Revisiting Napoleon's continental system
Subtitle: local, regional and European experiences
By: edited by Katherine B. Aaslestad, Professor of History, West Virginia University, USA and Johan Joor, Honorary Fellow, International Institute of Social History, The Netherlands
Series: War, culture and society, 1750-1850
Publisher: Springer; Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 290
ISBN-13: 9781137345561
Subjects: Politics and government; Commerce; BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economic History; HISTORY / Military / Naval; HISTORY / Europe / General; Economic conditions; Continental System (Economic blockade); HISTORY / Modern / 19th Century; Economic aspects; HISTORY / Modern / 18th Century; Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815; History
Description: "Napoleonic warfare spread to the high seas, harbors and marketplaces across Europe and the Atlantic through the Continental System. This volume addresses the illicit commerce, new merchant networks, 'daily life', and tensions with neutral states generated by Anglo-French economic warfare. It also reveals the contradictions inherent in the Napoleonic Empire - at once rational and progressive, but also coercive and exploitative. Regional and urban case studies offer a more complete understanding of the significance of economic warfare during the Napoleonic era, and explore the experiences and consequences of the conflict through several key themes: a re-evaluation of the historiography of the Continental System, the uneven power triangle of the French, British and neutral powers, and  the strategies of merchants and smugglers to adapt to or circumvent the system. Transnational case studies underscore the vulnerability and ingenuity of Europeans as they faced transformative social and economic challenges. "--
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note:; title: Introduction: Revisiting Napoleon's Continental System: New Directions; Katherine B. AaslestadPART I: LOOKING FORWARD AND BACKWARD: HISTORIOGRAPHY OF AND ORIGINS OF THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM1. The Continental System Revisited; Geoffrey Ellis2. French Representations of the Continental Blockade; Annie Jourdan3. Russia and the Continental System: Trends in Russian Historiography; Alexandre Tchoudinov 4. Speculations and Embargoes on the Grain Trade at the Time of the Revolutionary Wars (1792-1795); Pierrick PourchassePART II: REGIONAL APPROACHES TO THE PRACTICE AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE CONTINENTAL SYSTEM 5. The Continental System: A View from the Sea; Silvia Marzagalli 6. The Kingdom of Italy and the Continental Blockade; Alexander Grab 7. Rhine River Commerce and the Continental System; Robert Mark SpauldingPART III: ADAPTING TO ECONOMIC WARFARE: NEW NETWORKS AND ILLICIT TRADE 8. Trading Networks across the Blockades; Margrit Schulte Beerbühl. 9. Smuggling and Blockade-Running During the Anglo-Danish War 1807-1814; Jann M. Witt 10. Defying the Continental System in the Periphery: Political Strategies and Protests by Norwegian Magnates; Bård Frydenlund 11. Economic Warfare, Organised Crime, and the Collapse of Napoleon's Empire; Michael RowePART IV: URBAN EXPERIENCES AND THE NAPOLEONIC CONTINENTAL SYSTEM 12. Experiencing the Continental System in the Cities of French Atlantic; Alan Forrest 13. Choices and Opportunities amidst Economic Warfare; 14. Riga Export Trade at the Time of the Continental System, 1807-1812; Anita Cerpinska15. Significance and Consequences of the Continental System for Napoleonic Holland, especially for Amsterdam; Johan JoorSelect Bibliography.