ABSTRACT
In the eighteenth century, the European economy had been outward looking and geared to overseas markets; all important industries had been heavily dependent upon the export trade. Three main factors worked during the Napoleonic wars toward disturbing traditional trade relations: maritime blockade by the British, "self-blockade" of the Continent imposed by the French, and lastly the large-scale redrafting of Europe's political map. The cotton industry and especially machine spinning had struck rather strong roots in Continental soil during the Napoleonic wars, and so the foundations for further industrialization had been laid. French colonial trade collapsed quite early in the war, owing mostly to the slave revolt in Santo Domingo which completely ruined "the jewel of the Caribbean". It is well known that, as a consequence, the great seaports of the Continent, which had been the hubs of its economic life in the eighteenth century, were completely crippled from 1807 onwards.
