The French invasion was fraught with horror and difficulty. Thousands were lost in bloody guerilla warfare; Spanish partisans attacked on all sides. However, by November, they were on the doorstep of Madrid. The Spanish royal family fled to Granada, leaving their capital to be besieged and shelled. French reinforcements filtered in across the Pyrenees and secured the rear territory of the main army in Aragon.
On December 10, Louis-Philippe was acclaimed King of Spain, though he remained in his self-imposed exile at Orleans. As French juggernaut marched on, the Spanish royal family took sail and fled first to North Africa, and then in April they fled to Mexico. Portugal, nearby, remained steadfastly neutral, much to the chagrin of the British monarchies. The Portuguese remembered the Spanish invasion scarcely five years before, and did not want a repeat of that disaster.
The Bourbon King of Spain, Charles IV, died of disease en route to Mexico and his son, Ferdinand, was acclaimed King upon the shores of the Yucatan. He set up his court in Mexico City around March.
Meanwhile, in South America, Spanish Crown forces destroyed the Venezuelan rebels and hemmed them in around Caracas. The tenacious rebels in La Plata and Chile could not be defeated so easily, and repulsed a Peruvian assault in May of 1806.
Francis of Austria had to be again restrained from declaring war upon France; Emperor Charles would not let this petty man risk the peace he had built in the Empire. Francis, hemmed in on most sides by close allies of the Emperor, relented.
In October, British troops in Nubia, newly transferred from India, made headway into Southern Egypt. Riding and sailing along the Nile, an army of 55,000 men marched on Cairo, laying siege to it. French forces in North Egypt marched to repulse them, but retreated upon the artillery barrage of the British cannons and congreve rockets. Cairo fell to Britain on November 1.
The British generals planned to march on Alexandria next.
In early 1807, King Henry IX of England and Ireland died; he was succeeded by his official heir, Charlotte. Within months, George III of Great Britain was also dead, succumbing to porphyry, and was succeeded by Prince-Regent George Augustus. Great Britain became a joint dominion of the royal couple. The heir-presumptive to the whole pie was George IV's brother, William.
An Act of Parliament from both kingdoms made each others' monarch joint ruler of the other; in effect, they functioned like Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile-Aragon. Though separate kingdoms, and they each from different thrones, they became joint sovereigns of the entirety.
In March of 1807, British forces at Gibraltar managed to repulse an imminent French siege, and with assistance from Spanish loyalists, invaded Granada. However, success could not be matched in Northern Egypt. Two assaults on Alexandria were repulsed. The only shining light in the Aegean theatre was the capture of Crete in late May.
In August, the childless Duke of Lorraine, Archduke Charles of Austria, declared that on the event of him dying without a child, the Duke-Elector of Champagne, Charles-Philippe, would be his heir. This declaration was brought on by his struggle with epilepsy.
Around the same time, a large American force occupied and annexed all of the remaining parts of Louisiana. Britain, their steadfast ally, consented.
The autumn and winter periods of the year formed a lull in the conflict; it seemed like the many exhausted parties to the war had to pause and breathe. Murat issued another levy, raising even more men for the war in Spain, which was quickly becoming a meatgrinder for the French army. Greece had yet to be attacked.
That all changed in January of 1808. The Ottomans joined the struggle.
On December 10, Louis-Philippe was acclaimed King of Spain, though he remained in his self-imposed exile at Orleans. As French juggernaut marched on, the Spanish royal family took sail and fled first to North Africa, and then in April they fled to Mexico. Portugal, nearby, remained steadfastly neutral, much to the chagrin of the British monarchies. The Portuguese remembered the Spanish invasion scarcely five years before, and did not want a repeat of that disaster.
The Bourbon King of Spain, Charles IV, died of disease en route to Mexico and his son, Ferdinand, was acclaimed King upon the shores of the Yucatan. He set up his court in Mexico City around March.
Meanwhile, in South America, Spanish Crown forces destroyed the Venezuelan rebels and hemmed them in around Caracas. The tenacious rebels in La Plata and Chile could not be defeated so easily, and repulsed a Peruvian assault in May of 1806.
Francis of Austria had to be again restrained from declaring war upon France; Emperor Charles would not let this petty man risk the peace he had built in the Empire. Francis, hemmed in on most sides by close allies of the Emperor, relented.
In October, British troops in Nubia, newly transferred from India, made headway into Southern Egypt. Riding and sailing along the Nile, an army of 55,000 men marched on Cairo, laying siege to it. French forces in North Egypt marched to repulse them, but retreated upon the artillery barrage of the British cannons and congreve rockets. Cairo fell to Britain on November 1.
The British generals planned to march on Alexandria next.
In early 1807, King Henry IX of England and Ireland died; he was succeeded by his official heir, Charlotte. Within months, George III of Great Britain was also dead, succumbing to porphyry, and was succeeded by Prince-Regent George Augustus. Great Britain became a joint dominion of the royal couple. The heir-presumptive to the whole pie was George IV's brother, William.
An Act of Parliament from both kingdoms made each others' monarch joint ruler of the other; in effect, they functioned like Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile-Aragon. Though separate kingdoms, and they each from different thrones, they became joint sovereigns of the entirety.
In March of 1807, British forces at Gibraltar managed to repulse an imminent French siege, and with assistance from Spanish loyalists, invaded Granada. However, success could not be matched in Northern Egypt. Two assaults on Alexandria were repulsed. The only shining light in the Aegean theatre was the capture of Crete in late May.
In August, the childless Duke of Lorraine, Archduke Charles of Austria, declared that on the event of him dying without a child, the Duke-Elector of Champagne, Charles-Philippe, would be his heir. This declaration was brought on by his struggle with epilepsy.
Around the same time, a large American force occupied and annexed all of the remaining parts of Louisiana. Britain, their steadfast ally, consented.
The autumn and winter periods of the year formed a lull in the conflict; it seemed like the many exhausted parties to the war had to pause and breathe. Murat issued another levy, raising even more men for the war in Spain, which was quickly becoming a meatgrinder for the French army. Greece had yet to be attacked.
That all changed in January of 1808. The Ottomans joined the struggle.