Between 18, these coalition wars are the Napoleonic Wars because Napoleon Bonaparte, its self-crowned Emperor, led France. Seven different coalitions between 17 tried to take down the new French regime. The American Revolution (1775-1783) had already revealed a weakness in the greatest empire of the time, Britain, and the British Empire was not eager to lose twice. In 1792, a handful of countries adjacent to France attempted to quell the First French Republic that threatened the ancient order of monarchies that ruled Europe.

War and prosperity are often two sides of the same coin, but the Napoleonic Wars strained economic balance across the world.