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 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.