Page "Napoleonic Wars" Paragraph 3

No consensus exists as to when the French Revolutionary Wars ended and the Napoleonic Wars began.

An early candidate is 9 November 1799, when Bonaparte seized power in France with the coup of 18 Brumaire.

18 May 1803 is the most commonly used date, as this was when a renewed declaration of war between Britain and France ( resulting from the collapse of the Treaty of Amiens ), ended the only period of general peace in Europe between 1792 and 1814.

The Napoleonic Wars ended following Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo on 18 June 1815 and the Second Treaty of Paris.