1810s

Imperialism began to encroach towards African and Asian territories through trade, as the United States saw mass-scaled migration that headed westward towards the American frontier (mostly through the opening of the Oregon Trail.)

Napoleon married Marie-Louise, an Austrian Archduchess, with the aim of ensuring a more stable alliance with Austria and of providing the Emperor with an heir.

The final stage of the War of the Sixth Coalition, the defense of France in 1814, saw the French Emperor temporarily repulse the vastly superior armies in the Six Days Campaign.

Napoleon shortly returned from exile, landing in France on March 1, 1815, marking the War of the Seventh Coalition, heading toward Paris while the Congress of Vienna was sitting.

Already in 1810, the Caracas and Buenos Aires juntas declared their independence from the Bonapartist government in Spain and sent ambassadors to the United Kingdom.

The Spanish Empire in the New World had largely supported the cause of Ferdinand VII over the Bonapartist pretender to the throne in the midst of the Napoleonic Wars.

When Ferdinand's rule was restored, these juntas were cautious of abandoning their autonomy, and an alliance between local elites, merchant interests, nationalists, and liberals opposed to the abrogation of the Constitution of 1812 rose up against the Spanish in the New World.

The arrival of Spanish forces in the American colonies began in 1814, and was briefly successful in restoring central control over large parts of the Empire.

Although Mexico had been in revolt in 1811 under Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, resistance to Spanish rule had largely been confined to small guerrilla bands in the countryside.

The United States conducted two failed invasion attempts in 1812, first by General William Hull across the Detroit River into what is now Windsor, Ontario, and a second offensive at the Niagara peninsula.

The ending of the war opened a long era of peaceful relations between the United States and the British Empire.

Upon the Persian surrender, the terms of the Treaty of Gulistan ceded the vast majority of the previously disputed territories to Imperial Russia.

At first, the leading personalities of the system were British foreign secretary Lord Castlereagh, Austrian chancellor Klemens Wenzel, Prince von Metternich and Tsar Alexander I of Russia.

The 1810s continued a trend of increasing commercial viability of steamboats in North America, following the early success of Robert Fulton and others in the preceding years.

[9] Inventor John Stevens' boat, the Juliana, began operation as the first steam-powered ferry October 11, 1811, with service between New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey.

[11] The experience of these vessels, especially that they could now offer a regular service, being independent of wind and weather, helped make the new system of propulsion commercially viable, and as a result its application to the more open waters of the Great Lakes was next considered.

[14] The first commercially successful steamboat in Europe, Henry Bell's Comet of 1812, started a rapid expansion of steam services on the Firth of Clyde, and within four years a steamer service was in operation on the inland Loch Lomond, a forerunner of the lake steamers still gracing Swiss lakes.

"Tug", the first tugboat, was launched by the Woods Brothers, Port Glasgow, on November 5, 1817; in the summer of 1817 she was the first steamboat to travel round the North of Scotland to the East Coast.

Lord Byron, regarded as one of the greatest British poets and remains widely read and influential, wrote his most well-known work during this decade.

Battle of Waterloo French invasion of Russia Theory of Colours Gas lighting Stethoscope Great Comet of 1811 War of 1812 Year Without a Summer 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora
From top left, clockwise: the Battle of Waterloo signified the end of Napoleon 's conquests , as it sealed the downfall of his empire and brought his campaigns to an end; The French invasion of Russia and the subsequent retreat from Russia's harsh winter proved to be a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars , as food shortages and drastic supply loss led to catastrophic French losses from which Napoleon would never recover; The stethoscope was invented – its first prototype made by Frenchman René Laennec could be shown here. His invention proved to be an innovation that changed the course of medical diagnosis and overall medicinal sciences ; Mount Tambora 's eruption in 1815 – the world's largest volcanic eruption in recorded history – inflicted over 90,000 human deaths, a cycle of famines , and a series harsh winters over the next few years, in a period that would be known as the Year Without a Summer . Its global impact had arguably made its eruption the world's most influential –and worst– volcanic eruption on contemporary history; - War of 1812 was fought over Canada and the U.S, and largely involved the struggle between remnants of British imperialism on the continent, with the then-fledgeling nationalist movements that sprung as the aftermath of the American Revolutionary War and the United States' independence . It is widely considered as a spillover political conflict of the Napoleonic Wars ; The Great Comet of 1811 made a brief appearance. Observations made by amateur scientists evolved modern-day understanding of comets , and eventually forged a way for astronomy knowledge; Theory of Colours was first published. The German-made theory helped inspire countless of visual arts and design concepts in the future, as well as nurturing further understanding on colours ; The gas light becomes widely implemented into urban systems – mainly as streetlights – after its inception on the 1800s .
Napoleonic départements of the French Empire at its height in 1812.
Charles Minard's graph showing the diminishing strength of the Grande Armée during the French invasion of Russia in 1812
Battle of Waterloo
The victory of General José de San Martín over Spanish forces at the Battle of Chacabuco , 12 February 1817
National boundaries of Europe as set by the Congress of Vienna , 1814.
Congress Vienna, Jean Godefroy – Jean-Baptiste Isabey
Aug. 15: Alabama Territory new.
Dec. 10 : Mississippi statehood.
Goethe publishes Theory of Colours
"Enterprise on her fast trip to Louisville, 1815"
Karl Drais' laufmaschine
April 5–April 12: Mount Tambora explodes, changing climate.
Elgin Marbles displayed.