[War & Business] The Continental Blockade and the United States

A satirical illustration of the French Continental Blockade enforced from 1806 to 1811 [Image source=Digital Library, University of Washington, USA]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] The Biden administration in the United States has declared a ‘supply chain protection policy’ and announced plans to strengthen trade blockades against China with allied countries, marking the official start of a 21st-century version of the ‘Continental Blockade.’ It is considered ironic that the United States, which grew thanks to the 19th-century power struggle between France and Britain?the main actors of the original Continental Blockade?is now leading the blockade against China.

The Continental Blockade was the world’s first trade blockade policy, implemented for more than five years starting in 1806 by France under Napoleon Bonaparte, aiming to cause economic collapse in Britain. However, the Continental Blockade is now regarded as a policy that, regardless of Napoleon’s intentions, only paved the way for the United States to become a great power. The vast territories and economic benefits that Napoleon granted to the United States to curb Britain’s Atlantic trade ultimately played a decisive role in transferring European hegemony to America.

At that time, the United States was a fledgling nation with less than a quarter of its current territory, and the present-day central U.S. Great Plains region was all part of France’s Louisiana colony. However, in 1803, before implementing the Continental Blockade, Napoleon informed the U.S. ambassador to France that he would sell the entire Louisiana territory to the United States at a low price, and through this deal, the U.S. territory more than doubled overnight.

By securing Louisiana, the United States also opened the way to actively enter trade in the Caribbean and Atlantic regions using the Mississippi River. Napoleon, who decided to sell Louisiana at that time, stated, "With this, the United States will become Britain’s strongest rival in the Atlantic, and Britain will soon have to bow its arrogant head to us."

However, the Continental Blockade ultimately dealt a fatal blow to both France and Britain. Napoleon’s France collapsed after wars with all of Europe opposing the blockade, and Britain suffered prolonged shipping industry recessions, producing millions of unemployed and causing severe social instability. Even after the Napoleonic Wars ended, military and social tensions among European countries lasted for over a century, prompting many European entrepreneurs and scientists to choose to move to the United States, where there was no security anxiety. The center of 20th-century industry inevitably shifted from Europe to the United States.

Reflecting on this history of the past century, many countries caught between the United States and China today are diplomatically betting according to their own political and economic situations. The whole world is watching to see which country the goddess of history will smile upon this time.