Having thrown away his fleet, Napoleon had no direct means of attacking a maritime and commercial power such as that of Britain, and he was forced to resort to economic warfare. Trafalgar, as the battle was named by George III, crushed the naval power of the enemy, with total losses of more than twenty ships. Britain, for want of a great army to commit to the European battlefield, could not win a decisive victory on land, but neither did she risk a decisive defeat. The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement fought by the British Royal Navy against the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies, during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (1796–1815).. Twenty-seven British ships of the line led by Admiral Lord Nelson aboard HMS Victory defeated thirty-three French and Spanish ships of the … Articulated by eminent scholars such as Sir Michael Howard and Piers Mackesy - who themselves fought in the analogous campaigns of 1944 and 1945 - this has been the dominant view for half a century. In one of the most decisive naval battles in history, a British fleet under Admiral Lord Nelson defeats a combined French and Spanish fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar, fought off the coast of Spain. About 1,500 British seamen were killed or wounded, but no British ships were lost. A fleet of 33 ships (18 French and 15 Spanish) under Admiral Pierre de Villeneuve fought a British fleet of 27 ships under Admiral Horatio Nelson. It also doomed Napoleon's hopes for continuing his domination of Europe - although he didn't find that out until later. Britannica Kids Holiday Bundle! After Trafalgar, there was still long and hard fighting to be done to bring home to the emperor that he had exhausted his long-term options. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. After the Battle of Trafalgar 4 French ships had escaped under the command of Rear-Admiral Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley. Trafalgar ... won Britain an unchallenged command of the sea ... Trafalgar did more, however, than hold the ring at the worst crisis of the war. The determinists might also consider the history of Ireland, which illustrates what happens to an island that has never developed effective sea power. I agree with the idea that Trafalgar's impact was psychological due to the scale and the nature of the battle, boosting the morale of the British and heavily damaging to France and Spain. When Rosily arrived in Cádiz, he found only five French ships, rather than the 18 he was expecting. 3-12. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Nelson, the heroic leader, struck down at the moment of his greatest triumph. There is more to Trafalgar than this, however. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. The system did indeed damage the British economy, but it damaged European economies even more, and in the end it fatally undermined Napoleon's power. Similarly, Napoleon's defeat at Trafalgar made it impossible for him to intervene in the other decisive theatre of war, at sea. Less than two months later, Napoleon decisively defeated … Battle of Trafalgar(Images) Pierre-Charles Villeneuve(Images) Slavery(Images) Battle of Trafalgar(Video) << Previous: Battles and Weaponry; … Nelson caught him off Cape Trafalgar on October 21. To feed his armies, to endow the new military aristocracy which guarded his throne, he needed continual conquests. The Allies, France and Spain, lost 18 ships (one sunk, the rest captured) and about 15,000 crewmen were killed, wounded or surrendered. They have also often cited Trafalgar as the ultimate (if not the only) piece of evidence for their overall view of Britain's strategic situation in relation to the powers of continental Europe over the centuries. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The Spanish and French had in the main fought like heroes, but even so they had been utterly beaten. Napoleon. In 1804 his successor, Lord Melville, calculated that he had 81 ships of the line in commission, of which 18 were fit only for home waters, and none of the remainder had an estimated service life remaining of more than five years. Napoleonic War. Recent French scholars have concluded that the order can only be explained in psychological terms, as the subconscious desire of wounded vanity to punish the hated navy for its failure to contribute to his glory. Most of this fighting was done by the armies, though in effect it was paid for by the Royal Navy, which safeguarded the overseas trade by which Britain earned its own livelihood and subsidised its allies. As a general interpretation of Britain's strategic situation over many centuries, however, the argument is a good deal less persuasive, for such wars have in fact been uncommon in history. 2. British ships, in storm that blew up after battle Villeneuve himself was captured, and his fleet lost 19 or 20 ships—which were surrendered to the British—and 14,000 men, of whom half were prisoners of war. On October 21,1805 Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson of the English Royal Navy, with twenty-seven ships of the line crushed the combined forces of the French and Spanish fleets. It is one of history’s great scenes. This conflict besides had important impact on the construct of pilotage when it comes to the Naval Doctrine of War. Collingwood completed the destruction of the rear, and the battle ended about 5:00 pm. At the end of September 1805, Villeneuve had received orders to leave Cádiz and land troops at Naples to support the French campaign in southern Italy. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Condemned by his character and situation to constant aggression, Napoleon could only have escaped his fate by finding some means of expansion outside Europe, where Britain was more vulnerable and the continental great powers were less concerned. BBC © 2014 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Updates? The Battle of Trafalgar was the most important conflict won by the British against the combined forces of the Gallic and Spanish fleets during the Napoleonic Wars. Beyond the fall of Napoleon, the achievement of Trafalgar was to settle Britain's security for a century. Britain's command of the sea, in the face of Napoleon's Grand Army massing at Boulogne, was very far from secure in 1805, despite its successes of the preceding century. 28, No. The governing principles of his instructions were that the order of sailing in which the fleet was when the enemy was seen was to be the order of battle; that no time was to be wasted in forming a precise line; that the attack was to be made in two bodies, of which one, to be led by the second in command, Collingwood, was to throw itself on the r… When he ordered his Combined Fleet to sea in October, his stated objective - to land a small force of troops in support of planned army operations in southern Italy, which formed a very minor part of his campaign plans against Austria - was so frivolous that it is hard to believe he meant it seriously. Furthermore, he had to lead the line of battle because only he could settle the point of impact to ensure that the enemy flagship and command centre was taken out in the initial collision, reducing the enemy to a leaderless collection of If it is necessary to fight a war of annihilation, as it was against Napoleon and Hitler, if nothing will do but the conquest and overthrow of the enemy regime, then certainly sea power alone will never suffice. He is now working on the third and last volume of his Naval History of Britain. The decisive nature of the engagement, the death of Nelson and the outpouring of national grief in the aftermath have inspired a wealth of literature on the battle and many narratives have retold this famous action. 21st of October marks the 215th anniversary of The Battle of Trafalgar in which an estimated 3000 Royal Marines were present at Nelson's victory over the French and Spanish. Amongst historians to-day, these opinions have changed surprisingly little, but they have changed sides. Thus the strategic logic of war against a naval power, without a fleet, drew French armies into campaigns that finally ruined them. It pitted Britain against Napoleon Bonaparte ‘s French Empire and Spain and ended in a resounding victory for the Brits. ... Battle At Trafalgar Essay, Research Paper One of the greatest sea battles ever to occur took place off the Spanish coast of Trafalgar. Results of the Battle of Trafalgar. The battle of trafalgar effectively saved endured that an invasion of the British Mainland would not take place. What was more, his strategy of economic warfare obliged Napoleon to attack every neutral European power that did not choose to participate in his system - but Portugal resisted, Spain rebelled, Sweden evaded his demands and Russia changed its mind. It was created after much research, and with the advice of naval historians and senior Admiralty officers, but ultimately abandoned because of the cost of staging the battle itself. Traveller Robert Semple described the horrible scene at Cádiz, the closest Spanish port, a week after the Battle of Trafalgar. Nelson famously sailed in the face of naval doctrine. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so. As the Prussian Field-Marshal August Gneisenau declared, in 1815: 'There is no mortal to whom Great Britain has greater obligations than this blackguard ... for it is the events which he has brought about which have raised England's greatness, security and wealth so high.'. He refused them all, however, and this in the end persuaded them that for their own survival they had to crush him, and force his consent to a peace treaty - the Congress of Vienna, 1815 - that secured Britain unchallenged naval supremacy. 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