The Build up to the Battle In 1803 Napoleon was planning an invasion of Britain To succeed he needed to control the English Channel but Britain has a much stronger navy and much better sailors and leaders eg Horatio Nelson ID: 635991
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Slide1
The Battle of Trafalgar
21 October 1805Slide2
The Build up to the Battle
In 1803, Napoleon was planning an invasion of Britain
To succeed he needed to control the English Channel, but Britain has a much stronger navy and much better sailors and leaders (e.g. Horatio Nelson)
In 1804, Spain joined France against BritainNapoleon hoped to use the combined Spanish & French fleets to gain control of the ChannelSlide3Slide4
To Fool Nelson….
The British tried to blockade the French & Spanish fleets in their harbours
The French Admiral, Villeneuve managed to evade Nelson and sailed for the West Indies in March 1805. The plan was to meet up with the other French and Spanish fleets.
In August the combined fleets (29 ships) sailed westwards back to Europe
They arrived off Cadiz (Spain) on 20
th August
The French had eluded Nelson and now had a strong fleet – a threat to British superiority in the ChannelSlide5
The Battle – Opening Moves
Villeneuve left Cadiz on 19
th
OctoberNelson moved to block the French from entering the Mediterranean.The French fleet sailed in line asternOn the morning of 21st
October the two fleets sighted each otherNelson ordered his fleet to attack in two “columns”
He ordered his famous signal to be flown – “England Expects That Every Man Will Do His Duty”
At12 noon the opening shots were firedSlide6Slide7
The Battle – Close Action
The Victory & The Royal Sovereign led the columns and were the first to engage the French-Spanish fleet
The Victory sailed past the Bucentaure and crashed into the Redoutable
Other British ships began to engage the French in vicious broadsidesAt 1.15, Nelson was shot in the shoulder and was carried below deckIt was obvious the wound was fatal.Slowly, the British got the upper hand as more and more enemy ships “struck their colours”
By about 4.00pm the battle was won
Nelson died at 4.30 pm“Thank God I have done my duty”Slide8Slide9
The Battle – The Aftermath
The victory for the British was soured by the death of Nelson
He was THE hero of the time – a national celebrity
18 French or Spanish ships were captured by the BritishBritish losses = 449 Killed, 1241 woundedFrench/Spanish losses = 4408 Killed and 2545 wounded
Trafalgar secured British naval supremacy and ended the threat of invasion
Forced Napoleon to change his strategyNelson legend
French did re-build their fleet but never engaged the British on such a scale again