The Napoleonic Wars and Brazilian Independence
By Dale Pappas
By 1807, many of Europe’s monarchs had waged war on Revolutionary, and later Napoleonic France. Several ancient and prominent royal families, including the Hapsburgs and the Hohenzollerns, had experienced the humiliation of defeat that resulted from these conflicts against skilled French forces. Often times, Napoleon himself, at the head of his victorious armies, entered Europe’s capitals and sat on the very thrones occupied for centuries by those royal families. However, one capital that Napoleon had not taken was London, although it had long been an aim of the French emperor’s to decisively defeat France’s traditional foe. Britain and France had waged war on one another frequently, vying for valuable colonial possessions in order to establish powerful empires. The Treaty of Paris, which concluded the Seven Years’ War in 1763, gave Britain much of France’s overseas territory. In the years that followed, France anxiously awaited an opportunity to weaken the British Empire, and experienced moderate success in the American War of Independence. The major chance to deliver a blow to British prestige came with the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars, which largely became a struggle between Britain and France for superiority. Eager to defeat the British, Napoleon explored several bold invasion attempts. The invasion schemes though were thwarted while still in development, which led Napoleon to wage economic war on his principle rival by implementing the Continental System.
The Continental System aimed to block British goods from entering other European ports, which would strengthen France’s control of the continent. Napoleon’s continental blockade was extended following his victories in 1806 and 1807, leaving only Sweden and Portugal out of his reach.[1] Napoleon planned to cut Britain off from its loyal ally, Portugal, by ordering the ruling Braganza family to accept the Continental System, or be deposed. He decided to invade Portugal along with his ally Spain, led by the ambitious prime minister, Manuel de Godoy. Napoleon agreed to partition Portugal between himself, Godoy, and the King of Etruria (Tuscany).[2] An ultimatum was sent to the Portuguese ordering the closure of all ports to British goods by 1 September 1807 or else Lisbon would be seized and the Braganzas deposed. With little hope of defeating a French invasion, Portuguese ministers, including Antonio de Araújo, considered the relocation of the monarchy to the colony of Brazil the best possible option. The Prince Regent, the future Dom João VI of Portugal consented, and the royal family and nearly 10000 others boarded ships for their mysterious possession, Brazil. The decision to transfer the monarchy crushed the remnants of one of Europe’s oldest empires, but gave birth to a new power across the Atlantic.
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