V.

Confederation of the Rhine

In Italy, where French forces under Masséna had defeated the Austrians under Charles Louis John, Napoleon made his elder brother, Joseph Bonaparte, king of Naples in 1806. Elsewhere in Europe, he made his third brother, Louis Bonaparte, king of Holland (the former Batavian Republic); and on July 12 he established the Confederation of the Rhine, which eventually consisted of all the states of Germany except Austria, Prussia, Brunswick, and Hessen. The formation of the Confederation put an end to the Holy Roman Empire and brought most of Germany under Napoleon's control. His continental successes, however, were largely offset by the victory on October 21, 1805, off Cape Trafalgar, of the British under Admiral Horatio Nelson over the combined fleets of France and Spain. This victory gave Britain mastery of the sea throughout the remainder of the Napoleonic era. In 1806 economic warfare between Britain and France was initiated. Napoleon formulated his so-called Continental System, issuing decrees, in 1806 and later, forbidding British trade with all European nations. Britain retaliated with the Orders of Council, which in effect prohibited neutrals from trading between the ports of any nations obeying Napoleon's decrees. British mastery of the sea made it difficult for Napoleon to enforce the Continental System and resulted eventually in the failure of his economic policy for Europe.