Trading Networks across the Blockades: Nathan Mayer Rothschild and His Commodity Trade during the Early Years of the Blockades

Abstract

Napoleon’s Continental Blockade tried to strangle Britain’s trade with continental Europe after 1806- As things turned our, Napoleon did not reach his aim- On the contrary, Britain emerged as the leading commer- cial power at the end of the wars. For generations British historians have explained Britain’s victory by referring to its naval power. Indeed, the tw^To-hundredth anniversary of Nelsons victory at Trafalgar in 2005 gave that line of research a new stimulus and directed scholarly interests to new aspects of research such as the role of the fiscal military state in financing the wars or the contractors who supplied and organized the supply of food for the navy in the remotest parts of the world.¹ So far, little has been said about the covert trade to continental Europe during the Napoleonic wars. There is some popular literature on smuggling, but there arc few academic contributions.²