It was 1805, and Napoleon Boneparte thought he was invincible. Godlike, even. He’d had the audacity to deny the Pope the right to crown him in 1804 at his own coronation as Emperor of the French at the Notre Dame de Paris. What reason did he have to fear the son of a reverend—going by the name and title of Lord Nelson—and the navy of England, whose forces, from the emperor’s perspective, didn’t stand a chance against the combined, allied might of France and Spain?
Napoleon grossly underestimated the determination of the English to defend their rightful land from invaders, and the divine luck that tended to favour them. Perhaps if he had studied his history a bit more closely, he would have remembered the colossal failure of the Spanish Armada to take England in 1588, when Elizabeth I was sitting on the throne. But Napoleon was only concerned about his own successful military history and desired to add England to his list of conquests, despite the fact that the English consistently proved their prowess on the waters and established themselves as a formidable force. The sea was England’s domain, while dry land was Napoleon’s. Still, Napoleon wanted England.
To achieve his ambition, Napoleon was going to have to first seize control of the English Channel so that his Grande Armée could safely pass through and claim the nation as his own. It’s worth noting that Napoleon did not actually lead the charge in this instance, but rather delegated the task to a more experienced naval commander. Pierre-Charles Villeneuve was a trusted French navy officer who had proven himself capable throughout the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon felt confident enough leaving Villeneuve in charge of what would be 33 ships, 18 of which were French and 15 of which were Spanish.
The plan was this: Villeneuve was to sail to the West Indies. There, Napoleon’s allies, the Spanish fleet, awaited. The French forces would unite with Spain’s, all the while tricking the English fleet by luring the famously watchful and diligent Admiral Horatio Nelson to the territory. With Nelson stranded in the Indies, the French-Spanish alliance would slip away for an easy attack on the undefended British Channel. The plan was overconfident and did not take into consideration that Admiral Horatio Nelson was also an expert player in the game of war.
Nelson would thwart the French-Spanish operation off the coast of Spain, close to Cape Trafalgar. On October 18, 1805, Villeneuve and the fleet would attempt to leave the port of Cádiz without encountering the enemy, but the enemy was prepared for a full-on attack. On the date of October 21, 1805, the decisive Battle of Trafalgar would take place and ensure British dominance over the seas for years to come.
The English fleet was outnumbered. They had only 27 ships to go up against their opponent’s 33. It seemed like a sure victory for the French-Spanish alliance, but the resourceful Nelson had a plan. He knew that the French-Spanish fleet would be sailing in a single line formation. He decided to split his own ships in half and send both factions head-on into the enemy line to break them up and weaken their strength in numbers. This was a stylistic naval tactic known as “crossing the T.” A rather fitting choice for a strategy, considering the name of the battle’s setting.
Nelson perhaps had some premonition that this would be his final battle. From his warship Victory, at 11:50am, Nelson sent out a famous message to those under his command: “England expects that every man will do his duty.” His men heard and acted accordingly. Though under heavy fire, two of the British ships, the HMS Victory and HMS Royal Sovereign, were able to successfully breach the enemy line, and the rest of the British fleet was able to engage in a gruesome sea battle which lasted until 5:00pm on that chill October day.
What were the casualties? On the French-Spanish side, they lost around 20 to 22 ships to the British. Villeneuve was captured and suffered the humiliation of being Napoleon’s failed lackey. On the British side, they lost 1,500 men but no ships. However, one of the men they lost was Lord Nelson himself, who succumbed to shots in the shoulder and the chest by a French sniper in the midst of the battle.
Nelson seemed to hold no personal grudge against the sniper himself, accepting his final fate with the dignity of a true soldier. “Now I am satisfied. Thank God, I have done my duty,” were his incredible final words. His flag captain, Thomas Hardy, gave Nelson a goodbye kiss on the forehead, as Nelson’s other loved ones weren’t on board the Victory to wish him farewell.
Lord Nelson lost his life in the battle, but emerged as a legendary hero. To England, he had lived and died a master of the sea, and a loyal patriot who never wavered from his responsibility to his native country. Nelson was so deeply mourned and revered for his final sacrifice that the Prince of Wales attempted to breach sacred protocol by standing in at the funeral as chief mourner (a forbidden wish, as the Prince of Wales could not attend the funeral of anyone who wasn’t royal).
On January 9, 1806, Nelson was granted a four-hour stately service at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. The procession was staggering. 32 admirals, 100 captains, and 10,000 soldiers all participated in full uniform to honour the commander. Following this bittersweet victory over the French, British morale peaked. Napoleon would never have England. They would not succumb.
England had struck Napoleon a hard blow at the Battle of Trafalgar, and it was the United Kingdom as a whole that would finish him off. In 1815, Napoleon would suffer a bloody defeat on the battlefield of Waterloo against Arthur Wellesley, the Iron Duke of Wellington, a steely Irishman. Napoleon would then forever lose his role as a leader of Europe and board ship for exile to the island of Saint Helena. At the Battle of Trafalgar had proved, he was always at the mercy of the sea.
