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Signed in Berlin: from the Continental System to the sanctions list

· Helfen statt Blockieren editorial team

On 21 November 1806 Napoleon declared the British Isles blockaded from Berlin and banned all trade with them. On Saturday, 21 November 2026, in the middle of the week “Helfen statt Blockieren”, the Berlin Decree turns 220. A walk through two centuries of blockades, with three questions that remain.

21 Nov 1806Napoleon signs the decree “at our imperial camp at Berlin”Text of the decree
nearly 1 mpeople in Germany and the Ottoman Empire died, according to Mulder, from the hunger blockade in the First World WarMulder 2022, via Harrison 2023
1966first binding economic sanctions of the UN Security Council, against Southern RhodesiaResolution 232, 16 Dec 1966
1,794sanctions cases from 1950 to 2025Global Sanctions Data Base, Release 5

A decree from Berlin

On 21 November 1806 Napoleon signed a decree that ends with the place line “from our imperial camp at Berlin”; the text names no building. Article 1 declares the British Isles in a state of blockade. Article 2 prohibits all commerce and correspondence with them; letters to Englishmen or written in English are seized. British subjects in countries occupied by France become prisoners of war, and their property and all goods from England or its colonies are lawful prize. Ships coming directly from England or having called there since the decree may no longer enter any port. The justification given is retaliation for Britain’s conduct of naval warfare.

Because Britain ruled the seas, France could not enforce a true naval blockade. The decree closed the ports of the Continent instead. A year later, on 17 December 1807, the Milan Decree tightened the system. Britain responded with its own Orders in Council, which burdened the trade of France and its allies; according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica they were among the main causes of the Anglo-American War of 1812. According to Planet Wissen, London imposed a 25 percent duty on cargoes from France and allied states.

What the system achieved

All sides felt the consequences. Britannica describes how the system hurt English industry and contributed to the Luddite protests against unemployment. On the Continent it stimulated manufacturing in parts of France but damaged regions that depended on overseas trade. Planet Wissen notes that smuggling flourished. Because the British fleet was superior, the system could hardly be enforced; the attempt to close every gap overstretched France and, according to Britannica, ultimately led to the campaign against Russia in 1812. The sources differ on when the system ended: Planet Wissen gives its official lifting in early 1813, Britannica the period to about 1814.

  1. Berlin DecreeTrade ban with Britain for French-dominated Europe; Milan Decree 1807.
  2. End of the Continental SystemAccording to Planet Wissen officially lifted in early 1813, according to Britannica in force until about 1814.
  3. Hunger blockadeThe Allies blockade the Central Powers; according to Mulder nearly a million died of hunger.
  4. Wilson’s “silent, deadly remedy”The sanction is to replace war.
  5. League of Nations against ItalySanctions after the invasion of Ethiopia fail.
  6. US embargo on CubaComprehensive embargo since the early 1960s.
  7. Southern RhodesiaResolution 232: first binding economic sanctions of the Security Council.
  8. IraqComprehensive UN sanctions; a falsified child mortality figure shapes the debate.
  9. Targeted sanctionsInterlaken process: names instead of countries.
  10. Today1,794 cases since 1950 in the GSDB.

From war to a substitute for war

1914 to 1919. In the First World War the Allies blockaded the Central Powers. Historian Nicholas Mulder estimates in his 2022 book “The Economic Weapon” that the blockade killed close to a million Germans and Turks through hunger. Economic historian Mark Harrison praises the book in his 2023 review but objects that it does not adequately separate the effects of the blockade from combat, mobilisation and countermeasures.

After 1918. From the experience of war came the idea that economic pressure could replace war. US President Woodrow Wilson, according to Debre, called the sanction an “economic, peaceful, silent, deadly remedy”.

1935. After Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia, the League imposed sanctions that failed. Mulder argues that fear of sanctions did not pacify the rising powers but drove them to a policy of independence from imports and to the conquest of territories with food and fuel, with consequences for the timing and opening of the Second World War.

1962. The United States imposes a comprehensive embargo on Cuba that still exists today. Cuba still shows both halves: the embargo with its consequences and a leadership under which Prisoners Defenders counted 1,351 political prisoners in September 2026.

1966. With Resolution 232 the UN Security Council adopts its first binding economic sanctions, against Southern Rhodesia, including a ban on oil supplies.

1990 to 2003. The comprehensive UN sanctions against Iraq become a cautionary tale. The most quoted figure, 500,000 additional child deaths, rested according to later surveys on manipulated data; more in “564,000 deaths a year?”.

1990s. In response to humanitarian criticism, states develop targeted sanctions against people and companies in the Interlaken process.

Today. The Global Sanctions Data Base counts 1,794 cases from 1950 to 2025. Many today hit names, not countries; see “A name on the list”.

Three questions that remain

Who bears the burden? In 1806 merchants in the ports of the Continent as well as workers in English industry, in 1917 starving families, in 1999 children in Iraq whose numbers their own government falsified. Whoever imposes a sanction wants to hit the government; whether it does must be checked anew each time.

How is it evaded? Smuggling under Napoleon, new trading partners for Russia after 2022, payment channels outside the West. The more states stay out, the easier evasion becomes.

What remains after the end? The Continental System ended with Napoleon’s defeat; by then, according to Planet Wissen, trade had long shifted partly to America. How long sanctions keep working after their end is shown today by Syria.

These questions are not verdicts. They are the questions the week of 16 to 24 November 2026 asks; on Saturday, 21 November, the anniversary is in the programme.

This article is information, not legal advice. It relies on the sources listed; where experts disagree, it names the positions and who holds them. “Helfen statt Blockieren” is non-partisan.

Sources

All online sources accessed on 3 November 2026.

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