Political and Economic factors of the Napoleonic Wars (1)

Question 1

Who was William Pitt the Younger and when did he hold power?

Answer 1

• A successful British peacetime Prime Minister who restored Britains finances after the American War of Independence
• He had Henry Dundas as his secretory of state for war and Lord Grenville as his foreign secretary
• 1783 - 1801

Question 2

Who was in the First Coalition and how did Pitt hold them together?

Answer 2

• 1793, Britain, Austria, Prussia, The Netherlands, Spain and Sardinia against revolutionary France
• Large British subsidies held it together till 1797
• There was also a second coalition negotiated by Pitt but they both fell due to French military success

Question 3

The Whigs hated Pitt, but what caused them to side with his Government?

Answer 3

• They disliked the sympathetic view of leading Whig Charles James Fox to the French revolution
• This caused them to join the side of the Government, keeping the Whigs from any long term power

Question 4

Why did Pitt resign during his first time as PM and who replaced him?

Answer 4

• 1801 resigned due to King George III’s opposition to his measure relaxing rules of disallowing Catholics from the armed forces
• Was replaced by Henry Addington

Question 5

What did Henry Addington do, why was this a fatal mistake?

Answer 5

• Made peace with the French at Amiens in March 1802
• Britain now had to return all their overseas possessions captured back to them
• War recommenced in May 1803, caused uproar and Pitt criticised him greatly for the Earl of St Vincents naval administration

Question 6

What did Henry Dundas become in 1802?

Answer 6

• Be was ennobled and became Lord Melville, the first lord of the admiralty

Question 7

When did Pitt return as PM after resigning? What were his first moves?

Answer 7

• Returned in 1803
• Third Coalition in 1805 with Austria and Russia was formed
• Lord Melville reversed St Vincents policies
• Store contracts were quickly renewed and private contractors were employed to repair and build ships

Question 8

When did Pitt die, and why did Melville have to resign too?

Answer 8

• Pitt died in January 1806
• Melville had to resign in 1805 due to a monetary scandal

Question 9

Who’s government came after Pitt’s and what were they nicknamed?

Answer 9

• Feb 1806 Grenville and Charles James Fox (Whig Leader) took control
• They were nicknamed the ‘Ministry of All Talents’ ironically by their opponents as they seemed to ‘comprehend all the talents and character in public life’
• Their efforts to mark peace with Napoleon came to nothing

Question 10

What caused the end of the ‘Ministry of All Talents’ government?

Answer 10

• Grenville tried to revive Pitt’s 1801 initiative to invite Catholics to join the military services
• King George was not having it and Grenville resigned

Question 11

Who’s Government came into power after the ‘Ministry of All Talents’? Who had a duel in the gov causing them to resign?

Answer 11

• Duke of Portland as PM, Castlereigh as Secretary of State for war, Canning as foreign secretary and Lord Mulgrave at Admiralty
• Canning tried to get Castlereigh demoted as he wanted to be PM
• A duel between them both happened in Sep 1809 and both men resigned after Canning was shot in the thigh

Question 12

Who replaced Portland as PM after he died in Oct 1809?

Answer 12

• Spencer Perceval, a capable leader who funded the war well in hard times, e.g Spain and Portugal
• His time was made hard by King George III’s mind slowing down in 1810

Question 13

During Perceval’s time in government who’s role was formalised, what did this lead to?

Answer 13

• Georges son, Prince Regent was given power in Feb 1811 due to King George being cray cray
• He was not to do anything irreversible for a year
• He backed the tories in 1812 despite his friendship with the Whigs, an act of common sense according to Roger Knight

Question 14

What happened to Spencer Perceval?

Answer 14

• He was assassinated in May 1812 in the lobby of the House of Commons
• He was replaced by Lord Liverpool who remained in power till 1827

Question 15

What was patronage and why was it hurting Government Bureaucracy?

Answer 15

• Patronage is the process of bestowing jobs and offices
• Growing scale and complexity of the war put an enormous strain on the bureaucratic system
• Patronage led to men with inadequate skills being appointed or promoted

Question 16

What were the two commissions: Commission of Naval Revision and Commission of Military Enquiry. What did these do?

Answer 16

• Lengthy Parliamentary commissions which exposed corruption and administrative incompetence of the navy and army
• Commission led to a change in ways, money was saved and sinecure diminished so younger and more able men rose to the top - solving patronage

Question 17

How did relations between gov officials and private contractors improve in 1806?

Answer 17

• A sophisticated contract system was used
• Enabled gov officials who ran the treasury, army, ordnance etc together with officers to maintain and control quality

Question 17

How did relations between gov officials and private contractors improve in 1806?

Answer 17

• A sophisticated contract system was used
• Enabled gov officials who ran the treasury, army, ordnance etc together with officers to maintain and control quality

Question 18

Between 1793 and 1815, how many PM’s and foreign secretaries did Britain have?

Answer 18

• 6 British PM”s
• 10 Foreign Secretaries

Question 19

How were loans used to finance the war?

Answer 19

• 1793 Pitt assumed the war was short snd paid for it using vast sums from the City of London
• The Bank of England and the Banking House of Abraham Goldsmid made it apparent that borrowing alone would not be sufficient

Question 20

What unpopular tax helped fund the war greatly?

Answer 20

• Income Tax instated in 1799 to anyone who earned more than £60 a year
• Raised £155 million by 1815
• An additional £12 million each year was extracted due to tax

Question 21

What were other forms of tax, apart from income tax and how much did they help?

Answer 21

• 21 new goods and services were taxed during the war, e.g salt, beer etc
• Taxes on spirits yielded £51 million over the war time years

Question 22

How did the City of London help the government during war time?

Answer 22

• Mutual dependance of politicians, merchants and bankers, most politicians were bankers, merchants etc
• Government borrowed money from the City and bought commodities from merchants who used warships to help them escort and protect themselves from enemy privateers
• No City in the world had the reach of London and it was the centre of worldwide markets, lots of merchants and continental bankers came to London to escape the Napoleonic blockade

Question 23

How many merchants in the City of London were Continental mateys? Who was a notable German banker that had great effects on Wellingtons campaign?

Answer 23

• By 1815, 2/3 of all merchants in the City were of Continental origin
• Nathan Meyers Rothschild, German banker organised finance for Wellingtons advance in Spain and France 1813-14

Question 24

After Hansard printed annual public expenditure of the Gov, what were their expenses totalled to in 1811, and how much of a deficit were they in?

Answer 24

• Their expenditure was £85 million, with £43 million on the army, navy and ordnance
• There was still a spending deficit of around £16 million meaning the Gov relied on loans in the short term

Question 25

Grenville believed the Brits could not fund the army nor their coalitions, how did the Tories prove him wrong with subsidies?

Answer 25

• Portland, Perceval and Liverpool funded Wellingtons army in the Peninsular, and subsidised their allies to keep the coalitions alive against Napoleon
• 1793 and 1815 nearly £66 million was paid in subsidies

Question 26

What was the annual growth rate of Britains economy between 1783 and 1802?

Answer 26

6%

Question 27

How did Britain experience industrial growth between the years 1793 and 1813?

Answer 27

• Cotton production increased threefold
• Iron and Steel manufacturing output increased fourfold

Question 28

How were more efficient steam engines growing in popularity in London to boost industrial growth?

Answer 28

• 1805, 112 steam engines
• This began to be used in manufacturing

Question 29

During the war where did Britain import its grain from and why did this trigger growth in their own agriculture?

Answer 29

• They imported it from northern Europe and North America
• High wartime prices for foodstuff encouraged farming and investment into the farming industry

Question 30

What was done to land to increase agricultural output during the war?

Answer 30

• Common and waste land was cultivated causing more corn output
• Corn output increased by over a fifth between 1790 and 1810

Question 31

What was he Board of Agriculture and Internal improvement?

Answer 31

• A board chaired by John Sinclair and secretary Arthur Young
• They encouraged improvements in breeding, crop rotation and ploughing techniques

Question 32

Development of what decreased the cost of transporting bulk goods?

Answer 32

• Opening up of many canals
• The Grand Junction Canal joined the Midlands to London and was operational by 1805