Napoleon Bonaparte's army was thought of as being invincible throughout the whole of Europe. However Britain's successful Peninsular campaign proved that this was wrong. The British army however did not fight alone and for most of the earlier years of the wars other armies were paid subsidies to fight for the British. The powerful Prussian and Austrian armies also helped for the British cause.
Another force that was stronger than the army was the power of the British navy. The British navy as in strong tradition was regarded as the strongest throughout the world. Britain paid particular attention to its naval power as it could protect against invasion and also protected its merchant ships from enemy attack. The navy was particularly big as many "press gangs" operated around British ports. These press gangs would drag unwilling men onto the ships to join the navy, once on board these men would be conscripted to the navy for numerous years. Although these men would be unwilling to fight once onboard, this was solved by harsh and brutal officers bullying the men into fighting. Flogging was a popular punishment among the officers. One of the most successful naval admirals was Horatio Nelson. His most famous battle was at Trafalgar, where he also lost his life. He dominated the seas with his fleet, resulting in the French losing their naval supremacy in the Mediterranean. In order for Napoleon to invade Britain he would need the British Channel to be clear of British fleets, although the British were strong and Napoleon failed to make a break through in their naval domination.
The Napoleonic Wars came bang in the middle of the Industrial Revolution. Britain's profit was rising, resulting in plenty of money to be spent on the war. The war was very expensive for Britain and ended William Pitt's attempts at clearing Britain's debts. In 1798 Pitt introduced income tax, income was to prove unpopular but rational solution to cover the cost of the war and most people only accepted it as it was promised to be only a temporary wartime measure. Although it only raised half of the money Pitt had intended to make annually. Britain had been criticised by its people for the poor use of subsidies for its allies, of who relied heavily on the borrowing to fund their war cause.
Napoleon realised that a successful invasion of Britain would be unlikely and instead turned to economic warfare. The Berlin decree of November 1807 threatened to close all European ports to British trade, this is known as the Continental System. However it was impossible to close off the whole of Europe. Parts of the Baltic and Portugal were open to trade, and Russian ports opened up in 1810 when Alexander I realised the threat posed by Napoleon and France. Napoleaon could not close off Britain's trade to the rest of the world and this is where Britain focused much of its attention.
All of these aspects were major factors in the defeat of Napoleon, however Napoleon in many cases caused his own downfall. In many cases he underestimated Britain and its allies strength. An unsuccessful Peninsular War and costly Russian Campaign weakened his position in Europe. After this the allies were all together and at war with France at the same time, Castlereagh believed the French would be beaten if they all stayed together for long enough. Castlereagh knew that Europe would not rest until France had been totally defeated. Napoleon was abdicated to Elba in 1814; this resulted in a new map being drawn up for the whole of Europe, with the intention of satisfying every nation including France. However Napoleon returned in March 1815 with the intent of regaining power, but he was defeated at the battle of Waterloo in June. This campaign made no real difference to the peace process. Napoleon was again exiled to the island of St. Helena, where he eventually died in 1821.
Bibliography
The Forging of a Modern State - Eric J. Evans
Website - http://homepages.tesco.net/~plk33/plk33/History/FeaturesEurope/FranceNapoleonic1.htm