Hello and welcome to a History of Europe Ki-Battles podcast.

This is the Napoleonic Wars Part 2.

The Napoleon. Last week I covered the early months of the Napoleonic Wars of 1803 to 1815, including a British naval victory over the French at Trafalgar and a major French victory against the Austrians of the Battle of Alstelitz.

The podium was subsequently able to force Vienna

into a humiliating peace agreement in December 1805.

Music 1805. The The

The Austria's demise meant that pressure now became vulnerable to Napoleon's ambition

and so made efforts to reach a settlement.

The Treaty of Schoenbun in December 1805, together with various follow-up agreements imposed by France,

committed Prussia not only to a comprehensive agreement with Napoleon, but also to the

annexation of Hanover and the closure of northern seaports to British shipping.

Frederick William of Prussia saw that this would mean a huge loss of customs revenue

and severely damage his kingdom's economic prosperity

and also mean war with Britain.

But he was most frightened of France and of his kingdom suffering the same fate as Austria.

Anxious to avoid a conflict with Russia and worried about his kingdom becoming a French satellite,

Frederick William also pursued a secret policy of Rapportemont with St. Petersburg, but nothing concrete was agreed.

He was also afraid to hear rumours in the summer of 1806 the Napoleon was offering the electorate of Hanover to the British in return for peace.

A sense of national humiliation for Prussia, coupled with a growing appreciation that the kingdom was effectively becoming a French satellite,

whose fate could be determined by the whim of Napoleon,

finally drove the Prussians to war.

Frederick William III mobilised and sent an ultimatum to Paris,

...