Introduction: Making Copenhagening a Verb - 2nd Battle of Copenhagen (1807) p2 of 2

Copenhagen entered the siege with about 10,000 regulars and militia, substantial fortifications, and most of the Danish fleet sheltered inside the harbour.

Wellesley's artillery-heavy reserve decisively defeated the Danish force sent to relieve Copenhagen.

Britain's demand for the Danish fleet was followed by a four-day bombardment that used incendiary Congreve rockets against a wooden city.

Copenhagen's extensive defences and organized militia sit uneasily beside the British force's unexpectedly light losses.

Luck and structural advantages complicate any simple claim of British exceptionalism, though the two Copenhagen victories are presented as unusually strong evidence for exceptional performance.

Peymann was ordered to hold Copenhagen or burn the fleet, but preserving the ships gave him a bargaining chip against continued bombardment.

The defended harbour and difficult water approaches gave Peymann naval options that might at least have complicated Britain's blockade.

Copenhagen's advanced fire measures depended on civilians who had been allowed to leave before the bombardment.

A sardonic aside links the rebuilding of Copenhagen with British destruction in Washington, then criticizes the appearance of Britain's post-Blitz reconstruction.

British naval architects altered the captured Danish ships to fit Royal Navy rating preferences and operational practice.

Britain burned unfinished ships, lost some captured gunboats during removal, and laid up most Danish ships of the line as a contingency reserve.

Frigates made a navy effective beyond fleet battles by scouting, escorting convoys, and covering the service's many everyday duties.

A 2020 comparison with China's fleet explains why numerous small ships can cover common naval duties cheaply while providing officers with command experience.

French-Danish discussions over the Continental System form the legal case presented for British action against the fleet.

Losing the fleet perversely made it easier for Denmark to satisfy France without remaining a major naval threat to Britain.

The strike is interpreted as an effort to neutralize the Danish fleet and protect British sea lanes, despite the risk of driving Denmark toward France.

The verb rests on repeated British naval action around Copenhagen, not on the 1807 bombardment in isolation.

Denmark guarded its southern frontier against France while leaving an expensive rebuilt fleet vulnerable at Copenhagen instead of dispersing it or sending it to sea.

The attack helped bring war with Russia, yet Britain appears to have tolerated that consequence while trade with Denmark continued.

Britain's politically useful civilian evacuation contrasts with the limited Danish effort that Wellesley's reinforced brigade defeated outside the capital.

The closing interpretation rejects collusion and instead sees British and Danish leaders separately limiting a confrontation neither wanted to widen.

Copenhagen suffered severe material damage but limited deaths, while Denmark's army posture and slow Continental System entry suggest continued strategic caution.