Continental System

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The Continental System or Continental Blockade (French: Blocus continental) was a large-scale embargo by French emperor Napoleon I against the British Empire from 21 November 1806 until 11 April 1814, during the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon issued the Berlin Decree on 21 November 1806 in response to the naval blockade of the French coasts enacted by the British government on 16 May 1806. The embargo was applied intermittently, ending on 11 April 1814 after Napoleon's first abdication. Aside from subduing Britain, the blockade was also intended to establish French industrial and commercial hegemony in Europe. Within the French Empire, the newly acquired territories and client states were subordinate to France itself, as there was a unified market within France (no internal barriers or tariffs) while economic distortions were maintained on the borders of the new territories. The Berlin Decree forbade the import of British goods into any European country allied with or dependent upon France,...

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