Welcome to the Age of Napoleon, Episode 82, the Fortunes of War

In early 18 o five, the bulk of the french army had spent two years camped along the english channel. The austrian leadership worried about their empire's relative decline and agreed that something had to be done to check the growing power of france. But they were internally divided over when and how this should be done. One faction led by the emperor's brother, duke charles, believed the hapsburg military and government needed massive reforms before they could even think about taking on the french. Others believed time was on napoleon's side, and so austria needed to strike at the first opportunity. However, we kind of glossed over the third great power involved in this nascent