Sep

Today in Smithsonian History: September 18, 1808

September 18, 1808 Returning from a sojourn on the Continent in early August 1807, James Smithson is taken as a prisoner of war in Tonningen, Denmark at the moment of the rupture between England and Denmark in the Napoleonic Wars. He subsequently arranges a transfer to Hamburg, Germany, where he is again held under arrest, this time by the French. On September 18, 1808, Smithson writes to Sir Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society of London from 1778 to 1820, noting that he is physically ill, and requesting Banks use his influence to get Smithson back to England, which Banks does.

The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major conflicts pitting the French Empire led by Emperor Napoleon I against an array of European powers formed into various coalitions. Initially, French power rose quickly as the armies of Napoleon conquered much of Europe. The great French dominion collapsed rapidly after the disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812. Napoleon was defeated in 1814, and then once more in 1815 at Waterloo after a brief return to power.

Britain’s first response to Napoleon’s forays was to launch a major naval attack on the weakest link in Napoleon’s coalition, Denmark. Although ostensibly neutral, Denmark was under heavy French and Russian pressure to pledge its fleet to Napoleon. In November 1807, the Royal Navy bombarded Copenhagen, capturing the Danish fleet, and assuring use of the sea lanes in the North and Baltic seas for the British merchant fleet.