| Battle of Copenhagen | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theGunboat War and theNapoleonic Wars | |||||||
 A painting of the British bombardment byChristoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 United Kingdom |  Denmark–Norway | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 James GambierLord Cathcart |  Ernst Peymann  | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 25,000 | 10,000 18 ships of the line 16 frigates 9 brigs 26 gunboats | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 42 killed 145 wounded 24 missing[1] | 3,000 18 ships of the line captured 16 frigates captured 9 brigs captured 26 gunboats captured[1] | ||||||
| 195 civilians killed and 768 wounded | |||||||
 | |||||||
TheBattle of Copenhagen (also known as theBombardment of Copenhagen) (16 August – 7 September 1807) was a British bombardment of the Danish capital,Copenhagen, in order to capture or destroy theRoyal Dano-Norwegian Navy during theNapoleonic Wars. The incident led to the outbreak of theAnglo-Russian War of 1807, which ended with theTreaty of Örebro in 1812. The attack on Denmark, a neutral country, was heavily criticised in Danish sources.[2]
Britain's response to Napoleon'sContinental System was to launch a naval attack on Denmark who had been breaking the blockade against Napoleon’s regime. Although neutral, Denmark continued to use their navy to trade under blockade and were under pressure to pledge its fleet to Napoleon. In September 1807, the Royal Navy bombarded Copenhagen, seizing the Danish fleet and assured use of the sea lanes in theNorth Sea andBaltic Sea for the British merchant fleet and reduced Napoleon’s influence in the Baltic. A consequence of the attack was that Denmark did join the Continental System and the war on the side of France, but without a fleet it had little to offer.[3]
The attack gave rise to the term toCopenhagenize as a reference to the pre-emptive seizure of a nation's fleet while it was anchored.[citation needed]
Despite the defeat and loss of many ships in the firstBattle of Copenhagen in 1801, Denmark-Norway, possessingJutland,Norway,Greenland,Schleswig-Holstein,Iceland and several smaller territories, still maintained a considerable navy. The majority of theDanish Army, under theCrown Prince, was at this time defending the southern border against possible attack from the French.
There was concern in Britain thatNapoleon might try to force Denmark to close theBaltic Sea to British ships, perhaps by marching French troops intoZealand. The British believed that access to the Baltic was "vitally important to Britain" for trade as well as a major source of necessary raw materials for building and maintaining warships and that it gave the Royal Navy access to help Britain's allies Sweden and (beforeTilsit) Russia against France.[4] The British thought that afterPrussia hadbeen defeated in December 1806, Denmark's independence looked increasingly under threat from France.George Canning's predecessor asForeign Secretary,Lord Howick, had tried unsuccessfully to persuade Denmark into a secret alliance with Britain and Sweden.[5]
On 21 January 1807,Lord Hawkesbury told the House of Lords that he had received information from someone on the Continent "that there were secret engagements in the Treaty of Tilsit to employ the navies of Denmark and Portugal against this country".[6] He refused to publish the source because he said it would endanger their lives.[7]
The reports of French diplomats and merchants in northern Europe made the British government uneasy, and by mid-July, the British believed that the French intended to invadeHolstein in order to use Denmark against Britain. Some reports suggested that the Danes had secretly agreed to this. The Cabinet decided to act, and on 14 JulyLord Mulgrave obtained from the King permission to send a naval force of 21 to 22 ships to theKattegat for surveillance of the Danish navy in order to pursue "prompt and vigorous operations" if that seemed necessary. The Cabinet decided on 18 July to sendFrancis Jackson on a secret mission to Copenhagen to persuade Denmark to give its fleet to Britain. That same day, theAdmiralty issued an order for more than 50 ships to sail for "particular service" under AdmiralJames Gambier. On 19 July,Lord Castlereagh, theSecretary of State for War and the Colonies, ordered GeneralLord Cathcart atStralsund to go with his troops to theSound where they would get reinforcements.[8]
During the night of 21/22 July, Canning received intelligence from Tilsit that Napoleon had tried to persuadeAlexander I of Russia to form a maritime league with Denmark and Portugal against Britain.Spencer Perceval, theChancellor of the Exchequer, wrote a memorandum setting out the government's case for sending forces to Copenhagen: "The intelligence from so many and such various sources" that Napoleon's intent was to force Denmark into war against Britain could not be doubted. "Nay, the fact that he has openly avowed such intention in an interview with the Emperor of Russia is brought to this country in such a way as it cannot be doubted. Under such circumstances it would be madness, it would be idiotic... to wait for an overt act".[9] Historian Hilary Barnes notes that Canning had no knowledge of the secret articles of the Treaty of Tilsit. He argues that Canning's decision was "rash, calamitous, and lacking in understanding of the Danes and of Danish foreign policy."[10]
The British assembled a force of 25,000 troops, and the vanguard sailed on 30 July; Jackson set out the next day. Canning offered Denmark a treaty of alliance and mutual defence, with a convention signed for the return of the fleet after the war, the protection of 21 British warships and a subsidy for how many soldiers Denmark kept standing. On 31 July, Napoleon orderedTalleyrand to tell Denmark to prepare for war against Britain or elseJean-Baptiste Bernadotte would invade Holstein.[11] Neither Talleyrand nor Jackson persuaded the Danes to end their neutrality, so Jackson went back to the British fleet assembled in the Sound on 15 August. The British published a proclamation demanding the deposit of the Danish fleet; the Danes responded with "what amounted to a declaration of war".[12]
As the first move in the campaign a division of twenty-nine vessels under CommodoreRichard Goodwin Keats was detached to the great belt with instructions to seal the island of Zealand off from Funen and the west. Within a week some 200 miles of coast had been secured and the Danish army in Holstein prevented from passing into Zealand to lend support. The city of Copenhagen was left to its own resources to defend itself from a British force of 25,000.[13]
On 12 August, the 32-gun Danish frigateFriderichsværn sailed for Norway from Elsinor. Admiral LordGambier sent the 74-gunthird-rateDefence and the 22-gun sixth-rateComus after her, even though war had not yet been declared.[14]Comus was much faster thanDefence in the light winds and so outdistanced her. On 15 August,Comus caughtFriderichsværn offMarstrand and captured her.[15][16][17] The British took her into service as HMSFrederikscoarn.
The British troops under GeneralLord Cathcart were organised as follows:[18]
The Danish forces in the city amounted to 5,000 regular troops and a similar number of militias. Most of the civilian inhabitants of Copenhagen were evacuated in the few days before Copenhagen was completely invaded.[21]
On 26 August, General Wellesley was detached with his reserve and two light brigades of British artillery, as well as one battalion, eight squadrons and one troop of horse artillery from the King's German Legion (KGL) to disperse a force which had been sent to relieve the beleaguered city. On 29 August, at the rivulet ofKøge, this significant British force swiftly overpowered the Danish troops, which amounted to only three or four regular battalions and some cavalry (seeBattle of Køge).[22]
The Danes rejected British demands,[23] so the Royal Navy fleet under the command of Admiral Gambier bombarded the city from 2 to 5 September. In addition to the military casualties incurred by the Danish army, the bombardment killed roughly 195 civilians and injured 768.[24]
The bombardment included 300Congreve rockets, which caused fires.[a] Due to the civilian evacuation, the normal firefighting arrangements were ineffective; over a thousand buildings were burned.[26]
On 5 September, the Danessued for peace, and the capitulation was signed on 7 September. Denmark agreed to surrender its navy and its naval stores. In return, the British undertook to leave Copenhagen within six weeks.[citation needed]
Ernst Peymann, the Danish Commander, had been under orders from the Crown Prince to burn the Danish fleet,[27] which he failed to do, though the reason for his failure is unknown.[b]
Thus, on 7 September Peymann surrendered the fleet (eighteenships of the line, elevenfrigates, two smaller ships, twoship-sloops, sevenbrig-sloops, twobrigs, oneschooner and twenty-sixgunboats). In addition, the British broke up or destroyed three 74-gun ships of the line on the stocks, along with two of the ships-of-the-fleet and two elderly frigates.[citation needed]
After her capture, one ex-Danish ship of the line,Neptunos, ran aground and was burnt on or near the island ofHven. Then, when a storm arose in theKattegat, the British destroyed or abandoned twenty-three of the captured gunboats. The British added the fifteen captured ships of the line that reached Britain to the British Navy but only four—Christian VII 80,Dannemark 74,Norge 74 andPrincess Carolina 74—saw subsequent active service.[28]
On 21 October, the British fleet left Copenhagen for the United Kingdom. However, thewar continued until 1814, when theTreaty of Kiel was signed.[citation needed]
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The news of what happened did not reach Canning until 16 September. He wrote to Rev.William Leigh: "Did I not tell you we would savePlumstead from bombardment?" One week later he wrote: "Nothing ever was more brilliant, more salutary or more effectual than the success [at Copenhagen]" and Perceval expressed similar sentiments.[29]The Times said that the confiscation of the Danish fleet was "a bare act of self-preservation" and noticed the short distance between Denmark and Ireland or north-east Scotland.William Cobbett in hisPolitical Register wrote that it was "vile mockery" and "mere party cavilling" to claim that Denmark had the means to preserve her neutrality. MPWilliam Wilberforce said the expedition could be defended on grounds of self-defence.Thomas Grenville wrote to his brotherLord Grenville that he could not help feeling "that in their [the government's] situation we should very probably have given the same order without being able to publish to Parliament the grounds on which we had believed in the hostile mind of Denmark".[29]Lord Erskine condemned it by saying "if hell did not exist before, Providence would create it now to punish ministers for that damnable measure".[citation needed]
The opposition claimed the national character was stained and Canning read out in Parliament the previous administration's plans in 1806 to stop the Portuguese navy falling into the hands of France. Canning and Castlereagh wished to hold Zealand and suggested that when the British evacuated it as part of the peace they should immediately occupy it again. This was strongly opposed by SirArthur Wellesley, however, and it did not happen.[30] The opposition claimed that the attack had turned Denmark from a neutral into an enemy. Canning replied by saying that the British were already hated throughout Europe and so Britain could wage an "all-out maritime war" against France without worrying who they were going to upset.[31]
The opposition did not at first table a vote of censure on the battle and instead, on 3 February 1808, demanded the publication of all the letters sent by the British envoy in Denmark on information regarding the war-readiness of the Danish navy. Canning replied with a three-hour speech whichLord Palmerston described as "so powerful that it gave a decisive turn to the debate". The three motions on this subject were heavily defeated and on 21 March the opposition tabled a direct motion of censure on the battle. It was defeated by 224 votes to 64 after Canning made a speech "very witty, very eloquent and very able".[32]
The British bombardment frustrated the first attempt to publish a modern edition of the Anglo-Saxon poemBeowulf as the subsequent fire destroyed the 20-year work of scholarGrímur Jónsson Thorkelin. Twomanuscripts, however, were recovered and Thorkelin eventually published the poem in 1815.[33]
A horse foaled in 1808 (the year following the battle) was named "Copenhagen" in its honour, and was eventually sold to Wellesley and became his favoured mount, most notably at theBattle of Waterloo.
Within one week of the British forces departing Copenhagen,King Christian VII's government promulgated the Danish Privateers Regulations (1807). Denmark was now at war with Britain, and a part of the Anglo-Danish conflict would be taken up by privateers.[34]Kaperbreve (letters of marque) were issued in Denmark and Norway[35] from 1807 to 1813—copies of original letters of marque for the two shipsOdin andNorges Statholder are included in this reference. Danish shipping companies donated suitable ships (brigs, schooners and galleases) to the state which could then equip the ships for their new privateering role. One such ship was the brigAdmiral Juel[36] which ranged the North Sea beforeher capture by the British off Scarborough.[37]
One hundred and twenty-six ships, large and small, were involved at Copenhagen, included those named below.[38]
In addition to those named here, there were another three dozen smaller frigates, sloops, bomb vessels, gun-brigs and schooners (e.g.HMSRook attached to the British fleet), and a very large number of merchant or requisitioned ships carrying troops or supplies.[c]
The following ships sailed with Gambier from England on 26 July 1807:[citation needed]
The following vessels joined on 5 August off Helsingør:
The following further vessels joined on 7 August off Helsingør:[citation needed]
The following vessels joined on 8 August or later:[citation needed]
Lieutenant-General Lord Cathcart arrived in theAfricaine on 12 August to take command of the ground forces.[citation needed]
The Danes surrendered the following warships on 7 September under the terms of the capitulation following the attack:[d]
There were a further 25 gunboats similar to theStege, of which 23 were lost in the October storm in the Kattegat[41] or destroyed rather than sailed to Britain. These lost were:
Four barges (stykpram), floating gun platforms each with 20 cannon, were incapable of being moved far and so the British scuttled the barges during their brief occupation of Copenhagen. Of these four barges (Hajen,Kiempen,Lindormen andSværdfisken) onlyHajen was not raised and refurbished by the Danes after the British departure. A further "unsinkable" floating battery (Flaadebatteri No 1) of twenty-four 24-pound cannon was rendered inoperable and decommissioned the following year.[e]
The following websitein Danish orin English gives the list of ships, as recorded by the Danes, "forcefully taken" by the British in September 1807 at Copenhagen. The references, in Danish, are as follows
Media related toBombardment of Copenhagen 1807 at Wikimedia Commons| Preceded by Siege of Stralsund (1807) | Napoleonic Wars Battle of Copenhagen (1807) | Succeeded by Invasion of Portugal (1807) |
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