Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom

Napoleon's invasion of the United Kingdom
Part of the War of the Third Coalition
Napoleon distributing the first Imperial Légion d'honneur at the Boulogne camps, on August 16, 1804 by Charles Etienne Pierre Motte
Date Planned from 1803 to 1805 Location English Channel Result Grande Armée redeployed into Central Europe Franco-Spanish fleet blocked Subsequent destruction of most of the Franco-Spanish fleet during the Trafalgar campaign Invasion plan abandoned
Belligerents
France  Batavian Republic Spain	United Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Napoleon I Étienne Bruix Pierre Villeneuve Honoré Ganteaume Carel Hendrik Ver Huell	George III Horatio Nelson Robert Calder Cuthbert Collingwood
Strength
200,000 men	615,000 men
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom at the start of the War of the Third Coalition, although never carried out, was a major influence on British naval strategy and the fortification of the coast of southeast England. In 1796 the French had already tried to invade Ireland in order to destabilise the UK or as a stepping-stone to Great Britain. The first French Army of England had gathered on the Channel coast in 1798, but an invasion of England was sidelined by Napoleon's concentration on the campaigns in Egypt and against Austria, and shelved in 1802 by the Peace of Amiens. Building on planning for mooted invasions under France's ancien régime in 1744, 1759, and 1779, preparations began again in earnest soon after the outbreak of war in 1803, and were finally called off in 1805, before the Battle of Trafalgar.