West Indies Campaign 1804–1810

The West Indies Campaign of 1804–10 was a series of military contests mainly in the Caribbean spanning the Napoleonic Wars involving European powers Napoleonic France, the Batavian Republic, Spain, the Kingdom of Portugal and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Eventually British naval forces dominated the seas and by 1810 every single French, Dutch and Danish colony was firmly under allied (mainly British) control.

France by 1804 had lost Haiti and its American colony of Louisiana after it sold Louisiana to America. France still retained its large colony of Santo Domingo which it had acquired from Spain at the Treaty of Basel. Martinique and Guadeloupe were large sugar producing islands and also Cayenne in northern South America. The Dutch, being allied to the French, also had islands in the West Indies and territories in South America.

By this time Spain a former enemy of the British and ally of the French was now invaded by French forces which led to the Peninsula war. Once the news of the invasion had reached the island, the criollos of Santo Domingo revolted against French rule and were later assisted by the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom who were now Spain's new ally.

By 1808 French colonial territories in the Caribbean were a drain on both the French and British navies. The fortified harbours on the islands and coastal towns provided shelter for French warships and privateers that could strike against British trade routes at will, forcing the Royal Navy to divert extensive resources to protect their convoys. However, the maintenance and support of these bases was a significant task for the French Navy. It had suffered a series of defeats during the war that left it blockaded in its own harbours and unable to put to sea without attack from British squadrons waiting off the coast. Cut off from French trade and supplies, the Caribbean colonies began to suffer from food shortages and collapsing economies, and messages were sent to France in the summer of 1808 requesting urgent help.

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