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After the British invasion of Spain was stopped and with the evacuation of the last British troops from the Iberian peninsula underway, the next objective was to compel Russia to join the British and restart the coalition wars against Napoleon. This would be through the invasion of Zealand and Estonia. With the Swedish Navy providing support since the defeat of Denmark-Norway over 1812-1817 at sea, the British would force Russia to join the Seventh Coalition, which was under treaty obligation to support Napoleon since the defeat of 1812 in the Treaty of Novgorod in 1813.

Although the French Empire invaded the Ottoman Empire in 1814 through Serbia with Russian and Austrian support, the campaign initially succeeded in liberating the Balkans from Ottoman rule only for the Russian campaign to be defeated off Lemnos and the Turkish Black Sea coast by the Royal Navy with the Black Sea Fleet's virtual destruction in January to February 1815. The risky Royal Navy venture saw Constantinople and the Dardanelles being abandoned by the French Navy and the Black Sea Fleet forcing into the Mediterranean, and in an attempt to stop the intrusion, the Royal Navy intercepted the Russian Black Sea Fleet off its base at Lemnos, which was defeated with three quarters of its strength being destroyed and captured [but later burnt or recaptured in wrecked conditions]. This, along with memories of the defeats of the Nile and Trafalgar, would lead to the French Navy's withdrawal from Egypt and Palestine from 18 June-20 October 1815 after 6 months of invasion. While the subsequent Ottoman counteroffensive did annihilate the French in Egypt, with the French troops captured to be released after the French-British truce in 1817, the Ottomans had to counter Muhammad Ali and Saudi Wahabis with limited forces while the Russians in Anatolia retreated from hard gained territory, at the end of a long supply line since the loss of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and the defeat of the French campaign in Egypt in the year succeeding these events, helped by a Royal Navy intrusion into the Black Sea.

After the resumption of active hostilities in 1822, British diplomats negotiated for an Ottoman entrance into the Napoleonic Wars to regain lost territory in the Balkans. This will be through landing on the Dardanelles shores, recapturing the lost territory in the Balkans and advancing into France through Austrian territory. British support would be provided through landing in Spain, which would divert the Grande Armee's attention and a naval assault on Russia should it invade the Ottomans.

After the invasion convoy sailed into the Baltic, defeating the last remnants of the Danish Navy and linking with the Swedes on the way, landings on the Finnish and Estonian coasts started on 21 April 1826. With the Russian Army holding the burden of defending Finland to the Balkans, the Black Sea and the Caucasus, the Russian capital was taken in a month with the Russian Baltic Fleet being destroyed or surrendered in port. After the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet, it would take several months of negotiations between the growing 'Seventh Coalition' and the Russian Empire to obtain peace between them. In the ensuring negotiations, provisions were made that Russia gain Finland, the Duchy of Warsaw, Bukovina and Galicia by attack, freeing the Ottomans for the invasion of Austria and the Balkans. With the Grande Armee resting after a campaign in Spain, this seemed to be the best time for a Russian attack.

The stage was set for a Russian declaration of war on France through the invasion of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw on 21 June 1827. At the time, the Ottomans had cut off what is present day Greece from the French Empire and would launch an offensive against the puppet state, retaking its former province at the end of the year [on 31 October 1827]. By next year, most of the Balkans would be invaded and recaptured by the Ottoman Empire, with the Ottoman Empire reaching the Danube and Zagreb on 1 October 1828.

With the invasion of the Duchy of Warsaw, the Polish Army was encircled and soon, Prussia might join the conflict. The encirclement of the Polish Army would be complete in 25 days after the Battle of Warsaw and it took the Poles another 2 weeks to surrender. In response, Napoleon II mobilised the Grande Armee, which was deployed along the European Atlantic coast from Cadiz to the Rhine and across the same river upon knowing of the Russian invasion with the intention of defeating the Russians and causing their surrender, but this would thwarted by the Prussian declaration of war on 2 August 1827 on France. The Grande Armee then marched across German countryside to reach the Elbe.

By 10 September, the Grande Armee was on the Elbe and defeated the Prussian Army, but the Russians and Prussians simply retreated into Poland without the Prussian Army being encircled and with fortresses left holding out, blocking the Grande Armee's route of advance for a month. With the onset of December 1827, the Grande Armee suffered decimations throughout the winter while advancing into Poland, ending its campaign only in January 1828 without any sight of the Russian and Prussian Armies as they retreated into Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. France lost 300,000 troops in the winter pursuit for want of winter clothing, scorched earth and supplies when the Grande Armee returned to recently captured Prussian fortresses and started receiving winter attire only when it wasn't needed anymore [in April 1828].

Although the American contribution was minimal, consisting of only a corps of troops in Europe, nevertheless, it is worthy of interest to discuss this point. The American corps, consisting of 3 divisions with 10,000 men each, was first involved in the Peninsular campaign until its evacuation from Spain. Then, it was stationed in Britain and involved in diversionary operations off Cadiz that led to the destruction of the French Atlantic Fleet that sortied from Brest in December 1827. The same fleet was to rendezvous with the Spanish Fleet and sortie into the Mediterranean to destroy the British Mediterranean Fleet, knock the Ottomans from the war and return to Brest, but it was caught off Cadiz on 21 January 1828, with its presence being reported to the Royal Navy's Channel Fleet, which sortied to meet the British Cadiz squadron and defeat the combined fleet once and for all, reminiscent of Trafalgar. All Spanish ships involved [and all the operational Spanish frigates and ships of the line] were destroyed or captured as the French made their escape from the battle and later Cadiz a week after, leaving any Spanish and disabled ships to capture by Britain and Spain.

The American Navy's Mediterranean Squadron was sent to reinforce the British fleet off Cadiz and was committed into saving the Cadiz Squadron as it was being overwhelmed, towing 3 disabled British ships [Canopus, Norge and Carnatic] from capture while American frigates alone revealed the Spanish Navy's incompetence by forcing a damaged ship of the line to surrender. Also, American frigates later towed several prizes to enable the Royal Navy to pursue the remnants of the French-Spanish fleet into Cadiz and the prizes were incorporated into the American Navy as USS Lafayette [ex Ocean-class Wagram], USS Generous [anglicized from French Genereux], USS Saturn [ex Bucentaure class], USS Columbus [ex Spanish Montanes] and USS Florida [ex Spanish Emperador]. When news of American ships capturing [albeit damaged] French ships to Gibraltar and America for repairs reached France, the French public was shocked, especially since that was in the same battle that saw the combined fleet being destroyed.