"…In 1808, war had been raging in Europe for over 10 years. Despite this, Norway was a peaceful province in the northern corner of Europe. From 1796, in what we call the Napoleonic Wars, gigantic battles had been fought in many places in Europe, and countries had been conquered and alliances forged, with the French Emperor Napoleon on one side, and the various European Kings and nobility on the other. The alliances kept changing, and the Kingdom of Denmark/Norway had walked a tight rope trying to stay out of the wars in Europe.
Napoleon had fought battles since 1796 when he beat a combined Austrian and Sardinian force in the battle of Montenotte in Italy, via the battle of Austerlitz (1805), Jena (1806) and others. He had even led the French army to Egypt and fought the mamelukes in the Battle of the Pyramids, but was later beaten by the English in the Battle of Abukir Bay in 1798. In addition to being forced to leaving a large army in Africa, he lost almost his entire fleet.
Napoleon bounced back – raised new armies and conquered almost the entire Europe in a few years. After the peace at Tilsit in 1807, where Russia signed a peace agreement with France, only England and Sweden remained enemies of Napoleon. This put Denmark/Norway in a difficult position; if they chose to support England; French troops would march into Denmark. If they chose to support Napoleon, the English navy would blockade the ports of Denmark/Norway. England was a very important trade partner for Norway at the time, and the English put considerable pressure on the Danish king to become an ally of England. When the king hesitated, the English took matters into their own hands by the bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807 and the great fleet robbery, where most of the Danish/Norwegian fleet was captured and brought to England. This was not the first time the English had attacked Copenhagen; the first attack occurred in 1801, when the fleet was bombarded outside Copenhagen until it was largely just driftwood left of the Danish/Norwegian fleet…"
Main page
link
Interesting for those who want to wargame with ski forces…
Amicalement
Armand