The motto of the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte during his reign was “La France avant tout”; therefore he intended France to be the most powerful country, even stronger than Britain. He believed that to achieve his intentions he would have to maim English trade, a country he called “a nation of shopkeepers.” He believed their wealth was fictitious, dispersed, and dependent on foreign trade; therefore, the Continental System would cause the destruction of their economic stability and credibility, causing their collapse. He believed that “for France the result would be a dream” as British financial power would be transferred to him. Despite his expectations, the continental system proved useless. Its failure was the result of the continent's dissatisfaction with order, the inability of the French emperor to control Europe and impose structure, and, most importantly, the miscalculation of the effects that the economic blockade would have had on the continent and on Great Britain. Following the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, the supremacy of the British navy in Europe was established. It became clear that France could not defeat Great Britain in a direct confrontation. Since his first strategy of direct attack was too risky, Napoleon's second option was economic warfare. As the historian Sloane wrote: “To destroy British trade is to strike England at the heart,” so Bonaparte began the “coastal system” that blocked Britain from continental Europe. He would then establish France as the capital of this empire, a capital led by nationalists who would propagate his ideologies. In 1803, Napoleon said, speaking of English ministers: “How could a nation of forty millions agree to let another nation remain put down the law for this?” ...... middle of paper ..... 14, no. 3 (1954): 254-261. Bara, Victor. "Censorship under Napoleon I." The American Historical Review. 22, no. 288-308 French Revolution and Napoleon. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1964. Hechscher, Eli F. The Continental System: An Economic Interpretation. Toronto: The Clarendon Press, 1918. Palmer, Alan of Peace. New York: Harper & Row, 1974. Rose, J. H. "Napoleon and the English Trade." and the Continental System." The Journal of Modern History. vol. 15, no. 1 (1943): 7-23. Sloane, William M. "Napoleon's Continental System." Political Science Quarterly. vol. 13, n 2 (1898): 213-231.Snyder Louis L. Fifty Major Documents of the Nineteenth Century. New York: Van Nostrand, 1955.