1809 | Political Events
Political Events
The Treaty of the Dardanelles signed at Chanak January 5 by representatives of Britain and the Ottoman Empire affirms the principle that no warship of any nation may enter the Straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus (see Straits Convention, 1841). The treaty is aimed implicitly against Russia, whose Black Sea fleet poses a threat to Britain in the Mediterranean, and it pledges British support for Constantinople in the event of a French declaration of war against the Turks.
French forces under the command of Marshal Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult, 49, duc de Dalmatia, defeat Sir John Moore, now 47, and mortally wound him with grapeshot in the Battle of Corunna (La Coruña) that begins January 16. Moore has advanced into Spain with about 15,000 men, Marshal Soult has about 20,000, and although up to 125,000 Spanish irregulars were supposed to support the British effort they have been of limited value. Threatened by a force estimated to number 70,000, Moore has been obliged to beat a difficult retreat of nearly 250 miles through almost impassable roads across the Cantabrian Mountains to the coast, where General Rowland Hill, 36, helps him put up a last-ditch stand to give his troops time to board transport ships. Moore is criticized for having retreated, but his actions have actually delayed France's conquest of Spain for more than a year. Sir Arthur Wellesley is sent back to Iberia and succeeds Moore as commander of British forces in the Peninsular War (see 1808; 1812).
Napoleon returns from Spain and finds that the Austrians have taken advantage of his absence to push preparations for war against the diminished French forces west of the Rhine. He orders the formation of new battalions to oppose the Austrians.
Austrian foreign minister Ludwig, graf von Cobenzl dies at Vienna February 22 at age 55.
Seven Swedish Army officers break into the royal apartments March 13, seize the insane Gustav IV in a coup d'état led by men who include Carl Henrik, Greve (Count) Anckarsvärd, 36, and conduct him to the château of Gripsholm. A provisional government is proclaimed the same day under the duke of Sudermania. The king abdicates March 29 in hopes of saving the crown for his son, but the estates (dominated by the army) declare May 10 that the whole family has forfeited the throne. The duke, 60, is proclaimed king June 5 and will reign until 1818 as Karl XIII.
Finland becomes a united political nation under Russian suzerainty by terms adopted by the Provoo (Borga) Diet that establishes the framework of the new political entity; Sweden loses Finland to Russia later in the year under terms of the Treaty of Frederikshamn (Hamina), and a bureaucracy selected by the czar will rule Finland until 1863.
Austrian forces cross the Inn April 9, other Austrian regiments advance on Regensburg from Pilsen in Bohemia, while a French army advances on Regensburg under the command of Louis Nicolas Davout, 39, duc d'Auerstaedt.
The emperor Napoleon announces to his wife, Josephine, that he is compelled to divorce her for reasons of state, saying, "I still love you, but in politics there is no heart, only head." She has contributed to his power by attracting the cream of French intellectual society to Malmaison, the Luxembourg Palace, and the Tuileries, but has not borne any children. The emperor's lawyers find a slight technical irregularity (no parish priest was present) in the religious marriage ceremony of December 1, 1804, which they seize upon to have the marriage declared null and void (see 1810).
Napoleon makes his 32-year-old sister Elisa (Marie-Anne Elisa) grand duchess of Tuscany in recognition of the profitable way that she has managed the economy of Lucca since 1805. She travels with her husband, Felix Bacciochi, to Florence, where she establishes a magnificent court in the Pitti Palace.
Scottish-born Royal Navy officer Thomas Cochrane, 33, leads a hazardous fireship attack on a French fleet in the Aix roads in April but the actions of Admiral James Gambier negate the effects of Cochrane's success; Cochrane criticizes the admiral, who is court-martialed and acquitted, Cochrane is awarded the order of the Bath but his demands for reform in the navy and in Parliament antagonize so many people that he will no longer be given sea duty (see 1814).
Austrian forces under the command of the Archduke Charles invade Bavaria in an effort to trap the French Third Corps of Marshal Davout. The Battle of Abensburg 18 miles southwest of Regensburg (Ratisbon) in Bavaria April 19 to 20 gives Napoleon's rapidly assembled, 90,000-man Grand Armée a victory over the 80,000 Austrians, and although the French lose 2,000 killed and wounded, the Austrians lose 2,800 killed and wounded plus 6,000 taken prisoner. Napoleon himself sustains a slight wound in late April while directing an assault on Regensburg but continues to lead French forces against the Austrians. Vienna falls to the French May 12, but the Battle of Aspern (Essling) on the north bank of the Danube five miles west of Vienna May 21 to 22 brings Napoleon his first defeat. The Archduke Charles mounts an Austrian army numbering about 95,000 (including 85,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry, and 300 guns) against Napoleon's Grand Armée of 48,000 infantry, 7,000 cavalry under the command of Jean-Baptiste Bessières, and 144 guns. Some 23,000 of the archduke's army are killed or wounded, Marshal Bessières leads charges to cover the French retreat, but Napoleon loses 21,000 killed or wounded, and the losses include Marshal Jean Lannes, duc de Montebello, who is mortally wounded and dies at Vienna the next day at age 39. The French retreat to the small (one square mile) island of Lobau in the Danube, jamming it with upwards of 100,000 men plus 20,000 wounded but without medical supplies and with few provisions. Napoleon rejects advice to retreat and calls for reinforcements.
Napoleon annexes the Papal States. Pope Pius VII is taken prisoner July 5 and will remain in custody until 1814.
The Battle of Wagram July 5 to 6 ends in victory for the French but at a terrible cost: 23,000 French soldiers killed or wounded, 7,000 missing out of a 181,700-man army that includes 29,000 cavalrymen (whose commander, Marshal Bessières, is severely wounded but is made duc d'Istrie and soon sent to Flanders with orders to halt a British expedition). General Macdonald contributes to the French triumph, which forces an Austrian army of 181,700 (4,600 cavalrymen) under the command of Karl Philipp Schwarzenberg to retreat after losing 19,110 killed or wounded, 6,740 missing (Napoleon makes Macdonald marshal of the empire and duc de Tarente). Austrian statesman Clemens Wenzel Lothar Metternich-Winneburg, 36, is exchanged in July for two French diplomats and is present with the emperor at the Battle of Wagram. He has urged the war against Napoleon, been arrested at Paris in reprisal for Austria's action in interning two members of the French embassy in Hungary, and been conducted to Vienna in June under military guard. Metternich is made Austrian minister of state August 4, leaves soon thereafter for a peace conference at Altenburg, and is appointed minister of foreign affairs October 8 to begin a 40-year career in that post, but he has no hand in the Treaty of Schönbrunn, signed October 14, ending hostilities between France and Austria, which joins Napoleon's Continental system. Field Marshal Schwarzenberg persuades Russia's Aleksandr I to postpone any move to support France.
Sir Arthur Wellesley defeats the Spanish king Joseph Bonaparte July 27 to 28 at Talavera de la Reina with General Rowland Hill commanding a corps that covers his southern flank. Supported by 33,000 Spaniards under the command of General Gregoria de la Cuesta, Wellesley's 21,441 men outnumber the enemy's force of 46,138, which includes French troops under the command of Marshal Claude Victor. Wellesley's Spanish allies take little part in the action, British losses total 801 killed and 3,915 wounded as compared to 761 killed, 6,391 wounded, and 206 missing on the French side. Wellesley's army is too exhausted to follow up on its victory; he himself is raised to the peerage as Viscount Wellington in recognition of his triumph, but he learns August 3 that a French army under the command of Marshal Soult threatens his line of communications and withdraws into Portugal (see 1810).
British prime minister Cavendish Bentinck, 3rd duke of Portland, resigns for reasons of health October 4 after 2½ years in office and dies at his native Bulstrode, Buckinghamshire, October 30 at age 71. He is succeeded October 4 by London-born chancellor of the Exchequer Spencer Perceval, 47, who will head the government until his assassination in 1812, exhibiting strong religious intolerance and opposing with special vehemence the notion of Catholic emancipation.
The Treaty of Amritsar in India checks the advance of a Sikh confederacy under Ranjit Singh, 29, and fixes the East India Company's northwest territorial border at the Sutlej River (see 1845). British Governor General Gilbert Elliot has devised the treaty after using a show of force to prevent the Pindari bandit leader Amir Khan from interfering in Berar.
Siam's king Phraphutthayotfa Chulalok dies at Bangkok September 7 at age 72 after a 27-year reign that has established the Chakri dynasty that will rule with absolute power until 1932. Having repelled Burmese attacks in 1785, 1786, 1787, 1797, and 1801, established military supremacy throughout the central part of the Indochinese peninsula, strengthened the nation's administrative system, and undertaken the first complete codification of Siamese law, he is given the posthumous name Rama I and is succeeded by his eldest son, Phutthaloetla Naphalai, 41, who will reign until 1824 and (after 1815) permit a renewal of official contacts with foreigners.
Colonists at La Plata (later Sucre) in the Real Audiencia of Charcas proclaim independence from Spain May 25 and rebel against Spanish domination; the first such rebellion, it begins a bloody war of liberation (see 1810; Bolivia, 1825).
Spain recognizes Puerto Rico as an overseas province with the right to send representatives to the government at Madrid (see 1868).
British naval forces recapture the French Caribbean island of Martinique that they gave up 7 years ago after nearly 8 years of occupation and that they will now hold until 1814.
President Madison takes the oath of office at Washington, D.C., March 4 and outgoing president Thomas Jefferson rides off to Monticello, never to see Washington again.
Former British colonial governor John Murray, 4th earl of Dunmore, dies at Ramsgate March 5 at age 76; political theorist Thomas Paine at New York June 8 at age 72. His alleged atheism has caused him to be ostracized for years, the only organized religion he has admired is the Society of Friends but the Quakers refuse to bury him, and his remains are returned for burial to his native England by William Cobbett.
The territory of Illinois is cut from Indiana Territory and established February 3 as a separate territory (see Michigan Territory, 1805; Illinois statehood, 1818).