With the shift in world economy and trade routes to the New World and away from the Mediterranean, Genoa's political and economic power began a steady decline. Its military power collapsed during the Raid on Genoa in 1793 and the Battle of Genoa in 1795 where Genoa fought the French fleet and the English. In 1797, under pressure from Napoleon, the Republic of Genoa became a French protectorate called the Ligurian Republic, which was annexed by France in 1805. This fact is mentioned in the first sentence of Tolstoy's "War and Peace":