<P> The Continental System or Continental Blockade ( known in French as Blocus continental ) was the foreign policy of Napoleon I of France in his struggle against Great Britain during the Napoleonic Wars . As a response to the naval blockade of the French coasts enacted by the British government on 16 May 1806 , Napoleon issued the Berlin Decree on 21 November 1806 , which brought into effect a large - scale embargo against British trade . The embargo was effective intermittently . It ended on 11 April 1814 after Napoleon 's first abdication . In terms of economic damage to Great Britain , the blockade was largely ineffective ; however , British exportations to the continent saw a loss from 25 % to 55 % of their total value in between the years 1802 and 1806 . As Napoleon realized that extensive trade was going through Spain and Russia , he invaded those two countries . His forces were tied down in Spain -- in which the Spanish War of Independence was occurring simultaneously -- and suffered severely in , and ultimately retreated from , Russia in 1812 . </P>
<P> The Continental System or Continental Blockade ( known in French as Blocus continental ) was the foreign policy of Napoleon I of France in his struggle against Great Britain during the Napoleonic Wars . As a response to the naval blockade of the French coasts enacted by the British government on 16 May 1806 , Napoleon issued the Berlin Decree on 21 November 1806 , which brought into effect a large - scale embargo against British trade . The embargo was effective intermittently . It ended on 11 April 1814 after Napoleon 's first abdication . In terms of economic damage to Great Britain , the blockade was largely ineffective ; however , British exportations to the continent saw a loss from 25 % to 55 % of their total value in between the years 1802 and 1806 . As Napoleon realized that extensive trade was going through Spain and Russia , he invaded those two countries . His forces were tied down in Spain -- in which the Spanish War of Independence was occurring simultaneously -- and suffered severely in , and ultimately retreated from , Russia in 1812 . </P>
who was the continental system designed to hurt
who was the continental system designed to hurt
Great Britain
Great Britain