireland an official part of
15921-579: The United Kingdom and end the " Irish Question ". The French expeditions to Ireland in 1796 and 1798 (to support the United Irishmen) were regarded by Pitt as near-misses that might have provided an Irish base for French attacks on Britain, thus making the "Irish Question" a national security matter. As the Dublin parliament did not wish to disband, Pitt made generous use of what would now be called " pork barrel politics " to bribe Irish MPs to vote for
16104-533: The Welshman, Sir Richard Price's idea, Pitt approved of the idea and adopted it when he was in office. By 1792, the debt had fallen to £170 million. Pitt always paid careful attention to financial issues. A fifth of Britain's imports were smuggled in without paying taxes. He made it easier for honest merchants to import goods by lowering tariffs on easily smuggled items such as tea, wine, spirits, and tobacco. This policy raised customs revenues by nearly £2 million
16287-492: The Whigs, Pitt denounced the continuation of the American War of Independence , as his father strongly had. Instead he proposed that the prime minister, Lord North , make peace with the rebellious American colonies. Pitt also supported parliamentary reform measures, including a proposal that would have checked electoral corruption. He renewed his friendship with William Wilberforce, now MP for Hull , with whom he frequently met in
16470-513: The Younger Pitt's prime ministerial tenure, which came during the reign of King George III , was dominated by major political events in Europe, including the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars . Pitt, although often referred to as a Tory , or "new Tory", called himself an "independent Whig " and was generally opposed to the development of a strict partisan political system. Pitt
16653-743: The Younger , back in power over Britain, appealed once more for an Anglo-Austro-Russian coalition against Napoleon to stop the ideals of revolutionary France from spreading. On 18 May 1804, Napoleon was given the title of " Emperor of the French " by the Senate ; finally, on 2 December 1804, he was solemnly crowned , after receiving the Iron Crown of the Lombard kings , and was consecrated by Pope Pius VII in Notre-Dame de Paris . In four campaigns,
16836-659: The already poor Irish peasantry, and a sectarian war with many atrocities on both sides had begun in 1793 between Catholic " Defenders " versus Protestant " Peep o' Day Boys ". A section of the Peep o'Day Boys who had renamed themselves the Loyal Orange Order in September 1795 were fanatically committed to upholding Protestant supremacy in Ireland at "almost any cost". In December 1796, a French invasion of Ireland led by General Lazare Hoche (scheduled to coordinate with
17019-486: The board would be appointed by the king. Pitt was appointed, along with Lord Sydney , who was appointed president . The act centralised British rule in India by reducing the power of the governors of Bombay and Madras and by increasing that of Governor-General Charles Cornwallis . Further augmentations and clarifications of the governor-general's authority were made in 1786, presumably by Lord Sydney, and presumably as
17202-586: The coalition had previously been fighting France as part of the Third Coalition , and there was no intervening period of general peace. On 9 October 1806, Prussia declared war on France and joined a renewed coalition, fearing the rise in French power after the defeat of Austria and establishment of the French-sponsored Confederation of the Rhine in addition to having learned of French plans to cede Prussian-desired Hanover to Britain in exchange for peace. Prussia and Russia mobilized for
17385-605: The continent increased legal equality, established jury systems and legalised divorce, and seigneurial dues and seigneurial justice were abolished, as were aristocratic privileges in all places except Poland. France's defeat in 1814 (and then again in 1815), marked the end of the First French Empire and the beginning of the Bourbon Restoration . In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte was confronted by Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès —one of five Directors constituting
17568-593: The corps of the Grande Armée along the frontier of southern Saxony. In a preemptive strike to catch the Prussians unaware, the Emperor had the Grande Armée march as a massive bataillon carré (battalion square) in three parallel columns through the Franconian Forest in southern Thuringia . Each corps would be in mutual supporting distance of each other, both within the column and laterally to
17751-488: The cost in lives and money, to improve Britain's negotiating hand when it came time to make peace with the French republic. The British historian Michael Duffy argued that since Pitt committed far more manpower and money to the Caribbean expeditions, especially the one to St. Domingue, than he ever did to Europe in the years 1793–1798, it is proper to view the West Indies as Britain's main theatre of war and Europe as more of
17934-642: The crossing of the Berezina , Napoleon had to fall back upon the frontiers of 1809, and then—having refused the peace offered to him by Austria at the Congress of Prague (4 June – 10 August 1813), from fear of losing Italy, where each of his victories had marked a stage in the accomplishment of his dream—on those of 1805, despite the victories at Lützen and Bautzen , and on those of 1802 after his disastrous defeat at Leipzig , when Bernadotte—now Crown Prince of Sweden—turned upon him, General Jean Moreau also joined
18117-678: The day due to the poor state of the roads. Apolda sits on strategically important heights between Auerstedt to the North and Jena to the South, and Napoleon had ordered Bernadotte to move to Dornburg and seize Apolda ; upon establishing his artillery on the heights, Bernadotte compelled the Prussians to withdraw from Jena and Auerstedt. Napoleon, believing Bernadotte to be a coward due to his absence in either battle, nearly court-martialed him. On 17 October, Bernadotte mauled Eugene Frederick Henry, Duke of Württemberg 's previously untouched Reserve corps at
18300-418: The defeat at Trafalgar , and the camp at Boulogne put at Napoleon's disposal the best military resources he had commanded, in the form of La Grande Armée . In the War of the Third Coalition , Napoleon swept away the remnants of the old Holy Roman Empire and created in southern Germany the vassal states of Bavaria , Baden , Württemberg , Hesse-Darmstadt , and Saxony , which were reorganised into
18483-732: The dispossessed Bourbons in Naples; younger brother Louis Bonaparte was installed on the throne of the Kingdom of Holland , formed from the Batavian Republic ; brother-in-law Marshal Joachim Murat became Grand-Duke of Berg ; youngest brother Jérôme Bonaparte was made son-in-law to the King of Württemberg and King of Westphalia ; adopted son Eugène de Beauharnais was appointed Viceroy of Italy; and adopted daughter and second cousin Stéphanie de Beauharnais married Karl (Charles) ,
18666-681: The empire in the " Hundred Days ." However, he was defeated by the Seventh Coalition at the Battle of Waterloo . He surrendered himself to the British and was exiled to Saint Helena , a remote island in the South Atlantic, where he remained until his death in 1821. After the Hundred Days, the Bourbon monarchy was restored , with Louis XVIII regaining the French throne, while the rest of Napoleon's conquests were disposed of in
18849-534: The end of 1806, the French entered Poland and Napoleon created a new Duchy of Warsaw , to be ruled by his new ally Frederick Augustus I of Saxony . The area of the duchy had already been liberated by a popular uprising that had escalated from anti-conscription rioting. Napoleon then turned north to confront the approaching Russian armies and to attempt to capture the temporary Prussian capital at Königsberg . In pursuit of this aim, twice his attempts to entrap and defeat Bennigsen 's Russian 1st Army at Pultusk and in
19032-570: The end of the French Consulate and of the French First Republic . Despite his coronation, the state continued to be formally called the "French Republic" until October 1808. The empire achieved military supremacy in mainland Europe through notable victories in the War of the Third Coalition against Austria , Prussia , Russia , Britain , and allied states, notably at the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805. French dominance
19215-528: The entire country, Fox bitterly fought against two Pittite candidates to secure one of the two seats for the constituency. Great legal wranglings ensued, including the examination of every single vote cast, which dragged on for more than a year. Meanwhile, Fox sat for the Scottish pocket borough of Tain Burghs . Many saw the dragging out of the result as being unduly vindictive on the part of Pitt and eventually
19398-462: The entire quarter of a million-strong Prussian army. The Prussians sustained 65,000 casualties including the deaths of two members of the royal family lost a further 150,000 prisoners, over 4,000 artillery pieces, and over 100,000 muskets stockpiled in Berlin. The French suffered around 15,000 casualties for the whole campaign. Napoleon entered Berlin on 27 October 1806 and visited the tomb of Frederick
19581-468: The essential features of Napoleonic warfare and introduced the phrase le bataillon-carré ("square battalion"). In the bataillon-carré system, the various corps of the Grande Armée would march uniformly together in close supporting distance. If any single corps was attacked, the others could quickly spring into action and arrive to help. Napoleon unleashed all French forces east of the Rhine , deploying
19764-549: The examinations were abandoned with Fox declared elected. Elsewhere, Pitt won a personal triumph when he was elected a Member for the University of Cambridge , a constituency he had long coveted and which he would continue to represent for the remainder of his life. Pitt's new constituency suited him perfectly as he was able to act independently. Sir James Lowther's pocket borough of Appleby, which had been Pitt's previous constituency, had strings attached. Now Pitt could really be
19947-728: The executive branch of the French government—who sought his support for a coup d'état to overthrow the Constitution of the Year III . The plot included Bonaparte's brother Lucien , then serving as speaker of the Council of Five Hundred , Roger Ducos , another Director, and Charles Maurice de Talleyrand . On 9 November 1799 ( 18 Brumaire VIII under the French Republican Calendar ) and the following day, troops led by Napoleon Bonaparte seized control. They dispersed
20130-469: The expedition, but Pitt insisted that Britain had given its word of honour that it would protect the French planters from their former slaves, and the expedition to St. Domingue could not be abandoned. The British attempt to conquer St. Domingue in 1793 ended in disaster; the British pulled out on 31 August 1798 after having spent 4 million pounds (roughly £500 million in 2023 ) and having lost about 100,000 men—dead or crippled for life, mostly from disease—over
20313-548: The gallery of the House of Commons. After Lord North's ministry collapsed in 1782, the Whig Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham , was appointed prime minister. Pitt was offered the minor post of Vice-Treasurer of Ireland , but he refused, considering the post overly subordinate. Lord Rockingham died only three months after coming to power; he was succeeded by another Whig, William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne . Many Whigs who had formed
20496-603: The gardens and acted as his hostess. The Treaty of Amiens in 1802 between France and Britain marked the end of the French Revolutionary Wars . Everyone expected it to be only a short truce. By 1803, war had broken out again with France under Napoleon Bonaparte . Although Addington had previously invited him to join the Cabinet, Pitt preferred to join the Opposition, becoming increasingly critical of
20679-432: The governance of non-Prussian and Austrian Germany more efficient. He also elevated the electors of the two largest Confederation states, his allies Württemberg and Bavaria , to the status of kings. The Confederation was above all a military alliance: in return for continued French protection, member states were compelled to supply France with large numbers of their own military personnel (mainly to serve as auxiliaries to
20862-524: The government was out of the question because Pitt enjoyed the support of King George III . Patronage and bribes paid by the Treasury were normally expected to be enough to secure the government a comfortable majority in the House of Commons, but on this occasion, the government reaped much popular support as well. In most popular constituencies, the election was fought between candidates clearly representing either Pitt or Fox and North. Early returns showed
21045-474: The government were lurking everywhere. This comment captures well the tense, paranoid atmosphere of the 1790s, when people were being encouraged to report "radicals" to the authorities. In 1793, Pitt decided to take advantage of the Haitian Revolution to seize St. Domingue , the richest French colony in the world, believing this would strike a great blow at France while bringing St. Domingue into
21228-493: The guarantee of the continuance of his dynasty, marking the high point of the Empire. Undermining forces, however, had already begun to impinge on the faults inherent in Napoleon's achievements. Britain, protected by the English Channel and its navy, was persistently active, and rebellion of both the governing and of the governed broke out everywhere. Napoleon, though he underrated it, soon felt his failure in coping with
21411-465: The historian Eric J. Evans argued the picture of Pitt's "reign of terror" as portrayed by the Marxist historian E.P. Thompson is incorrect, stating there is much evidence of a "popular conservative movement" that rallied in defence of King and Country. Evans wrote that there were about 200 prosecutions of "radicals" suspected of sympathy with the French revolution in British courts in the 1790s, which
21594-602: The honour go to his elder brother , the second Earl of Chatham. An early favourable response to the French Revolution encouraged many in Great Britain to reopen the issue of parliamentary reform, which had been dormant since Pitt's reform bill was defeated in 1785. The reformers, however, were quickly labelled as radicals and associates of the French revolutionaries. Pitt, due to economic reasons, wanted to remain aloof from War with France. However, this option
21777-796: The hypochondriac Louis, now Dutch in his sympathies, found the supervision of the blockade taken from him, and also the defence of the Scheldt , which he had refused to ensure. Jérôme Bonaparte lost control of the blockade on the North Sea shores . The very nature of things was against the new dynasties, as it had been against the old. After national insurrections and family recriminations came treachery from Napoleon's ministers. Talleyrand betrayed his designs to Klemens von Metternich and suffered dismissal . Joseph Fouché , corresponding with Austria in 1809 and 1810, entered into an understanding with Louis and also with Britain, while Louis Antoine de Bourrienne
21960-433: The island of Elba, Napoleon escaped to France with a thousand men and four cannons. King Louis XVIII sent Marshal Michel Ney to arrest him. Upon meeting Ney's army, Napoleon dismounted and walked into firing range, saying "If one of you wishes to kill his emperor, here I am!" But instead of firing, the soldiers went to join Napoleon's side shouting " Vive l'Empereur! " Napoleon retook the throne temporarily in 1815, reviving
22143-441: The issues of representation, parliamentary reform, and government retrenchment. Reformers sought to destroy what they saw as widespread institutional corruption . The result was a crisis from 1776 to 1783. The peace in 1783 left France financially prostrate, while the British economy boomed due to the return of American business. That crisis ended in 1784 as a result of the king's shrewdness in outwitting Fox and renewed confidence in
22326-480: The key Ochakov fortress. Pitt wanted to threaten military retaliation. However Russia's ambassador Semyon Vorontsov organised Pitt's enemies and launched a public opinion campaign. Pitt had become alarmed at the opposition to his Russian policy in parliament, Burke and Fox both uttering powerful speeches against the restoration of Ochakov to the Turks. Pitt won the vote so narrowly that he gave up. The outbreak of
22509-625: The latter had indicated he would support a bill for Catholic relief. In fact, the actions of Fitzwilliam had been encouraged by Pitt who wanted an excuse to remove Fitzwilliam and replace him with the Earl of Camden, however, Pitt had managed this feat without witnesses. Pitt was very much opposed to Catholic relief and the repeal of their political disabilities which were contained in the Test and Corporation Laws. In much of rural Ireland, law and order had broken down as an economic crisis further impoverished
22692-497: The leader of France. This action was confirmed by the Corps Législatif . A general plebiscite followed thereafter resulting in 3,653,600 votes aye and 8,272 votes nay. On 2 August 1802 (14 Thermidor, An X), Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Consul for life. Pro-revolutionary sentiment swept through Germany aided by the "Recess of 1803", which brought Bavaria , Württemberg , and Baden to France's side. William Pitt
22875-409: The left flank of where he believed the Prussians were located and thus cut off their communications and line of retreat to Berlin. On 8 October 1806, after a cavalry skirmish at Saalburg , a Prussian division was brushed aside in the Battle of Schleiz on 9 October. The following day, Marshal Lannes , debouching from the passage of the forest, crushed a Prussian division at Battle of Saalfeld , where
23058-573: The legislative councils, leaving a rump legislature to name Bonaparte, Sieyès, and Ducos as provisional Consuls to administer the government. Although Sieyès expected to dominate the new regime, the Consulate , he was outmaneuvered by Bonaparte, who drafted the Constitution of the Year VIII and secured his own election as First Consul. He thus became the most powerful person in France, a power that
23241-444: The limitations of Britain's fiscal-military state when it had powerful enemies and no allies, depended on extended and vulnerable transatlantic lines of communication, and was faced for the first time since the 17th century by both Protestant and Catholic foes. The defeat heightened dissension and escalated political antagonism to the king's ministers. Inside parliament, the primary concern changed from fears of an over-mighty monarch to
23424-533: The memory of the 1763 Treaty of Paris , exacerbating British envy of France, whose borders now extended to the Rhine and beyond, to Hanover , Hamburg, and Cuxhaven . Napoleon would have ruling elites from a fusion of the new bourgeoisie and the old aristocracy. On 12 May 1802, the French Tribunat voted unanimously, with the exception of Lazare Carnot , in favour of the Life Consulship for
23607-487: The office of prime minister. But Pitt wisely declined, for he knew he would be incapable of securing the support of the House of Commons. The Fox–North coalition rose to power in a government nominally headed by William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland . Pitt, who had been stripped of his post as Chancellor of the Exchequer, joined the Opposition . He raised the issue of parliamentary reform in order to strain
23790-539: The only viable candidate was the king's eldest son and heir apparent , George, Prince of Wales . The Prince, however, was a supporter of Charles James Fox. Had the Prince come to power, he would almost surely have dismissed Pitt. He did not have such an opportunity, however, as Parliament spent months debating legal technicalities relating to the regency. Fortunately for Pitt, the king recovered in February 1789, just after
23973-403: The other columns (once through the difficult passage of the forest), thus allowing the Grande Armée to meet the enemy at any contingency. This strategy was adopted due to Napoleon's lack of intelligence regarding the Prussian main army's whereabouts and uncertainty over his enemy's puzzling manoeuvres in their march to face him. The reason for this stemmed mainly from the mutual mistrust within
24156-407: The penal colony in August 1786. The First Fleet of 11 vessels carried over a thousand settlers, including 778 convicts. The Colony of New South Wales was formally proclaimed by Governor Arthur Phillip on 7 February 1788 at Sydney. Another important domestic issue with which Pitt had to concern himself was the national debt, which had doubled to £243 million during the American war. Every year,
24339-400: The popular Prince Louis Ferdinand was killed. At the double Battle of Jena-Auerstedt on 14 October, Napoleon smashed a Prussian army led by Frederick Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen and Ernst von Rüchel at Jena , while his Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout routed Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick 's main army at Auerstedt . At Jena, Napoleon fought only a contingent of
24522-407: The potential of national resistance. The provocations of Talleyrand and Britain strengthened the idea that the Austrians could emulate the Spanish. On 10 April 1809, Austria invaded France's ally, Bavaria. The campaign of 1809, however, would not be nearly as long and troublesome for France as the one in Spain and Portugal. Following a short and decisive action in Bavaria, Napoleon opened up the road to
24705-400: The preceding five years. The British historian Sir John William Fortescue wrote that Pitt and his cabinet had tried to destroy French power "in these pestilent islands ... only to discover, when it was too late, that they practically destroyed the British army". Fortescue concluded that Pitt's attempt to add St. Domingue to the British empire had killed off most of the British army, cost
24888-402: The predominantly French Lower Canada and the predominantly English Upper Canada . In August 1792, coincident with the capture of Louis XVI by the French revolutionaries , George III appointed Pitt as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports , a position whose incumbent was responsible for the coastal defences of the realm. The king had in 1791 offered him a Knighthood of the Garter , but he suggested
25071-480: The press . France justified the spread of her empire as one of spreading her superior culture, bringing Enlightenment thinking and modern civilisation to what they viewed as backwards peoples. However this consequently led to attitudes of contempt against many of the nations France conquered and repression against recalcitrant populations. 48°51′44″N 02°19′57″E / 48.86222°N 2.33250°E / 48.86222; 2.33250 William Pitt
25254-452: The previous coalition. Following his triumph at the Battle of Austerlitz and the subsequent demise of the Third Coalition , Napoleon looked forward to achieving a general peace in Europe, especially with his two main remaining antagonists, Britain and Russia. Meanwhile, he sought to isolate Prussia from the influence of these two powers by offering a tentative alliance, while also seeking to curb Prussia's political and military influence among
25437-461: The previous year, though it did come close to joining the Allies in the Third Coalition. A French corps led by Marshal Bernadotte had illegally violated the neutrality of Ansbach in Prussian territory on their march to face the Austrians and Russians. Anger by Prussia at this trespass was quickly tempered by the results of Austerlitz, and a convention of continued peace with France was signed two weeks after that battle at Schönbrunn . This convention
25620-406: The reformers. Individuals who published seditious material were punished, and, in 1794, the writ of habeas corpus was suspended. Other repressive measures included the Seditious Meetings Act 1795 , which restricted the right of individuals to assemble publicly, and the Combination Acts , which restricted the formation of societies or organisations that favoured political reforms. Problems manning
25803-403: The refusal of Prince Regent John of Portugal to join the Continental System, Napoleon sent an army into Spain under General Jean-Andoche Junot with the aim of invading Portugal (as well as the secret task of being the vanguard for the eventual French occupation of Spain). Napoleon soon embroiled himself and France in Spain's internal power struggles within its royal family, eventually leading to
25986-453: The rest of Europe. The two empires secretly agreed to aid each other in disputes. France pledged to aid Russia against the Ottoman Empire , while Russia agreed to join the Continental System against Britain. Russia also agreed to recognize the Confederation of the Rhine , as agreed on by the treaty. Napoleon also forced Alexander to enter the Anglo-Russian War and to instigate the Finnish War against Sweden in order to force Sweden to join
26169-433: The rest, majestically great, Behold the infant Atlas of the state, The matchless miracle of modern days, In whom Britannia to the world displays A sight to make surrounding nations stare; A kingdom trusted to a school-boy's care. Many saw Pitt as a stop-gap appointment until some more senior statesman took on the role. However, although it was widely predicted that the new "mince-pie administration" would not outlast
26352-469: The revolution in France. Some of the writers the British government subsidized (often from Secret Service funds) included Edmund Burke , William Cobbett , William Playfair , John Reeves , and Samuel Johnson (the last through the pension granted him in 1762). Though the Pitt government did drastically reduce civil liberties and created a nationwide spy network with ordinary people being encouraged to denounce any "radicals" that might be in their midst,
26535-413: The same moment that the Franco-Dutch alliance were preparing an invasion of Britain. To regain control of the fleet, Pitt agreed to navy pay increases and had George III pardon the mutineers. By contrast, the more political "floating republic" naval mutiny at the Nore in June 1797 led by Richard Parker was handled more repressively. Pitt refused to negotiate with Parker, whom he wanted to see hanged as
26718-412: The second son of William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham , was born on 28 May 1759 at Hayes Place in the village of Hayes , Kent . He was from a political family on both sides, as his mother, Hester Grenville , was sister of former prime minister George Grenville . According to biographer John Ehrman , Pitt exhibited the brilliance and dynamism of his father's line, and the determined, methodical nature of
26901-405: The son of the Grand Duke of Baden. In addition to the vassal titles, Napoleon's closest relatives were also granted the title of French Prince and formed the Imperial House of France . Met with opposition, Napoleon would not tolerate any neutral power. On 6 August 1806 the Habsburgs abdicated their title of Holy Roman Emperor in order to prevent Napoleon from becoming the next Emperor, ending
27084-463: The spring until the autumn. From the castle, he helped organise a local Volunteer Corps in anticipation of a French invasion, acted as colonel of a battalion raised by Trinity House —he was also a Master of Trinity House—and encouraged the construction of Martello towers and the Royal Military Canal in Romney Marsh . He rented land abutting the Castle to farm on which to lay out trees and walks. His niece Lady Hester Stanhope designed and managed
27267-401: The support of the king, who would not entrust the reins of power to the Fox–North Coalition. He also received the support of the House of Lords, which passed supportive motions, and many messages of support from the country at large, in the form of petitions approving of his appointment which influenced some Members to switch their support to Pitt. At the same time, he was granted the Freedom of
27450-482: The system engendered by the leadership of Pitt. Historians conclude that the loss of the American colonies enabled Britain to deal with the French Revolution with more unity and organisation than would otherwise have been the case. Britain turned towards Asia, the Pacific, and later Africa with subsequent exploration leading to the rise of the Second British Empire . The Fox–North Coalition fell in December 1783, after Fox had introduced Edmund Burke 's bill to reform
27633-401: The treason of 1812. The country itself, though flattered by conquests, was tired of self-sacrifice. The unpopularity of conscription gradually turned many of Napoleon's subjects against him . Amidst profound silence from the press and the assemblies, a protest was raised against imperial power by the literary world, against the excommunicated sovereign by Catholicism, and against the author of
27816-399: The treaty as unfair and as a national humiliation. Talleyrand had advised Napoleon to pursue milder terms; the treaties marked an important stage in his estrangement from the emperor. After Tilsit, instead of trying to reconcile Europe, as Talleyrand had advised, Napoleon wanted to defeat Britain and complete his Italian dominion. To the coalition of the northern powers, he added the league of
27999-458: The two powers. With Britain still retaining its dominance of the seas, Napoleon looked to break this dominance (after his defeat of Prussia) with his issuance of the Berlin Decree and the beginnings of his Continental System . Britain retaliated with its Orders in Council several months later. In the meantime, Russia spent most of 1806 recovering from defeats from the previous year's campaign. Napoleon had hoped to establish peace with Russia and
28182-425: The uneasy Fox–North coalition, which included both supporters and detractors of reform. He did not advocate an expansion of the electoral franchise, but he did seek to address bribery and rotten boroughs. Though his proposal failed, many reformers in Parliament came to regard him as their leader, instead of Charles James Fox. Losing the war and the Thirteen Colonies was a shock to the British system. The war revealed
28365-411: The university grounds. Yet he was described as charming and friendly. According to Wilberforce, Pitt had an exceptional wit along with an endearingly gentle sense of humour: "no man ... ever indulged more freely or happily in that playful facetiousness which gratifies all without wounding any." An example of Pitt's innocent wit was recorded by Sir John Sinclair. In the early years' of Pitt's ministry there
28548-423: The vanquished remnants of the Prussian army from Jena stumbled onto the clash at Auerstedt, further plunging the Prussians' morale and triggering their precipitous retreat. For this conspicuous victory, Marshal Davout was later created the Duke of Auerstedt by Napoleon. During the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt , Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte had marched from Naumburg to Dornburg and arrived at Apolda late in
28731-418: The vicinity of Heilsberg during the turn of the year were thwarted. A tactical and bloody draw at Eylau (7–8 February) forced the Russians to withdraw further north. After spending much of the spring recuperating his forces, Napoleon finally routed the Russian army at Friedland (14 June). Following this defeat, Alexander sued for peace with Napoleon at Tilsit (7 July 1807). Meanwhile, Swedish involvement
28914-420: The white population from the blacks, and were able to seize some coastal enclaves. The fact that the British had come to restore slavery in St. Domingue inspired ferocious resistance from the Haitians, who had no desire to be forced into chains again. The heavy death toll caused by yellow fever , the much dreaded "black vomit", made conquering St. Domingue impossible, but an undeterred Pitt launched what he called
29097-429: The younger son, Pitt received only a small inheritance.In the months following the death of the Earl of Chatham, Pitt was forced to defend his father's reputation. This came about when the Bute family made claims that the late Lord had sought out the Earl of Bute with the desire to form a political coalition. Pitt although just over nineteen years of age publicly argued that this was not the case. Faced with Pitt's arguments
29280-412: Was Napoleon's formation in July 1806 of the Confederation of the Rhine out of the various German states which constituted the Rhineland and other parts of western Germany. A virtual satellite of the French Empire with Napoleon as its "Protector", the Confederation was intended to act as a buffer state from any future aggressions from Austria, Russia or Prussia against France (a policy that was an heir of
29463-468: Was Pitt's Secretary of State for War , instructed Sir Adam Williamson, the lieutenant-governor of Jamaica, to sign an agreement with representatives of the French colonists that promised to restore the ancien regime , slavery, and discrimination against mixed-race colonists, a move that drew criticism from abolitionists William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson . The British landed in St. Domingue on 20 September 1793, stating they had come to protect
29646-420: Was alarmed at Russian expansion in the 1780s at the expense of the Ottoman Empire . The relations between Russia and Britain were disturbed during the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1792 by Pitt's subscription to the view of the Prussian government that the Triple Alliance could not with impunity allow the balance of power in Eastern Europe to be disturbed. In peace talks with the Ottomans, Russia refused to return
29829-414: Was convicted of speculation. By consequence of the spirit of conquest Napoleon had aroused, many of his marshals and officials, having tasted victory, dreamed of sovereign power: Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte , who had helped him to the Consulate, played Napoleon false to win the crown of Sweden . Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult , like Murat, coveted the Spanish throne after that of Portugal, thus anticipating
30012-406: Was during the years before when various European states conspired against France. While Napoleon and his holdings idled and worsened, the rest of Europe agreed to avenge the revolutionary events of 1792. Napoleon had hardly succeeded in putting down the revolt in Germany when the emperor of Russia himself headed a European insurrection against Napoleon. To put an end to this, ensure his own access to
30195-408: Was forced to fall back upon the frontiers of 1795; and was later driven further back upon those of 1792—despite the forceful campaign of 1814 against the invaders . Paris capitulated on 30 March 1814, and the Delenda Carthago , pronounced against Britain, was spoken of Napoleon. The empire briefly fell with Napoleon's abdication at Fontainebleau on 11 April 1814. After less than a year's exile on
30378-495: Was forcibly deported to Savona , and his domains were incorporated into the French Empire. The Senate's decision on 17 February 1810 created the title "King of Rome", and made Rome the capital of Italy. Between 1810 and 1812 Napoleon's divorce of Joséphine , and his marriage with Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria , followed by the birth of his son , shed light upon his future policy. He gradually withdrew power from his siblings and concentrated his affection and ambition on his son,
30561-584: Was great interest in the new young First minister. Sinclair was required to write an account of Pitt to satisfy foreign curiosity when he was abroad. At the end of a long description of Britain's eminent leader he added: ‘Of all the places where you have been, where did you fare best?’ My answer was, ‘In Poland; for the nobility live there with uncommon taste and splendour; their cooks are French,- their confectioners Italian, - and their wine Tokey.’ He immediately observed, ‘I have heard before of The Polish diet.’ In 1776, Pitt, plagued by poor health, took advantage of
30744-481: Was increased by the Constitution of the Year X , which made him First Consul for life. The Battle of Marengo (14 June 1800) inaugurated the political idea that was to continue its development until Napoleon's Russian campaign . The Peace of Amiens , which cost him control of Egypt , was a temporary truce. He gradually extended his authority in Italy by annexing the Piedmont and by acquiring Genoa , Parma , Tuscany, and Naples , and added this Italian territory to
30927-419: Was made more visible by the occupation of the Kingdom of Naples and of the Marches , and by the entry of General Sextius Alexandre François de Miollis into Rome; while General Jean-Andoche Junot invaded Portugal , Marshal Murat took control of formerly Roman Spain as Regent. Soon after, Napoleon had his brother, Joseph, crowned King of Spain and sent him there to take control. Napoleon tried to succeed in
31110-456: Was modified in a formal treaty two months later, with one clause in effect promising to give Hanover to Prussia in exchange for Ansbach's being awarded to France's ally Bavaria . In addition, on 15 March 1806 Napoleon elevated his brother-in-law Marshal Joachim Murat to become ruler of the Grand Duchy of Berg and Duchy of Cleves (acquired from Bavaria in return for its receiving Ansbach). Murat exacerbated Prussian enmity by tactlessly ejecting
31293-399: Was much less than the prosecutions of suspected Jacobites after the rebellions of 1715 and 1745. However, the spy network maintained by the government was efficient. In Jane Austen 's novel Northanger Abbey , which was written in the 1790s, but not published until 1817, one of the characters remarks that it is not possible for a family to keep secrets in these modern times when spies for
31476-481: Was one of the greatest prime ministers "if on no other ground than that he enabled the country to pass from the old order to the new without any violent upheaval ... He understood the new Britain." For this he is ranked highly amongst all British prime ministers in multiple surveys. Pitt served as prime minister for a total of eighteen years, 343 days, making him the second-longest-serving British prime minister of all time, after Robert Walpole . William Pitt,
31659-446: Was primarily concerned with protecting Swedish Pomerania . Despite being defeated at Lübeck , the Swedes successfully defended the fort of Stralsund and pushed the French forces out of Swedish Pomerania in early April, 1807. On 18 April, France and Sweden agreed to a ceasefire. However, Swedish refusal to join the Continental System led to a second invasion of Swedish Pomerania led by Marshal Brune . Stralsund fell on 24 August after
31842-436: Was put in a difficult situation. He wanted to replace his friend Westmorland, who was Lord Lieutenant, with Lord Camden, whom he could trust. However, one of Portland's group, Earl Fitzwilliam, wanted the position. Pitt, to keep Portland on side, appointed Fitzwilliam but allowed the new Lord Liuetantant to believe that he had free range to reform the government in Ireland. Thus when Fitzwilliam's reforms became public in London he
32025-459: Was quickly recalled and Camden replaced him. This ensured Pitt had his man in Dublin Castle, whilst also retaining Portland and his group. The unfortunate effect was to produce optimism amongst Irish Catholics who wanted political reform. In May 1798, the long-simmering unrest in Ireland exploded into outright rebellion with the United Irishmen Society launching a revolt to win independence for Ireland. Pitt took an extremely repressive approach to
32208-404: Was reaffirmed during the War of the Fourth Coalition , at the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt in 1806 and the Battle of Friedland in 1807, before Napoleon's final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. A series of wars, known collectively as the Napoleonic Wars , extended French influence to much of Western Europe and into Poland. At its height in 1812, the French Empire had 130 departments ,
32391-411: Was regarded as an outstanding administrator who worked for efficiency and reform, bringing in a new generation of competent administrators. He increased taxes to pay for the great war against France and cracked down on radicalism. To counter the threat of Irish support for France, he engineered the Acts of Union 1800 and tried (but failed) to secure Catholic emancipation as part of the Union. He created
32574-421: Was seen as a refreshing change from the dishonesty, corruption and lack of principles widely associated with both Fox and North. Despite a series of defeats in the House of Commons, Pitt defiantly remained in office, watching the Coalition's majority shrink as some Members of Parliament left the Opposition to abstain. In March 1784, Parliament was dissolved, and a general election ensued. An electoral defeat for
32757-403: Was still in the heart of Germany close to the Prussian border. He drummed up support from his soldiers by declaring that Prussia's bellicose actions had delayed their phased withdrawal back home to France to enjoy praise for the previous year's victories. The initial military manoeuvres began in September 1806. In a letter to Marshal Soult detailing the plan for the campaign, Napoleon described
32940-416: Was strongly opposed to Catholic emancipation ; he argued that to grant additional liberty would violate his coronation oath , in which he had promised to protect the established Church of England . Pitt, unable to change the king's strong views, resigned on 16 February 1801 so as to allow Henry Addington , his political friend, to form a new administration. At about the same time, however, the king suffered
33123-493: Was taken away from him by an ultimatum from King George III. Pitt could either resign or go to war. Committed to making Britain financially stable Pitt agreed, albeit very reluctantly, to go to war against the French Revolutionaries. Though France's declaration of hostilities against Britain meant that Britain was forced into war. Subsequently, in 1794, Pitt's administration tried three of them for treason but lost. Parliament began to enact repressive legislation in order to silence
33306-481: Was the last parliamentary reform proposal introduced by Pitt to British legislators. His administration secure, Pitt could begin to enact his agenda. His first major piece of legislation as prime minister was the India Act 1784 , which re-organised the British East India Company and kept a watch over corruption. The India Act created a new Board of Control to oversee the affairs of the East India Company. It differed from Fox's failed India Bill 1783 and specified that
33489-482: Was tutored by George Pretyman , who became a close personal friend and looked after Pitt whilst at University. Pitt later appointed Pretyman Bishop of Lincoln , then Winchester , and drew upon his advice throughout his political career. While at Cambridge, he befriended the young William Wilberforce , who became a lifelong friend and political ally in Parliament. Pitt tended to socialise only with fellow students and others already known to him, rarely venturing outside
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