[1802] - Peace of Amiens, bringing a temporary respite to the war between France and Britain (until May 1803)

The Peace of Amiens brought a temporary respite to the French Revolutionary Wars. It was marked by the signing of the Treaty of Amiens by Joseph Bonaparte (the elder brother of Napoleon) and the Marquess Cornwallis on 25 March 1802. It thus signalled the end of the War of the Second Coalition, which had been waged against France since 1798. Now isolated from her allies, Britain was required to formally recognize the French Republic, to restore its recent territorial conquests to France, Spain and Holland, to evacuate Malta, and to withdraw from other Mediterranean ports. The signing of the peace treaty was greeted by celebrations in Britain, and thousands of visitors flocked to Paris throughout the following year, including J. M. W. Turner, William Hazlitt, Maria Edgeworth and Frances Burney.

Cornwallis, however, was deeply uncomfortable with the terms of the agreement. Others also began to voice their objections. As a result, both France and Britain refused to remove troops from the territories they had agreed to evacuate: France continued to occupy the Batavian Republic (Netherlands), and Britain kept its troops in Egypt and Malta. As relations between the two countries continued to deteriorate in the spring of 1803, Britain declared war on France on 18 May.

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