The Continental System

http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/concepts_continentalsystem.html

On Friday 21st November 1806 Napoleon Bonaparte issued the Berlin decrees which marked the start of what became to be known as the Continental System. With his European foes defeated Napoleon sought a way to silence his British enemy. A military solution was not viable so he decided to try and use trade. The Continental System was a blockade aimed at denying the British any trading access to ports in Europe, theoretically destroying British trade and denying them the money they needed to fund Napoleons enemies on mainland Europe. Although in theory it seemed a good idea and if it had worked could have ended theNapoleonic Wars, in practice it proved unworkable and led Napoleon into the Peninsular War and most disastrously into the 1812 invasion of Russia which would eventually lead to his defeat