(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Hidden History: The Battle of Trafalgar [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-18 The battle of Trafalgar remains one of the most famous naval battles in British history. "Hidden History" is a diary series that explores forgotten and little-known areas of history. Nelson’s monument in Trafalgar Square, London Ever since coming to power in France in 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte had viewed Britain as his primary enemy. France and England had been fighting wars with each other for centuries, and this was no different. So by 1805, with on-again off-again war once again raging between the two nations, Napoleon knew that his best chance at victory was a cross-channel invasion that would conquer Britain once and for all. He had already concentrated a large force of troops near the French coast. But while France was the supreme military power on the Continent and had an army that was unmatched by anyone, the British Royal Navy still dominated the seas and could prevent any seaborne invasion. Napoleon himself had seen the Royal Navy handily defeat the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile in 1798, which had forced him to abandon Egypt. If he wanted to invade England with a land army, he would first have to eliminate the British fleet. The French Mediterranean fleet at this time was under the command of Vice Admiral Pierre de Villeneuve. He had combined his warships with another fleet from France’s ally Spain and now had a large fleet. But facing him was a Royal Navy fleet under Admiral Horatio Nelson, who had been in command of the British force that had defeated the French years earlier on the Nile. Now, Villeneuve was holed up in the Spanish port of Cadiz, avoiding a decisive battle. Nelson, meanwhile, was spoiling for a fight, and his fleet was in the Mediterranean waiting for the French. At this time, naval vessels were made of thick oak, driven by sails, and usually fought in a formation that consisted of a single straight line. The biggest “ships of the line” had three decks of cannons with around 100 guns, while most of the fleet consisted of two-deckers with around 75 guns. Exploding shells did not yet exist, so these cannons fired solid iron balls, many of them weighing about 32 pounds (though there were also 24 and 18 pounders). To attack rigging and masts, “chain shot”, consisting of two small balls connected by a length of iron chain, would be used, while “canister shot” consisted of a dozen or so small iron balls that acted like a huge shotgun to clear enemy decks. The guns were loaded from the muzzle with powder and shot, then rolled up to the ship’s gunports and fired all at once in a “broadside”. Each gun had a crew of seven. The British crews and officers were battle-experienced and well-trained. The French, by contrast were unprepared. The high-level commanders had been selected largely for their political loyalty to Napoleon rather than their military skill, and Villeneuve himself was in command mostly because the older admirals above him had all been arrested or dismissed. Napoleon, the supreme leader, may have been a master of army tactics, but he knew nothing of naval matters, and Villeneuve was constantly being countermanded by unrealistic orders from Paris. In September 1805, Villeneuve received new instructions from Napoleon to leave port and go to support French troops in Italy, and to attack any British fleet that he met along the way. The French Admiral, as a younger officer, had been at the Battle of the Nile, however, and he knew his fleet was not ready for another fight with the British. When he dallied and delayed, the impatient Napoleon dispatched another Admiral to relieve him and take command. Villeneuve left Cadiz on October 18 before the new Admiral arrived. Almost immediately his fleet was spotted by a British ship, who sent word to Nelson. Nelson, meanwhile, knew that he had the superior force, and his battle plan upon meeting Villeneuve was designed to take full advantage, giving full play to the British Admiral’s cocksure confidence. His fleet would be divided into two parallel lines. His division would approach the French line at a right angle and, using his superior speed, would aim for a gap and pass right through the French line at the middle, in a risky maneuver known as “crossing the T”. This would allow the British line to use all their guns on both broadsides, while the French would be limited to just those few cannons that could be brought to bear directly ahead or behind. The British cannonballs would be able to tear through the French ships along their entire length, causing horrendous damage. Meanwhile the second division, under the Baron Collingwood, would also sail through the French line and destroy the rear of the enemy fleet. The French and British ran into each other at 6am on October 21 off the Spanish coast of Trafalgar. Nelson quickly gave the order to attack, putting up a series of message flags bearing an exhortation that would later become famous: “England expects that every man shall do his duty”. Then each British squadron formed into line and moved towards the French ships as best as they could: there was almost no wind and the ships had to drift along slowly. The British had 33 ships and 2100 guns, while the French and Spanish had 40 ships and 2600 guns. The two navies had diametrically opposed battle tactics. The French, who knew that their ships were inferior, would aim their cannon volleys at the masts and rigging of the British ships, hoping to cripple them and, if victorious, allow them to be boarded, or, if the French should lose the battle, enable them to get away from the damaged ships. The British, on the other hand, would fire their broadsides directly into the enemy’s hulls, aiming to kill the French crewmen and disable their cannons, leaving them defenseless. Upon penetrating the hull, the solid cannonballs would produce a shower of large oak splinters which acted like shrapnel. Villeneuve apparently panicked and attempted to order his fleet to turn back towards Cadiz, but the French and Spanish ships instead disintegrated into a disorganized mess. Exactly as he had planned, Nelson’s two columns headed straight towards the French line of battle. Collingwood successfully pierced the Spanish portion of the line and opened fire on the 112-gun Santa Ana, which was at that time the largest warship in the world, but Nelson was temporarily blocked by the French warship Redoubtable and was blasted by French cannons for a time, until he too was able to “cross the T” and open fire on Villeneuve’s flagship, the Bucentaure. The combat now turned into a slugfest, with every ship exchanging broadsides with any enemy ship that came alongside. With their superior gunnery, the British began to systematically destroy the enemy ships. Then, as Nelson’s ship Victory was exchanging broadsides with the French Redoubtable, Nelson collapsed to the deck with a musket ball lodged in his spine, fired by a French sharpshooter perched up in the Redoubtable’s rigging. He was carried below decks and attended to, but the wound was fatal, and Nelson died three hours later. Knowing that he had won the battle, his last words were, reportedly, “Thank God I have done my duty.” By that time, most of Villeneuve’s ships had been disabled and captured, with the French and Spanish losing 22 ships and 7,000 casualties. The British had not lost any ships, and had only 1700 casualties. With the destruction of the French fleet, Napoleon had lost any chance he might have had to invade Britain, and although French armies would run rampant in Europe for the next ten years, in the end they would be defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Nelson’s body was placed in a cask of rum to preserve it for the voyage home, where he became a national hero and was given a state funeral. Today, Nelson’s flagship, HMS Victory, is on display at Portsmouth Harbour as a permanent memorial to the victory at Trafalgar. There are numerous other memorials to the Admiral, including Trafalgar Square in London. 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