While Champagne had always been known as a celebratory drink, Tilar Mazzeo suggests in The Widow Clicquot that the practice of celebrating with Champagne did not achieve mass appeal without some help from the Napoleonic Wars. Many of the final battles of the war between Napoleon and the coalition of Russia, Great Britain, Prussia, and Austria were fought in the Champagne region of France. The Russians captured the area from France and celebrated the victory with Champagne. The French then re-captured the area and celebrated with Champagne. The Russians then re-captured the area and celebrated with... Champagne. The combination of these celebratory victories and the peer-to-peer marketing of the foreign soldiers to other countries beyond France helped the annual production of the Champagne region grow from 400k bottles to over 5mm bottles in a short period of time.
P.S. There is also a theory that horse-mounted officers invented the practice of saber-ing Champagne bottles during these post-battle celebrations.
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