Britain deals with the Portuguese Fleet instead of the Danish

ghappy1000

http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1808/jan/21/the-lords-commissioners-speech
What if, in 1807, the British decided to secure the Portuguese Navy instead of the Danish Navy to prevent its transfer or loss to France? Would the Portuguese refuse the British or agree to the scheme? And what about Denmark-Norway? If the Portuguese disagree, how about sending British forces to defend Portugal from the French and Spanish besides wrecking the French or Spanish Navies?

Scenario 1: The Portuguese do not fight the British. Napoleon invades Portugal earlier.

Scenario 2: The British send troops to defend Portugal, but Portugal refuses.

In scenario 2, what about the Portuguese colonial empire and the relations with Britain? Would the French invade Denmark instead? And what about the Peninsular War?
 

ghappy1000

The Surrender of the Portuguese Navy and the assault of Lisbon

During the Royal Navy's Portuguese voyage, an attack was made on the Spanish fleet at Cadiz early on 26 August with the support of blockading ships and the Portuguese Ambassador to Spain was asked to surrender the Portuguese navy earlier than expected, as evidenced by a surviving ship captured while escaping from Cadiz the day after next day. The Royal Navy ships were diverted to intervene in Portugal.

On 29 August 1807, the Portuguese capital city was reached by a fleet of British warships. The Royal Navy and Army forces involved requested the consent to enter Portuguese territory when suddenly, a shell fired into the battleship-of-the-line HMS Prince of Wales suddenly provoked James Gambier into anger. In return, the surrender of the Portuguese Navy was requested and the guns to be disarmed or manned for British use [in Portugal or Britain]. The imminent battle turned Lisbon's Harbour into a rapidly burning area thanks to an explosion and although water was poured to save the Portuguese Fleet along with grounding, the ships weren't operational anymore as they were chased down by the Royal Navy, with crews surrendering out of support for Britain, survival and misidentification.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Copenhagen_(1807) [Substitute Lisbon for Copenhagen. Last paragraph is modified.]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Portugal_(1807)
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lista_de_navios_de_guerra_portugueses

By 30 August, the Portuguese Navy's remnants, although heavy, were captured in port and beaches and the Portuguese Army was put into the fight. As the Royal Army was landed, civilians were quickly evacuated and bombardments made by the British after civilian evacuation. Over a week of shelling and fighting in Lisbon was made and the atrocities done were factors for Lisbon's surrender. However, the captured navy ships were to be ceded to Britain when the British troops were forced to assault civilian buildings, although truce was accepted.

Thus, on 7 September 1807, after the city was entered by British troops, Prince Regent John VI of Portugal surrendered to the British the fleet (ten ships-of-the-line, eleven frigates [plus three smaller frigates lost on the return voyage], eight sloops, seventeen brigs, several schooners and several gunboats). In addition, the British destroyed in the 29 August battle and dockyard respectively a flagship, three other seaworthy ships-of-the-line and another of-the-line on the stocks, along with two of the captured ships that were severely damaged and two elderly frigates. Portugal would be forced into Napoleon's arms.
 
JonasResende

JonasResende

I get the feeling that a) the Anglo-Portuguese alliance just went down the tubes; and b) the Portuguese royals will be wary of accepting Britain's offer to escort them to the New World.
 
Karolus Rex

Karolus Rex

For some reason, I think that this is the political equivalent to fire a cannon ball against yourself.

In Denmark the British at the very least had the plausible excuse that Napoleon had an army near Denmark and that he would use it to gain control of the Danish Fleet.

If they do what you suggest to Portugal, all that GB wins nothing but a bunch of ships and the hate of it's only ally.

Napoleon just got a political jackpot and he would use it to prove to the other powers that GB was a warmonger that is willing to do anything even backstabbing it's oldest ally. They would prefer to reach a modus vivendi with Napoleon that to rely on GB, given the way GB treats it's allies.

Try to convince the other powers, Russia, Spain, Austria and Prussia, that were all very skeptical of GB intentions to help them to defeat Napoleon.

They also lose one of their last footholds in Europe, making any British involvement against French&Allies impossible in Europe, they would just be able to attack colonies and they had a very bad reputation in 1807, they were known for only sending soldiers to other countries colonies and that they fought to the last Austrian/Prussian/Russian.

European powers at that point were, at the best, skeptical of British interest in a war with France and with that Napoleon, unless he goes full Kim Jong-un, just won all of Europe to his side without doing nothing.

He can't be accused of planning to get the Portuguese fleet, like in the Danish case, for no French army was near Lisbon at that point.
 

ghappy1000

What Happens

How would the Napoleonic Wars go? And, this has an actual p.o.d. when an invasion threat to Portugal was really proven instead of [or in conjunction with] the same happening to Denmark. Could the Spanish Army [alone] or strengthened attitudes by Napoleon threaten Portugal [with Napoleon's troops in support] and make the British paranoid about Portugal?

And, how many ships would the British win [other than blockade, decommissioning and colonial duties] if this was because Portugal had the same circumstances as Denmark-Norway [but magnified]?

Could the British win the Napoleonic Wars within the next decade and who would resist Napoleon in Europe [until the Napoleonic invasion of another country]? And, what about Denmark-Norway if Napoleon arrives? Anyway, the British response is the potential threat of the Portuguese [and neutral, captured or Napoleon aligned] ships in response to their usage by Napoleon and some misunderstandings on the part of 'illiterate sailors' and a dismissed admiral.

And, what about "to Copenhagenize" ?
 
Karolus Rex

Karolus Rex

Alt History Buff said:
Was the Portuguese fleet modern enough for Britain to care about?
Click to expand...

It was actually on a very good level, but most of it was spreed over the Empire, with ships in Macau, India, Africa, Brazil, etc...

I could show you some websites about the state of the Portuguese Navy at that time but they are all in Portuguese and I even have some books on it's engagements during the 1806 to 1890 period but alas they are in Portuguese.
 

ghappy1000

Denmark-Norway

On 21 November, the French corps intended to invade Portugal was at the Danish border and threatening the Danish to surrender the navy. Due to a refusal on the part of Denmark, the French were about to invade when news of the Portuguese Navy's destruction led to the decision to engage Britain as promised by France if the ultimatum it received was agreed to. The British were quickly expelled on a schooner that brought news of the Danish anger over the 'Lisbon Attacks' and Russian war preparations against Denmark or Britain, depending on Danish attitude.

By 2 December, the British declared war on Denmark in response to the news, but the Danes might surprise the British with a surprise assault on the naval ships at home, especially the prizes from Rosily's Squadron, Spain and Portugal while under refit. Then, the onset of winter and Swedish operations might keep the Danish and Russian Baltic fleets at home until 1808, when the prizes and some ships relieved from duty at Cadiz would be readied in adequate numbers to fight the Danes [as Sweden was to keep the Russians at bay]. If the events for Sweden went downhill, Danish naval defeats would be adequate to keep the Swedes secure against the south and west. From 30 November to 15 December, the Royal Navy was involved in an attempt to destroy the Danish-Norwegian fleet, but gunboats and ice resulted in 8 ships-of-the-line destroyed or captured after grounding in Danish waters. The resulting battle in Danish waters was a very pyrrhic Danish victory, but the Royal Navy was down a quarter of its ships-of-the-line to about 20 Danish ships lost [including the Danish-captured prizes for the latter].

Battle of Copenhagen
On 15 December, the Royal Navy [consisting of 35 ships-of-the line, 15 frigates, 10 brigs and sloops [per respective class] and several troop and auxiliary ships. After the defeat of the Portuguese Navy, Denmark-Norway was well prepared to intercept the British fleet, but the battle was rather chaotic. On the early morning of 16 December, fire ships burned or wrecked a frigate flotilla while the naval battle saw the Royal Navy engaged heavily. Shelling from the land forces, gunboat flotilla and ice against the invasion convoy had 10 British ships grounded while the Danish sailors fought fiercely against the British ships-of-the line, which numbered 25. When the battle ended after half a day, 15 British battleships were sunk or wrecked while the Danes also lost 15 of their battleships. In addition, 5 British frigates were also lost, although these were battled in confusion.

On 17 December, the British expeditionary force sent to Denmark was forced to evacuate, but the Danish troops captured back 5 ships-of-the line that were grounded, with 3 lost to ice. It was reported one of these captured ships was shelled to surrender while 2 evaded the wrecked Danish Navy. En route, news of the battle reached Norway and brigs, in a naval battle, sank 4 of the recaptured ships from Denmark after salvage while one was seized as a prize. The Royal Navy had a division of ships waiting to escort any salvaged or refloated ships and heavy shelling resulted in 5 of the prizes scuttled to avoid capture on the return voyage as they had to escort a retreating convoy from 19 December 1807. All 5 prizes captured by Denmark were lost when the Royal Navy approached as they were under tow and surrendered again.
 
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arctic warrior

The Danes would surely see the British non-actions against them as a possibility to uphold neutrality thus tackle off the Navy during fall and send the crews mostly being Norwegian home on winter leave which would see them unprepared for a winter campaign.
BTW the Danish army was in Hostein to deter the French from any silliness and OTL even in the face of British threat they kept it there as Denmark wanted to signal that they wouldn't allow the French to invade to get in possession of the Navy.
 

pjmidd

confused by what you think would happen in a british v danish fleet action. Unless the british are drinking lead paint , the battle would not even be close given the difference in ships ( baltic ships tended to be smaller ) which is why the danes in OTL moved the crews to floating batteries and other defences . Also please remember pre wireless, chances of word reaching norway before the british had pulled out are close to nil let alone in time to intercept.
 

ghappy1000

Defeat of the Portuguese Navy and empire [Overseas]
As a result of the surrender of the Portuguese Navy, the Portuguese colonial possessions were effectively isolated. During the winter of 1807-1808, the Danish and Portuguese colonies in the Far East were captured by colonial troops or starved by Royal Navy frigates and forced to surrender. The British used several captured Portuguese ships and frigates or lighter vessels for the purposes of occupying colonies while the smaller outposts were starved. However, significant operations against the Portuguese colonies couldn't be initiated until 1809 for want of resources other than starving the islands of Madeira and the Azores. Besides, the Danish-Norwegian threat had to be considered and the Baltic convoys, alone with blockade duties in the Atlantic, tied up almost all the 130 ships of the line left for Britain after the Danish and Portuguese debacles, including pre-1807 prizes.

In 1808, Goa was taken while an expedition had Macau taken after neutralising Napoleonic naval threats in the Pacific. Brazil suffered and subsequent events to come would lead to its separation from Portugal. Also, the colony of Mozambique was captured by British and the empire's first African troops in 1810 along with French Indian Ocean islands. Finally, the other African outposts were captured also in 1809.

There was only a successful Portuguese attempt to break the blockade of its ports after 1807, when the first Iberian 'victory' over the Royal Navy saw the first Portuguese ship of the line chase away a blockading squadron with a convoy to provide relief escorted by the ship took place in January 1811 and capture the British flagship. Then, the convoy continued to Mauritius, supplying the [prolonged] resistance of Mauritius before defeat. The Portuguese ships escaped the battle and once it was revealed they were sailing for Malacca to reconquer the colony and support the Dutch, were defeated off the Sumatran coast by 9 August 1811, while raiding the coasts. By the winter of 1811, the Indian Ocean was cleared of Napoleonic [and allied] ships and colonies. Meanwhile, events in Europe would turn the tide against Napoleon after several years of support over Portugal's treatment in 1807.
 

ghappy1000

Preparations for an invasion against Britain
In 1808, lack of popularity with the pro-Napoleonic Spanish government was evaporated slowly by the theft of the Portuguese Navy and the propaganda generated, along with the Danish fiasco, resulted in improved Napoleonic relations with Spain. Despite the defeats of Trafalgar and the subsequent losses of 1806 and 1807, the morale regenerated from subsequent Russian and Prussian support of Napoleon after receiving anti-British propaganda and the availability of the Danish fleet boosted confidence in a campaign against Britain. For 3 years, the French Empire prepared for an invasion of Britain with Prussian endorsement.

Meanwhile, Britain sought to prevent this attempt with new construction and recalling of warships. In 1808, the Austrians and Swedes were persuaded to declare war on Russia and France, but were defeated [as in reality with Austria carved up]. As planned, fortresses were reinforced with concrete and the British army was mobilised. Mutinies even occurred, but the threat from Royal Navy officers was enough to prevent any defections from the ships-of-the line. By autumn 1809, the cast for invading Britain was set and it would be 2 years before the invasion.

For the battle, France, Portugal and Spain offered 100 ships-of-the-line, although a quarter were hastily constructed with poor quality sailors. The Dutch, Germans, Danes, Swedes and Russians contributed about 50 more to the invasion. [One half of the extra ships were also constructed in haste and mass construction would lead to decisive defeats at naval clashes.] Finally, other smaller ships were constructed in various harbours, although the British held the advantage overall with at least 100 better ships-of-the-line and much more smaller ships. Despite this, the defeated campaign was to start the end of Napoleon's alliances and victorious campaigns with the rest of Europe.
 

ghappy1000

Napoleon's invasion of Britain [the beginning]

On 1 September 1811, an invasion convoy was readied for attack after it set sail from the Channel coast of France for Britain. The convoy consisted of 100,000 Spanish troops, twice the number of French troops and miscellaneous but significant numbers of foreign troops. En route, the flotilla met a convoy escorted by many Russian, Scandinavian, Dutch and French ships. The Royal Navy was well prepared for the threat and acted accordingly. Besides, the British Army was prepared in its defensive positions prepared on the coast from Cornwall to London and the east, including a huge Home [a.k.a. Royal] Guard comparable to Prussian Landwehr.

In 1810, the defensive preparations were heavily underway, but the loss of timber from Sweden after a [more] humiliating peace treaty and a forced declaration of war on Britain was compelling the Royal Navy to increase focus on enemy transports as well as warships. The first ships of the northern invasion flotilla left the Baltic on 1 March 1811 and avoided interception by joining forces with Dutch ships in the North Sea after defeating the Royal Navy's Baltic Squadron with some losses, including HMS Temeraire. Then, the Royal Navy proceeded to intercept the separate fleets before rendezvous, but missed the ships.

To the south, the French suffered slight but important losses on the journey to the Atlantic, with 5 ships of the line lost by the time they left the Mediterranean in winter 1810, but before the Straits of Gibraltar, for 2 British ships in exchange and another later wrecked while proceeding to Britain. However, the French ships caught up with the Spanish Fleet and liberated those trapped at Cadiz after Trafalgar. Also, morale was high with the success of France's Mediterranean Fleet and Spanish reinforcements. Then, Portuguese naval remnants came to the support of the Spanish fleet while Lisbon faced blockade and relieved the city before returning to Spanish ports and repeating the blockade running attempt in spring 1811. After the defeat of Britain at Minorca [where most of the initial French Mediterranean losses occurred], the British diverted a squadron into the Mediterranean and also searched for the Spanish. The idea of searching for colonies to be attacked was rejected as the French retained memories of Trafalgar. By the time both fleets left for France from Spain, the British had lost 10 ships of the line and some smaller vessels, but the enemy fleets suffered even heavier losses [12 sunk and 3 captured] by a small margin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_anti-invasion_preparations_of_1803–05

From Cadiz, news were transported to France that the French Navy was to sortie into the Atlantic, taking advantage of heavy weather which might drive the British away or darkness. Deception operations were to be done by commerce raiders to divert British attention without heavy diversion of French resources. Also, the British would be attacked from African colonies to divert warships as well. The attacks were irrelevant to its supporting role's strategic failure.
 

ghappy1000

Battle for Britain's Survival

On 29 August 1811, the battle for Britain's survival began at Brest. The Royal Navy sailed into the North Sea after the Russian Navy was observed to be landing troops on the shores of Grimsby and the huge fleet of frigates and ships of the line in the North Sea wrought chaos. To the south, the British were informed of the invasion by HMS Bellerophon, which avoided several French patrols and was able to get the Channel Fleet ready for action. The British, Spanish and French navies fought heavily, with HMS Victory being targeted and dismasted. Then, the ship was captured and towed while the Royal Navy's Weather Division came to defeat escorting ships of the line. By the end of the battle's phase, 10 French ships were lost or captured compared to 8 British [including HMS Victory and its initial escort after capture]. HMS Victory's initial loss was responsible for the chaos that produced the unfavourable result.

For the other divisions of the Channel Fleet, the Spanish and French were able to divert attention sufficiently that 'HMS Victory's fight' produced such unexpected results. Over the battle, 30 Spanish and French ships of the line were lost to 12 British ships of the line and another 5 with significant damage that they were uninvolved in the first naval defeat of the invasion. The British victory in this phase was the only thing that saved many of its frigates for assaulting enemy transports and saving damaged ships. At least all the damaged prizes were seized and disarmed in Britain or scuttled with minimal intervention as the remaining ships continued with their mission of escorting transports, allowing the British to consolidate without heavy opposition earlier.

On 1 September, the convoy came to the southern shores of the English coast, having picked up the French and Spanish invading soldiers a day before. The Russian Navy, along with many of its supporting ships, were defeated decisively with better than similar results to the Channel battle. Now, the North Sea Command of the Royal Navy was proceeding to deal with the supply depleted soldiers on the northern flank and move southwards, where the diversion of French and Spanish ships to assist the invasion would bring a battle squadron unengaged to the relief of the Channel Fleet. By 5 September, almost all of the French and Spanish Navy combat warships were mostly under water or surrendered, for approximately 50 British ships of the line and many smaller vessels that could be replaced. The French Army was invading Britain when news of defeat starved the invaders of supplies and reinforcement troops on both sides. After bombardments by the Royal Navy and starvation, many Spanish troops involved were abandoned as the French Army retreated to safety and surrendered after failed assaults on Hastings and Canterbury by 30 September. French troops were evacuated slowly but with heavy losses and Napoleon's Imperial Guard was sacrificed in a futile attempt to cover his escape, along with huge quantities of artillery and cavalry lost in the evacuation and further convoys of transport ships respectively.

Later, many obsolete Royal Navy ships were converted into transports and prison ships to guard 200,000 prisoners of war after their surrender before winter arrived [15 November 1811]. News of the defeat spread like wildfire when a gigantic flotilla of Danish vessels was sunk or captured in a convoy invading Norway and the Danes were shocked despite the British retreat. In 1812, the repercussions were very severe as they reached Europe. Former Portuguese ships were used to report Napoleon's disastrous defeat to Sweden. Besides, defeat saved about 10 of the British ships of the line initially lost to the invasion as these were aground and also sacrificed.
 
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Rdffigueira

Rdffigueira

Very interesting proposal, my friend. I don't mean to self-promote in your own thread, but this premise about a war between Portugal and Britain (with the British Royal Navy capturing the Portuguese fleet) was one of the main divergences of the TL I'm currently writing (that you can see in my sig - you might want to check my Chapter 5 to see if you agree with my assessment about a possible British attack on Lisboa). It's interesting to note is that, while this is a crucial moment in both of our TLs, I'm focusing in the effects of an earlier defeat of Portugal in Brazil, while you are exploring these effects in Europe. Thus, from what I've read, our stories could be different faces of the same coin :)

Keep up your good work, I'm interested to see your plans for alt-Britain!
 
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ghappy1000

The defeat of Napoleon [1812]

After the failure of Napoleon's invasion of Britain and heavy losses to the Spanish-French navies, Spain declared war on France following amphibious landings and diplomacy on 10 March 1812, assisted by revolts and anger against the French for their defeat off the English shores. Also, America, the newly independent country which declared war in 1811 [one year earlier than reality and more successful in the beginning], was to be dealt with by surviving frigates as the Royal Navy had little to fear from French ships of the line and revolts were raised in the Vendee by British propaganda. On 9 January 1812, diplomacy was achieved in which Spain would join the Sixth Coalition [the Austrian 1809 revolt being considered as the Fifth Coalition]. Then, Spain and Sweden declared war on France and Russia respectively. Norway was isolated completely by the Royal Navy while the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which was involved in a successful war that completed the previous year, was defeated by the Royal Navy later in the same year that the Ottoman Empire joined the war again. In total, Napoleonic France alone faced the might of the Royal Navy's 50 serviceable ships of the line [25 of the recent Armada class] while it lacked naval strength to even win a tactically victorious battle, much less compensate the defection of Spain and war against Prussia and Austria soon to come. Now, the empire was alone and another 25 ships of the line [mostly prizes from Trafalgar to the failed invasion] were acting as transports and serving outside Europe with frigates and smaller vessels.

On 10 April 1812, France received a declaration of war from Austria and was defeated decisively at Bavaria and Czech territories after an initial retreat to the Danube. Then, another Royal Navy squadron was sailed to the Mediterranean and raided French territory. With the decisive loss of the Russian Black Sea Fleet caused by such raids, the French were vulnerable in the Mediterranean and this was to prove fatal when the Austrians attacked on 6 July 1812 after a failed counter offensive against Bavaria. The Royal Navy even raided the Baltic, disrupting Russian operations as these were the last desperate steps to Napoleonic victory by countering Prussian ambitions against Europe. In fact, a Russian Army was deleted from operations against German states by Sweden and the Royal Navy, with minimal losses for the latter.

In Portugal, there was discontent at the British for 1807, but the Royal Navy kept the Portuguese from intervening in Spain. Also, the loss of ships and revolts made offensives in Central Europe impossible for Napoleon as the German Campaign proceeded with heavy losses to his puppet states and only victories against French revolts could be achieved with attention against prisoners from defeated revolts in the west and the coastline still issues for the emperor. Worse still, the French had practically no naval ships left to defend the homeland and the Spanish Campaign was just beginning, but slight consolation was received. The might of a 'unified Germany' would be coming against him and many horses were lost either in Britain or the Vendee evacuation, even if proportionally low to the reality.

The French had barely won the Vendee and Pyrenees Campaign [21 March to 7 August 1812] when the defeat of Bavaria after a last French offensive against Bavaria mentioned earlier and losing its army resulted in a battle for Dresden. This time, Napoleon faced all of present-day Germany, but French morale improved slightly with Napoleon in charge of most of his cavalry for the first time in 1812. Apparently, the invasions of Britain and western France kept him in the west besides some horses lost on ships that there were less decisive operations against the Austrians [similar to 1809 after the recovery of its empire the previous year by military force during the French invasion of Britain and another factor in its defeat despite the apparent failure of the campaign by 5 September].

To the south, one of Napoleon's armies made advance against the less equipped Spanish and British as the majority of their armies were invading France itself and tied up Napoleon. Although the Spanish Army was defeated by Napoleon and lost the battle of Tours on 23 July, the French Army was diverted to the Dresden Campaign and less equipped troops were able to divert any attention of 100,000 troops to the Spanish front by relieving besieged cities. Later, these were forced to retreat and were defeated after a failed large scale invasion to the Pyrenees.
 
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ghappy1000

German Campaign in 1812

After the defeat of Napoleon's invasion of Britain, Prussia and Austria declared war on the French Empire on 16 April 1812 and 10 April of the same year respectively. However, Russia declared war on Prussia and launched an invasion of the Baltic. Intended to divert Austria attention from France, Swedish attention from Norway and Finland and defeat Prussia; the Swedish Navy alone made life difficult for the Russians by raiding Finland even with minimal losses, a sure sign of its losses in invading Britain. In the beginning, the Russians defeated Prussia and Poland invaded Silesia and these added to Prussia's problems. However, Austria and the German states of Napoleon's Confederation [after Bavaria's defection on 8 August 1812] would be prepared to face Napoleon as he marched to Dresden following the Bavarian defeat and the Bavarian Army was mobilised. Saxony and Westphalia were also threatened, especially the former. It was the latter that contributed to Prussia's indecisiveness, along with half of the 100,000 French soldiers in Germany stationed on the Prussian border. Cavalry losses on transport ships [with 100,000 fewer Frenchmen for Napoleon's Grand Army due to the preparations for invading Britain and 300,000 soldiers lost in Britain or fighting the Spanish defection and French revolt] were responsible for the defeat of Bavaria, and Napoleon's Army was ordered to march against Austria by the emperor as quickly as possible. Later, many prisoners of Napoleon's invasion were transported to colonies to prevent bloodshed from their capture.

At Dresden, many troops of Napoleon's Grand Army attacked on 15 September, but the Austrians committed plenty of artillery to the action. This resulted in cavalry charges against the Austrian artillery, which shelled the French cavalry remains heavily and nearly defeated the French until flanking attacks caused the Austrian Army to retreat and avoid encirclement at night. Two of Napoleon's marshals fell in the battle, besides Jean Lannes at Aspern and a few captured in Britain or serving in the west.

For Napoleon, 30 days of fast marching to the Rhine and Saxony resulted in the offensive preparations being compromised by a lack of heavy Austrian losses at Dresden from slow pursuit and tiredness. Napoleon was exhausted and the enemy was waiting for his troops after a successful retreat on 16 September following attacks on 15 September and attempted to reach Bavaria through Czech territory, but was defeated by mountain defences in Bohemia and another attempt to encircle from the south was barely successful with the defeat of Bavarian troops. Also, Poland and Westphalia were defeated repeatedly after the Prussians routed the Russian and Polish Armies with heavy losses when besieging the Silesian fortresses starting in June 1812 and this would defeat Russia, or free up Prussia to fight against Napoleon. The Austrians would deal the final strike against Napoleon and Poland.

On 23 September 1812, another French Army attacked Berlin and nearly captured a Kaiser, but he was able to force a siege of Madgeburg city. A week later, troops in Silesia rushed to defend the capital and routed the initially pursuing French Armies following a series of offensives at Dennewitz and Grossbeeren. The French campaign failed for nothing meaningful against Prussia. During the campaigns, repulsed assaults on both sides were able to defeat Meanwhile, Royal Navy ships were keeping 300,000 troops away from France through shelling and Spanish campaigns.

With the losses in mind, Napoleon attacked Leipzig on 16 October and was able to defeat the Prussian Army, causing the Prussians to retreat after defeating them and marching virtually unopposed to Berlin following the defeated feints of several detachments against Austria. Prussia was totally defeated for the second time and the Prussians had to surrender. Only a failed intervention in Spain would really defeat Napoleon after Prussia's second surrender and dismemberment.
 
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ghappy1000

Final defeat in 1813 and 1814 of Napoleon

A victory only against Prussia, even if decisive, wasn't adequate as Napoleon found out when a postponed Treaty of Danzig [originally intended for Christmas Day 1812] was about to be signed just as Prussian fortresses in Silesia froze and starved. News of Russian prisoners being transferred to Britain and Sweden in exchange for assistance and insistence of Poland's surrender of territories threatened Napoleon to restart the Prussian campaign. Angered, Napoleon restarted the campaign during the winter, but a lack of winter clothing and the prolonged siege of Prussian fortresses stopped planning temporarily. Then, bad news from Spain came with defeat in the Pyrenees following a failed offensive into Catalonia to defeat the remains of the Spanish Army and its encirclement supported by guerrillas and British troops. Under the command of Marshal Davout, the poorly supplied and outnumbered army under his command was defeated at Madrid and the Ebro River in October and retreated without the marshal, who fell into the Ebro River and was captured. The Pyrenees were nearly recaptured in December 1812 by Spain, although they failed to encircle instead. Napoleon was determined to make good use of some reprieve to deal with Spain. Meanwhile, the unexpected news from Prussia were partly the result of Davout's defeat and a crushed revolt in Poland. The truce was to be maintained for one year, in fact, it was only for five or four months.

Napoleon decided to make his move against Prussia first after noticing that Prussia would reject his peace offer in the long run by request and refused the deal. Then, he decided to leave Poland with his Grand Army while the Prussians never surrendered unconditionally to Napoleon after a first attempt due to revolting and the French retreat. British ships made it difficult for many conscripts to fight the Sixth Coalition, but the first 1813 French offensive against Spanish troops began on 20 April and Prussia stabbed Napoleon at the back by retaking fortresses and routing a French Army mostly foreign in ethnicity and demotivated fighting against the remains of the Prussians. Many prisoners of war returned to their nation's side during the liberation of Silesia, Pomerania and West Prussia from 12 May to 20 July from Danzig to Breslau and Berlin was recaptured by 31 July. Another concern was the loss of Russia's offensive capability and the Austrian defeat of remaining Napoleonic German states, with the Austrian Army defeating Wurttemberg's troops and causing former Prussians to fight Napoleon again, prompting a French counteroffensive as a crossing of the Rhine was made in early June 1813. Although the Austrian Army was defeated tactically in the first engagements, it escaped and the French 2nd Grand Army [the 1st sent to campaign in Spain] was pursuing weakened Austrians to Vienna when the final defection of Napoleonic German client states in July had the French Army retreat with skirmishes and minor battles that decreased the Frenchmen. By September, the Rhine was reached and crossed, bringing Napoleon's Spanish Campaign to a close as the army, hampered by guerrillas, fought slowly with supplies overtaking production of military equipment.

By 18 October, the Rhine was crossed and the 2nd French Army was encircled, surrendering in 2 weeks. The last large offensive campaign of the year was to invade Holland and Belgium. During the year's end, Napoleon defeated another Prussian Army, but a combined Spanish-British Army with guerrillas would enter France from the south again and this time, the threat to the mountains were real that Napoleon couldn't exploit his last victories at Paris during the end of 1813 effectively. Over 20 to 26 December 1813, Napoleon defeated the Prussian Army one last time and captured many soldiers, but retreated to Paris just as the Coalition's Pyrenees crossing proved successful with Bordeaux threatened.

On 11 April 1814, the French defence of its Atlantic coast was lost when diversionary amphibious assaults and a landing in Normandy coordinated with an invasion from recently captured Toulouse combined to cut the French Atlantic coast from the rest of France. After 2 months of mopping up, Napoleon was defeated when the coalition forces met at a besieged Paris on 15 June. On 18 June, Napoleon's last breakout attempt to reach Paris saw his defeat and France surrendered 2 days later. What to do with Russia, Denmark-Norway, America and Portugal would be a part of a peace treaty, the other allies of Napoleon having surrendered without significant issues.
 
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