Resistance and Adaptation

European governments and merchants developed sophisticated methods for evading and adapting to the Continental System's restrictions. Neutral territories like Switzerland and the United States became intermediaries in trade that officially violated the system but served essential economic functions. The elaborate fiction of neutral ownership allowed British goods to enter continental markets under false documentation.

Russia's relationship with the Continental System exemplified the tensions between political alliances and economic necessities. The Treaty of Tilsit (1807) committed Russia to enforcing the system, but Russian nobles depended on British markets for their grain and timber exports. The system's enforcement damaged Russian economic interests while providing few compensating benefits, creating pressures that contributed to the breakdown of the Franco-Russian alliance.

Portugal's resistance to the Continental System provided the pretext for French intervention in the Iberian Peninsula. The Portuguese government's refusal to close its ports to British commerce led to French invasion and the installation of a compliant regime. Yet this intervention sparked Spanish resistance and British support that created the "Spanish ulcer" that would drain French resources for years.

The Ottoman Empire's relationship with the system demonstrated the complexity of enforcing economic warfare across diverse political and cultural contexts. French influence in Constantinople secured nominal Ottoman compliance, but enforcement was sporadic and often ineffective. The empire's traditional trading relationships with Britain continued through various subterfuges and exceptions.