Background

In 1799, the bloodless Coup of 18 Brumaire was set into motion.  Marking the end of the French Revolution and allowing for Napoleon Bonaparte to seize power as the First Consul of France and create a military dictatorship. 

Threatened by this military dictatorship and the usurpation of power by Napoleon, what followed were a series of major conflicts with the French Empire, led by Napoleon, and an array of European coalitions, called The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) 

The wars can be categorized into five conflicts: the Third Coalition (1805), the Fourth (1806–07), the Fifth (1809), the Sixth (1813–14), and the Seventh (1815).

In 1814, after years of campaigning and fighting off the unrelenting Napoleon, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington and commanding general, was advancing north across Spain and had successfully driven the French back to the Pyrenees. They were winning the conflict. However, he was in desperate need of money to pay his troops. 

Enter Nathan Mayer Rothschild...