The French Revolution

The French Republican leader Maximilian Robespierre became a deeply unpopular figure in Britain because of his role in The Terror. Despite this Britain initially had no desire to go to war with the new French Republic.

During the French Revolution, the anti-monarchical ideals of France were regarded with alarm throughout Europe. While France was plunged into chaos, Britain took advantage of its temporary weakness to build up its naval forces. The Revolution was initially popular with many Britons, both because it appeared to weaken France and was perceived to be based on British liberal ideals. This began to change as the Jacobin faction took over, and began The Reign of Terror.

The French were intent on spreading their revolutionary republicanism to other European states, including Britain. The British initially stayed out of the alliances of European states which unsuccessfully attacked France trying to restore the monarchy. In France a new, strong nationalism took hold enabling them to mobilise large and motivated forces.

Following the execution of King Louis XVI of France in 1793, Britain declared war in France. Except for a brief pause in the fighting from 1802–03, the war lasted continuously for twenty one years. During this time Britain raised several coalitions against the French, continually subsidising other European states with the Golden Cavalry of St George, enabling them to put large armies in the field. In spite of this, the French armies were very successful on land, creating several client states such as the Batavian Republic, and the British devoted much of their own forces to campaigns against the French in the Caribbean, with mixed results.

In 1798 French forces invaded Ireland to assist the United Irishmen who had launched a rebellion, where they were joined by thousands of rebels but defeated by British and Irish loyalist forces. The fear of further attempts to create a French satellite in Ireland, led to the Act of Union merging of the crowns of Great Britain and Ireland to create the United Kingdom in 1801.

British dominance of the seas prevented France from gaining the upper-hand outside Continental Europe

The Napoleonic Wars

In 1799, Napoleon came to power in France, ending the revolutionary era and creating a dictatorship (crowning himself Emperor in 1804). After he had triumphed on the European continent against the major European powers, Napoleon contemplated an invasion of the British mainland, but was dissuaded by an Austrian attack over its Bavarian allies.

In response Napoleon established a continental system by which no nation was permitted to trade with the British. Napoleon hoped the embargo would isolate the British Isles severely weakening them, but a number of countries continued to trade with them in defiance of the policy. In spite of this the Napoleonic influence stretched across much of Europe.

In 1808 French forces invaded Portugal trying to attempt to halt trade with Great Britain, turning Spain into a satellite state in the process The British responded by dispatching a force under Sir Arthur Wellesley which captured Lisbon Napoleon dispatched increasing forces into the Iberian Peninsular, which became the key battleground between the two nations. Allied with Spanish and Portuguese forces, the British inflicted a number of defeats on the French during the Peninsular War which led Napoleon to brand it the "Spanish Ulcer". Allied to an increasingly resurgent European coalition, the British invaded southern France forcing Napoleon to abdicate and go into exile on Elba in 1814

The Allied victory at the Battle of Waterloo marked the end of the Napoleonic Era. Though the last war fought between the two states, the rivalry continued throughout the nineteenth century.

After escaping and briefly threatening to restore the French Empire, Napoleon was defeated by a combined Anglo-German-Dutch force at Battle of Waterloo. With strong British support, the Bourbon monarchy was restored and Louis XVIII was crowned King. The Napoleonic era was the last occasion on which Britain and France went to war with each other, but by no means marked the end of the rivalry between the two nations. Despite his final defeat, Napoleon continues to be regarded as a national hero figure in France for his numerous victories over coalised monarchies.