Battle of Copenhagen (1801)

The Battle of Copenhagen of 1801 (Danish: Slaget på Reden, meaning "the battle of the roadstead [of Copenhagen Harbour]"), also known as the First Battle of Copenhagen to distinguish it from the Second Battle of Copenhagen in 1807, was a naval battle in which a British fleet fought and defeated a smaller force of the Dano–Norwegian Navy anchored near Copenhagen on 2 April 1801. The battle came about over British fears that the powerful Danish fleet would ally with France, and a breakdown in diplomatic communications on both sides.

As the British ships entered the large harbour of the Danish Navy, several of its ships took up station at the harbour's roadstead, forming a blockade. The Danish fleet defended the capital with these ships and bastions on both sides of the harbour inlet. It was the second attempt by the British to try to prevent a Franco-Danish alliance, as the British had already entered Øresund with a fleet in August 1800, in order to persuade Denmark not to ally with France. The Danes agreed to the British terms upon hearing news of the assassination of Emperor Paul I of Russia, as his death meant the end of the Russian-led League of Armed Neutrality of which Denmark was a member.