Napoleonic Wars (1803–15) - events

21 October 1805	UK, France, Spain, Italy	A Royal Navy fleet commanded by the English admiral Horatio Nelson defeats the combined Franco-Spanish fleet under Vice Admiral Pierre Villeneuve in the Battle of Trafalgar. Nelson is mortally wounded in the action, but the battle confirms Britain's naval superiority and removes any possibility of a French invasion of Britain.
2 December 1805	France, Russian Empire, Austria	The French emperor Napoleon I entices the much larger Russo-Austrian forces ranged against him to overextend themselves before effecting a crushing defeat upon them in the Battle of Austerlitz, in Moravia.
15 February 1806	France, Naples	French troops enter Naples, Italy. Napoleon I's brother, Joseph Bonaparte, immediately begins administrative reform in the Italian kingdom.
14 October 1806	France, Prussia, Saxony	The French emperor Napoleon I decisively defeats the Prussians under Prince Hohenlohe at Jena in Saxony; Marshal Louis Davout simultaneously defeats the Saxons under the Duke of Brunswick at Auerstadt, also in Saxony.
8 February 1807	France, Russian Empire, Prussia	The French emperor Napoleon I's army catches up with the retreating Russian and Prussian forces at Eylau in eastern Prussia; an indecisive battle causes heavy losses to both sides.
12 May 1809	UK, France, Portugal	British forces under Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington) defeat the French under Marshal Nicolas-Jean Soult at Oporto and force them to retreat from Portugal.
5–6 July 1809	France, Austrian Empire	The French emperor Napoleon I defeats the Austrian army under Archduke Charles in the Battle of Wagram, near Vienna, although the Austrian army retreats in good order.
28 July 1809	UK, France, Spain	The British soldier and statesman Arthur Wellesley is victorious at the Battle of Talavera in Spain over the French who afterwards fall back to Madrid. Wellesley is subsequently created Duke of Wellington.
22 July 1812	UK, France, Spain, Portugal	British forces, under Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, decisively defeat the French, under Marshal Auguste Marmont, on the Spanish–Portuguese border at Salamanca, and subsequently advance into Spain.
7 September 1812	Russian Empire, France	The Russian army, now under the command of Marshal Mikhail Ilarionovich Kutuzov are defeated by the French Grande Armée at the Battle of Borodino, and are obliged to retreat and abandon the Russian capital, Moscow. Emperor Napoleon I makes a significant mistake in failing to mobilize his reserves and destroy the retreating army.
5 December 1812	France, Russian Empire	Hearing news of the coup against him, the French emperor Napoleon I leaves his troops under the command of Marshal Joachim Murat in Russia and sets out for Paris (where he arrives on 18 December). The remnants of his Grande Armée struggle back to France, a bare 10,000 effective troops remaining from the 500,000 who set out for Moscow.
21 June 1813	UK, France, Spain	British forces under the Duke of Wellington (Arthur Wellesley) completely rout the French army of Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdain at Vittoria in northern Spain, forcing Joseph Bonaparte to flee back to France.
16–19 October 1813	France, Prussia, Austrian Empire, Russian Empire, Saxony, Confederation of the Rhine, Westphalia	Opposed by the Prussian army in the northwest and Austro-Russian forces in the south, the French army under the emperor Napoleon I is heavily defeated in the ‘Battle of the Nations’ at Leipzig in Saxony, and retreats. Allied victory leads to the dissolution of the Confederation of the Rhine (the association of German states under French protection) and of the kingdom of Westphalia.
11 April 1814	France, Italy	By the Treaty of Fontainebleau, the French emperor Napoleon I abdicates unconditionally and is banished to the principality of Elba, an island off the west coast of Italy, on an annuity of 2,000,000 francs. Queen Marie-Louise is given the duchies of Gustalla, Parma, and Piacenza.
1 March 1815	France	Napoleon I, having escaped from the island of Elba, lands in the south of France at Cannes and marches on the capital, Paris, with growing support.
25 March 1815	Austrian Empire, UK, Prussia, Russian Empire, France, Europe	Austria, Britain, Prussia, and Russia form the Fifth Coalition against Napoleon I to maintain the established order in Europe. Each agrees to send 150,000 men into the field.
18 June 1815	France, UK, Belgium, Prussia, Netherlands	Napoleon I of France, having pursued the Anglo-Dutch army of Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, engages it in the decisive Battle of Waterloo, near the Belgian village of that name, south of Brussels. Wellington manages to hold back the French attack until the Prussian army under General Gebhard von Blücher, having avoided pursuit by a French detachment under Marshal Emmanuel de Grouchy, begins to arrive in the late afternoon. As the Prussians begin to attack the French right flank, Wellington orders a counterattack, forcing the French into a retreat which soon turns into a rout.