[Caricature] The Prime Minister of England [Lord Grenville] reading the Imperial decree to King George [and] his council, declaring the British Isles to be in a state of blockade.

On 21 November, 1806, Napoleon decreed, from his Palace in Berlin, a blockade of the British Isles and forbade all British goods and commerce entering the continent. This came to be known as the ‘continental’ blockade since de facto most of the European continent was under French influence. Napoleon hoped to asphyxiate the British economy and to compel Britain to come to the negociating table. Ostensibly in retaliation for the blockade of all the coast from Brest to the Elbe enacted by Britain by its Order in Council of 16 May, 1806, the Berlin decree was in effect Napoleon’s longest and most far-ranging attempt to solve the ‘Angleterre’ problem.