The leaders

Napoleon was keen to take control of the English Channel in preparation for his planned invasion of England and sent a combined Franco-Spanish fleet under the command of French Admiral Villeneuve from Cadiz northwards, round the coast and up towards the channel.

En route, off the coast of Cape Trafalgar in southwest Spain, they met the British fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson.

British forces were greatly outnumbered. As a result, standard naval tactics did not seem like they would work. Faced with a large invasion force, Nelson decided to sail directly at the flank of the Franco-Spanish fleet’s battle line, aiming to break it up.

Figures

The plan worked perfectly: the Franco-Spanish fleet split into three, allowing the British to gain a degree of superiority and make use of their fleet and fire power. A victory was far from secure however, and the tactic left the leading ships in the British fleet in the line of the most intense fire.

The fierce battle saw 22 French and Spanish ships sunk, but not a single British ship. Heavy fire saw Nelson seriously wounded by a French musketeer and he died shortly before the end of the battle, not living to see his renowned victory.

Nelson’s second-in-command, Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, assumed his position as commander-in-chief after Nelson’s death and ensured British ships arrived home unscathed. He was richly rewarded with a generous pension, a Naval Gold Medal, a peerage and the thanks of both Houses of Parliament on his return.

Defeat

French Admiral Villeneuve was captured along with his flagship, La Bucentaure, and the senior Spanish officer Federico Gravina escaped with what was left of the Franco-Spanish fleet: around 1/3 of the original number. He died from his wounds several months later.

Around 7,500 French and Spanish soldiers were captured by the British. Those who were officers could have expected to be kept in relative comfort, with a certain degree of freedom. Some officers even chose to stay in Britain after their time was up. Ordinary sailors and soldiers had a much less enjoyable time: at the mercy of their overseers, they were confined to cramped living quarters with rations that were often inadequate.

He had a charisma that made men undertake his commands willingly. His letters are filled with concern for the welfare of his crews. But I cannot pretend that the scale of his crushing victory at Trafalgar was down solely to his leadership.

Britain’s Georgian Royal Navy was a phenomenon. Technologically and numerically superior to all the other navies of the world combined, its officers and men hardened by generations of war, and motivated by a powerful tradition of victories.

The HMS Victory in Portsmouth in 1900, where it remains to this day.

Image Credit: Library of Congress / Commons.

The stunning defeat it inflicted on its French and Spanish enemy at Trafalgar is testament both to the potency of the Royal Navy as an instrument of war, and to the leadership of Nelson, who recognised its strengths, and came up with a plan of battle that would accentuate them.

The result was a decisive victory that annihilated the French and Spanish navies, capturing or destroying two thirds of their force, bringing to an end any talk of invading Britain, and creating a reinforcing a myth of British invincibility that would endure for over a century.

A change in strategy

Since the Spanish Armada in 1588, ships carrying cannon along either side of the vessel could only do serious damage to an enemy who were perpendicular to their line of advance, so tactics evolved whereby long lines of battleships would blast each other while travelling on parallel courses.

Nelson decided to dispense with these tactics at Trafalgar. They too often allowed one side to break off the action and it was hard to achieve a decisive result with long cumbersome lines tacking and wearing ship in unison. Nelson would split his fleet and send two columns right into the middle of the enemy.

Tactical map showing Nelson’s strategy to split the French and Spanish lines.

Image Credit: Oladelmar / Commons

This would precipitate a melee in which he knew his better trained crews, and faster, heavier guns would overcome the enemy.

His decision has gone down in military legend. Hungry for a result, he would sail straight at the enemy fleet, crash through their line, throw all into confusion, cut off at least a third of their ships and systemically destroy them. This was the plan of an admiral confident in the superiority of his raw materials.

Superior gunnery

Nelson’s cannons were triggered by gunlocks, these mechanisms sent a spark instantly down a touch hole to ignite the gunpowder in the barrel of the cannon. They made them quicker and safer to reload and much easier to aim than the Franco-Spanish fleet who were still using a much more primitive method.

Nelson’s ships also carried a terrible new weapon, 68-pounder carronades. These massive guns were designed for short range battering.

One infamous shot from a carronade on Nelson’s flagship, HMS Victory, saw a keg of 500 musket balls blasted through the stern windows of a French ship and effectively wiping out the crew manning the cannon on her gun deck.

A very able crew

It was not just the technology that was superior, the captains, officers, marines and seamen were hardened by years at sea. Whereas enemy ships had spent huge amounts of time cooped up in harbour, crewed by untrained landsmen, the British had been blockading the ports of Europe, beating back and forth in all weather, until crews were drilled to perfection.

Nelson’s last instruction to his captains was simple, “No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy.” He knew that the plan would inevitably fall apart on contact with the enemy, in that situation, his captains knew the minimum of what was expected of them.

The risks

There was one great drawback to Nelson’s plan. While his ships were making straight for the great sickle shaped enemy fleet of 33 battleships the French and Spanish would be able to blast his columns with their full broadsides while the British fleet would effectively be unable to fire back.

He gambled on the fact that his enemy crews were ill-trained, and their gunnery poor.

However, the leading ship of either of Nelson’s column would certainly take a pounding. That is why Nelson insisted that his ship, HMS Victory would lead one column, and his second in command, Rear Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, aboard HMS Royal Sovereign would lead the other.

Conspicuous exposure to enemy fire was always a hallmark of Nelson’s leadership. Before Trafalgar he had been wounded several times, and had lost an arm and an eye. At Trafalgar he declined the opportunity to switch his flag to a ship further removed from the heat of battle and he paid for this with his life.

The Battle of Trafalgar

On 21 October 1805 Nelson’s 27 battleships glided on a gentle breeze towards the 33 strong French and Spanish fleet. Victory and Royal Sovereign did indeed take a pounding as they closed with the French and for a terrifying few minutes they found themselves isolated as they ploughed into the enemy lines.

Victory suffered terribly and Nelson was mortally wounded.

La Bucentaure at Trafalgar in a painting by Auguste Mayer.

Image Credit: Auguste Mayer / Commons

However, within minutes giant British battleships were arriving one after the other and the enemy was terribly outgunned and their crews slaughtered.

Most of the enemy ships who escaped this onslaught fled rather than reinforce their beleaguered comrades. No fewer than 22 enemy French and Spanish were captured, not a single one of Nelson’s ships was lost.

Nelson died, below the waterline on the orlop deck, at the very moment of victory. But so great was the victory, and so dominant did it leave the Royal Navy, that he left behind a country that did not depend on a single leader of genius to retain its command of the oceans.

The navy was a huge engine of the industrial revolution, the navy defended and then suppressed the trade in enslaved humans from West Africa to the Caribbean and the battles won and lost by the navy shaped the course of wars and the fate of nations.

Millions of men and women served aboard naval vessels and merchant navy ships, meaning that the language, slang and customs of sailors entered the English language. I have picked out some of my favourite phrases that we still commonly use today, but have their roots aboard the ships of Admiral Horatio Nelson’s navy.

1. Knowing the ropes

A ship of HMS Victory’s size had an astonishing 30 miles of rope aboard. More than 20 sails were hauled up and down, reefed and controlled by rope. Ropes held up the mast, ropes secured the cannon, ropes winched barrels out of the ship’s hold.

Often a third of the ship’s crew were inexperienced new recruits who had to be shown the ropes – which to pull, which to release and when. When a sailor knew the ropes he was made an ‘able seaman’ and given a pay rise.

2. The bitter end

A ship dropped an anchor to hold it fast to the seabed and stop it drifting off. The anchor was connected to the ship by a long, thick rope known as a cable. At the very end of the anchor cable were smaller ribbon-like ties which were tied to the ship, to fastening points in the deck called bitts.

So if they let down the entire length of anchor cable, they would reach the bitter end.

3. Clean slate

Every 24-hour period at sea was divided into a strict rota system which ensured that half the crew were on duty at any one time. Nelson’s crews were divided into 2 watches, who took it in turns to keep the ship safe and sailing in the right direction.

The officers in charge of a watch would write down any important information, such as their course and the wind direction, with chalk on a slate. At the change of the watch, the slate was wiped clean ready for the next shift.

They began with a clean slate.

4. Taken aback

Nelson’s ships had big, mostly square sails, which hung from wooden spars mounted at various points up the mast. They were pretty efficient if the wind was blowing from behind.

HMS Victory had around an acre of canvas catching the wind and pushing the huge ship forward. If the wind changed, however, the breeze might catch the sails on the wrong side, taking them aback. The sails were now pushing the ship backwards. Chaos ensued.

HMS Victory, Nelson’s flagship vessel, docked in Portsmouth.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

5. Slush fund

The ship’s cook was usually an old veteran, perhaps one who had lost a limb or two over years of hard service in the Royal Navy.

Cooking was one of the easier jobs onboard, and it was a good way of looking after a loyal sailor who could no longer scramble aloft to handle the sails or manhandle the heavy guns.

There were perks to cooking onboard. Slush, the fatty waste grease created by cooking salt meat, could be sold at port to candle makers. This business left the crew with a ‘slush fund’ to be spent however they pleased.

6. Groggy

Grog was watered down rum. It was served to the sailors, particularly in the Caribbean where rum was plentiful and did not spoil when stored in barrels for long periods of time.

Sailors would hoard their daily rum ration so they could drink days’ worth in one go and get drunk. Alternatively, sailors were experts in smuggling booze aboard. One witness compared a naval ship to a gin shop.

The morning after a big session the crew might well be groggy.

7. Pipe down

Communication to the nearly 1,000 people aboard a ship like HMS Victory was via drums, bells and the infamous boatswain’s pipe or whistle which gave an unmistakable high-pitched shrill. These signals were known as pipes, and at 8 pm the crew was piped down – told to gather their hammocks and go below decks to sleep.

8. Bamboozle

An acceptable ruse of war was flying a false flag, pretending you were from a different nation. British ships could hoist a French or Spanish flag to trick the enemy. If they did that they were said to bamboozle the enemy.

John Paul Jones, one of the founders of the American navy, flew a British flag and even wore a British uniform in late 1780 when a hostile British ship approached.

9. Scupper

When waves crashed over the decks in heavy seas, the decks might be awash with water. To drain this water back into the sea there were holes or drains left at regular intervals in the ship’s superstructure called scuppers.

Anything that drained through these holes – seawater, rum or even blood spilled in battle – may have been described as being ‘scuppered’ overboard.

10. Deliver a broadside

The guns on Nelson’s ships were pointed through windows or gun ports along the sides of the ship. This meant the cannonballs travelled at 90 degrees to the ship’s direction of travel.

Cannons on the HMS Victory, Portsmouth, UK.

Image Credit: David Muscroft / Shutterstock

Firing all the guns along on side of the ship was referred to as a broadside: it was a gigantic explosion of dozens of heavy guns all at the same time, sending tons of iron cannonballs tearing into an enemy ship.

11. Close to the wind

Sailing ships harness wind power to move through the water, angling their sails to catch the wind as efficiently as possible. Even today, sailing boats cannot sail directly into the wind, and Nelson’s big ships certainly couldn’t. Instead, they sailed as ‘close to the wind’ as they could, meaning they minimised the angle between their course and the direction the wind was coming from.

This type of sailing puts great pressure on the ships, rigging and sails. And if they sailed too close to the wind, their sails would flap violently, the rigging might get damaged, the ships would slow down and the crew might well lose control of the ship.

The monument bearing his name, Nelson’s Column, stands in London’s Trafalgar Square and dominates the centre of the British capital. Here are 20 facts about him.

1. Horatio Nelson was born in 1758 in Norfolk

He was the son of Edmund, a clergyman, and Catherine, who died when he was nine years old.

2. At 14, Nelson took part in an expedition to the Arctic

During the expedition, he defended a small boat from a walrus attack.

Horatio Nelson in 1781. Credit: National Maritime Museum / Commons

3. Nelson met his mistress Emma Hamilton in 1793

After meeting in Naples, the pair began an affair despite both being married. By the time they returned to England with Hamilton’s husband, Sir William Hamilton, in 1800, Emma was pregnant with Nelson’s child.

4. Nelson had been married for 10 years when he met Emma

Nelson separated from his wife, Frances Nisbet, following his return from Naples in 1800 but she received half of his income during his lifetime and a generous pension after his death.

A portrait of Emma Hamilton by the English painter George Romney.

5. Nelson lost the sight in his right eye during the siege of Calvi in 1794

Contrary to some depictions, however, evidence suggests that he did not wear an eyepatch.

6. He was shot in the arm during the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 1797

The musket ball severed an artery and his arm was amputated immediately – without anaesthetic.

7. In August 1798, Nelson defeated the French fleet at Aboukir Bay at the mouth of the Nile in Egypt

Following the achievement, King George III made him Baron Nelson of the Nile and Burnham Thorpe (his birthplace).

8. The decoration on his hat was called a chelengk

It was given to Nelson by the sultan of Turkey in recognition of the former’s defeat of the French fleet at the Nile. The central diamond sat in a clockwork mount that rotated.

The chelengk on Nelson’s hat is clearly visible in this portrait. The Ottoman military decoration was stolen in a raid on the National Maritime Museum in the 1950s.

9. Nelson and Hamilton “married” in 1805

The day before Nelson sailed for Trafalgar, he and Hamilton took Holy Communion together and exchanged rings.

10. Nelson referred to his battle plan at Trafalgar as the “Nelson Touch”

The tactic is better known as “crossing the T”. Rather than forming up in a single line of battle and engaging broadside, Nelson formed two columns with the intention of slicing through the Franco-Spanish line. In the resulting melee, Nelson believed the superiority of British gunnery would win the day.

11. He called his captains a “band of brothers”

It was a reference to Shakespeare’s Henry V play. Prior to the Battle of Trafalgar, Nelson thoroughly briefed his captains about his plan, ensuring they understood every detail. But he also encouraged them to use their own initiative and to react to the battle as it developed rather than be hampered by rigid orders.

Nelson’s signal, “England expects that every man will do his duty”. Credit: Tkgd2007 / Commons

12. As the British fleet closed in on the Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar, Nelson flew his famous signal, “England expects that every man will do his duty”

The signal used the Popham flag code, developed by Rear Admiral Sir Home Popham and adopted by the Royal Navy as standard in 1803.

13. Nelson received a fatal wound at Trafalgar

At around 1.15pm, as he walked the quarterdeck of the HMS Victory, Nelson was hit in the shoulder by a bullet from a musket, which punctured his lung and fractured his spine. He died several hours later.

14. His last words were, “Thank God I have done my duty”

Three accounts of Nelson’s death all state that these were his final words. By the time of his death, the outcome of the Battle of Trafalgar was clear – the Royal Navy had proved victorious.

Painter Denis Dighton’s imagining of Nelson being shot on the quarterdeck of the Victory. Credit: National Maritime Museum / Commons

15. The Battle of Trafalgar was followed by a terrible storm that lasted seven days

Fifteen of the Franco-Spanish ships taken as prizes by the British fleet either sank or were abandoned in the storm, including the French flagship, the Bucentaure.

16. Nelson’s body was preserved in brandy

The day after the battle, Nelson’s body was placed in a barrel filled with brandy. His body did not arrive back in England until the December of that year. Nelson was interred in a coffin made from the mainmast of the French flagship L’Orient, sunk by Nelson at the Battle of the Nile.

17. Emma Hamilton ended her life destitute

Despite Nelson changing his will to request that Hamilton be provided for, she and her daughter Horatia received no financial support after his death. She became an alcoholic and accrued huge debts that led to her spending time in debtors’ prison.

Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square, built between 1840 and 1843. Credit: Elliott Brown / Commons

18. 100,000 people attended Nelson’s lying in state

He lay in state in Greenwich for three days in January 1806. His funeral took place on 9 January.

19. His sarcophagus was originally designed for Cardinal Wolsey

Wolsey fell out of favour with Henry VIII who took possession of the then unfinished sarcophagus, intending to use it himself.

20. The British Navy toasts the “immortal memory” of Nelson on Trafalgar Day

The first recorded instance of the toast dates back to 1811.

Nelson’s Column history

The Battle of Trafalgar took place on 21 October 1805 against the French and Spanish Navies, and was one of the most decisive victories in British naval history. It was at this famous clash that Admiral Lord Nelson lost his life however, after being shot while aboard the HMS Victory. Upon hearing the news, George III tearfully lamented, “We have lost more than we have gained.”

In February 1838, a committee was formed to oversee the construction of a monument to Nelson, which began in 1840 and was completed by 1867, when the iconic lions were added at the base of the column.

The monument consisted of a statue of Nelson looking down at the square from the top of his 52m (170 foot) column, decorated at its foot by reliefs of Nelson’s victories and guarded by four Barbary lions, designed by Landseer. The statue of Admiral Nelson himself is 5m (17 feet) high.

Since its construction Nelson’s Column has towered over the City of London and has stood as a symbol of British prestige and strength. During World War Two, Adolf Hitler even set his sights on the monument and planned to move it to Berlin should his plan to invade Britain, Operation Sea Lion, be a success. Thankfully it wasn’t, and Nelson’s Column remains one of London’s most recognisable landmarks.

Nelson’s Column today

Today Nelson’s Column is the best known of the statues in Trafalgar Square, which also includes an equestrian statue of George V and statues of Sir Charles James Napier and Sir Henry Havelock. A fourth plinth has remained empty since 1840, and is currently used for a series of exhibits by British artists.

Trafalgar Square, where Nelson’s Column stands, is well known for a variety of uses: the Christmas tree donated each year by the Norwegians in thanks for their liberation at the end of World War Two; political rallies of all descriptions; pigeons (once fed, now evicted); and, of course, New Year’s Eve celebrations. On a more cultural note, on the north side of the square stands the National Gallery, home to some of the world’s most famous art.

Getting to Nelson’s Column

Nelson’s Column is located in Trafalgar Square in London, and can be reached via a number of public transport options. The closest Underground station is Charing Cross, whose exit/entrance is on the square itself, while Charing Cross train station is a 3-minute walk away. A number of bus services also run to the surrounding streets, including Strand and Cockspur St.

Rapidly evolving methods of ship building, navigation, gun founding paid for by new financial instruments saw British, Portuguese, Spanish and French traders span the globe. Soldiers and settlers followed, until large swathes of other continents were dominated by European powers.

Squabbles between European neighbours became exacerbated by the vast rewards and resources of these American, Asian, African and Australasian empires.

A series of giant wars in the 18th century were waged with ever greater intensity.

A clash of superpowers

‘The Plumb-pudding in danger – or – State Epicures taking un Petit Souper’, published 26 February 1805.

By 1805 Britain and France had emerged as twin superpowers – both locked into a decades long struggle for mastery. In France Napoloen Bonaparte had seized power, revolutionised the state, conquered much of Europe, and now threatened to descend on southern England with a mighty army of veteran troops to destroy his greatest enemy.

But that enemy was fortified behind the Channel, and more importantly, the wooden walls that ploughed its waters: the battleships of the Royal Navy.

The road to Trafalgar

In the summer of 1805 Napoleon Bonaparte was determined to strike directly as his greatest enemy.  His army waited on the channel coast as he tried in vain to get his fleet, combined with that of his brow beaten Spanish ally to join him, they would then protect his invasion barges as they crossed the channel.

But by October the combined fleet was still bottled up in distant Cadiz, while British battleships prowled just out to sea.

Britain’s greatest fighting admiral was Horatio Nelson, in August he returned to Britain after two years at sea. His stay would last just 25 days. As soon as HMS Victory was provisioned and equipped he was sent to Cadiz to deal with the combined fleet. While it was in being, it represented an existential threat to Britain.

Nelson was ordered south to destroy it.

Vice Admiral Lord Nelson by Charles Lucy. Great Britian, 19th century.

On 28 September Nelson arrived off Cadiz. Now he had to wait, keep his distance and tempt the combined fleet out.

Quality over quantity

The French admiral Villeneuve was desperate. Cadiz could not supply the thousands of sailors in his fleet. His ships were short of experienced crew and he could not train the novices because they were bottled up in port.

He and his captains knew what awaited them outside the harbour but when an order arrived from the Emperor Napoleon, they had no choice but to put to sea.

Villeneuve’s combined fleet was impressive on paper. They outnumbered Nelson in battleships by 33 to 27. They had some of the biggest and powerful ships in the world, like the Santisima Trinidad with 130 guns aboard. That’s 30 more cannon than HMS Victory.

But they were no match in practice. British sailors had been brought to a perfect pitch by a generation of war at sea. Their ships were better built; their cannon were more advanced.

Nelson knew this inherent advantage and his battle plan was ambitious to the point of arrogance. But if it worked it might deliver the crushing victory, that he, and Britain wanted.

An innovative strategy

The orthodox way of fighting a fleet battle was in long lines of battleships. This avoided a chaotic melee. Ships in a long line could be controlled by the admiral, and if one side chose to break away and escape they could do so without losing their cohesion.

This meant that sea battles were often inconclusive. Nelson wanted to annihilate the enemy and came up with a shockingly aggressive battle plan:

He would divide his fleet in two, and send them both like dagger thrusts into the midst of the enemy.

Tactical map showing Nelson’s strategy to split the French and Spanish lines.

Nelson gathered his captains together in his cabin on HMS Victory and laid out his plan.

It was bold to the point of arrogance. As his ships approached the combined fleet they would be exposed to all the cannon arrayed along the broadsides of the enemy while his ships would be unable to bring their own broadsides to bear. The lead ships could expect to take a terrible beating.

Who would lead the British line, and expose himself to suicidal danger? Nelson would, naturally.

Nelson’s plan meant there would be a stunning victory or hopeless defeat. The Battle of Trafalgar would certainly be decisive.

Here are ten of the most significant British battles in history.

1. The Battle of Hastings: 14 October 1066

William the Conqueror’s victory against Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings was an era defining moment. It ended over six hundred years of Anglo-Saxon rule in England and ushered in nearly a century of Norman dominion – a period epitomised by the construction of formidable castles and cathedrals as well as significant changes to English society.

2. The Battle of Agincourt: 25 October 1415

On 25 October, also known as St Crispin’s Day, 1415 an English (and Welsh) ‘band of brothers’ won a miraculous victory at Agincourt.

Despite being outnumbered, Henry V’s army triumphed against the flower of the French nobility, marking the end of an era where the knight dominated the battlefield.

Immortalised by William Shakespeare, the battle has come to represent an important part of British national identity.

3. The Battle of the Boyne: 11 July 1690

A painting of William of Orange at the Battle of the Boyne.

The Battle of the Boyne was fought in Ireland between a recently-deposed King James II and his Jacobites (James’ Catholic supporters) and King William III and his Williamites (William’s Protestant supporters).

William’s victory at the Boyne secured the fate of the Glorious Revolution that had occurred two years before. Because of this no Catholic monarch has ruled England since James II.

4. The Battle of Trafalgar: 21 October 1805

On 21 October 1805, Admiral Horatio Nelson’s British fleet crushed a Franco-Spanish force at Trafalgar in one of the most famous naval battles in history.

The victory sealed Britain’s reputation as the world’s leading maritime power – a reputation which arguably remained until the end of World War Two.

5. The Battle of Waterloo: 18 June 1815

Ten years after the Battle of Trafalgar, Britain gained another of its most iconic victories at Waterloo in Belgium when Arthur Wellesley (better known as the Duke of Wellington) and his British army decisively defeated Napoleon Bonaparte, with aid from Blücher’s Prussians.

The victory marked the end of the Napoleonic Wars and peace returned to Europe for the next generation. It also paved the way for Britain becoming the world superpower during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

In British eyes, Waterloo is a national triumph that is still celebrated to this day and commemorations of the battle remain visible in various formats: songs, poems, street names and stations for instance.

6. The Battle of the Somme: 1 July – 18 November 1916

The first day of the Battle of the Somme holds an infamous record for the British army, being the bloodiest day in its history. 19,240 British men lost their lives that day due mainly to poor intelligence, inadequate artillery support, and an underestimation of their foe – a contempt that has proven fatal so many times in history.

By the end of the battle 141 days later, 420,000 British soldiers lay dead for the prize of just a few miles of land gained.

7. The Battle of Passchendaele: 31 July – 10 November 1917

Also known as the Third Battle of Ypres, Passchendaele was another of the bloodiest battles of World War One.

A new German strategy called defence in depth exacted heavy losses on initial Allied attacks before General Herbert Plumer’s bite and hold tactics, which aimed at taking more limited objectives rather than driving deep into enemy territory in one push, turned the tables for a while. But unseasonably heavy rains turned the battlefield to a deadly quagmire, making progress difficult and adding to the already heavy toll in manpower.

The casualty figures for Passchendaele are highly contested but it is generally agreed that each side lost a minimum of 200,000 men and likely as many as twice that.

Passchendaele had a particularly catastrophic impact on the German Army; they suffered a devastating rate of casualties which by that stage of the war they simply could not replace.

8. The Battle of Britain: 10 July – 31 October

The Battle of Britain was fought in the skies above southern England during the Summer of 1940.

Having conquered France and most of mainland Europe, Adolf Hitler planned an invasion of Britain – Operation Sealion. For this to go ahead, however, he first needed to gain control of the air from the Royal Air Force.

Although significantly outnumbered by Herman Goering’s infamous Luftwaffe, the Royal Air Force successfully fended off the German Messchersmitts, Heinkels and Stukas, forcing Hitler to ‘postpone’ the invasion on 17 September.

Britain’s ultimate victory in the skies stopped a German invasion and signified a turning point in World War Two. At the time of Britain’s Darkest Hour this victory brought hope to the Allied cause, shattering the aura of invincibility that had until then surrounded Hitler’s forces.

9. The Second Battle of El Alamein: 23 October 1942

On 23 October 1942 Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery spearheaded a British-led victory at El Alamein in modern day Egypt against Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps – the decisive moment of the Desert War in World War Two.

The victory marked one of the most important turning points, if not the most important, of the war. As Churchill famously remarked,

‘Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat’.

10. The Battles of Imphal and Kohima: 7 March – 18 July 1944

The Battles of Imphal and Kohima was a key turning point during the Burma campaign on World War Two. Masterminded by William Slim, British and Allied forces won a decisive victory against the Japanese forces situated in north-eastern India.

The Japanese siege of Kohima has been described as ‘the Stalingrad of the East’, and between 5 and 18 April the Allied defenders were engaged in some of the bitterest close-quarter fighting of the war.

Here are five reasons for her success:

1. HMS Victory was decked out with the most powerful weaponry

At the Battle of Trafalgar, Victory carried 104 guns of different calibres. The most effective were the 68-pounder carronades, which were short, smoothbore cannons, and state-of-the-art in the early 19th century.

With poor aim and range but a capacity to unleash huge power, their function was to fire at close distances and trigger devastation right through the heart of a ship’s hull.

One of the gun decks on HMS Victory.

Each gun would have an operational team of 12 men. Young boys, called powder monkeys, would run to the magazines on the lower decks to restock gunpowder filled cartridges.

Unlike those in the Franco-Spanish fleets, Nelson’s cannons were triggered by gunlocks, a safety mechanism to make it much quicker and safer to reload and fire.

Nelson’s strategy at Trafalgar allowed these carronades to be used to their full ability, releasing a shattering treble-shotted broadside into Bucentaure, the French ship.

One infamous shot from a carronade on HMS Victory saw a keg of 500 musket balls blasted straight into the gunport of a French ship, effectively wiping out the entire crew manning the cannon.

HMS Victory’s starboard flank.

Victory used three types of shot: the round solid shot used to pummel a ship’s hull, the dismantling shots aimed to tear down masts and rigging, and the anti-personnel or grape shots aimed to maim crew members with a showering of smalls iron balls.

2. Everything on Victory was the biggest and best 

The four masts held 27 miles of rigging and 37 sails made from four acres of canvas. Dundee weavers would have spent around 1,200 hours just to stitch the top sail together. An additional 23 sails were on board as spares, making it the fastest and most manoeuvrable ship of its day – effective in any situation.

Unsurprisingly, this required enormous amounts of labour-intensive manpower. To put all 37 sails up, after hearing the order, 120 men would leave their stations to climb the rigging ladders and heave on lines, taking just six minutes. It was not uncommon for sailors to fall to their deaths from wet ropes and gusts of wind.

Victory carried seven anchors. The largest and heaviest weighed 4 tons and was used for holding the ship in deep water. It was always rigged on the starboard due to prevailing winds of the northern hemisphere. Around 144 men were needed to raise this anchor, the cable of which was made of hemp and became tremendously heavy in water.

3. The Royal Navy were the most experienced sailors in the world

The Royal Navy crew of captains, officers, marines and seamen were some of the best in the world, hardened by years at sea and drilled to perfection.

Such a slick operation was a product of blockading ports of Europe, fighting battles all across the world, maintaining order across the growing empire, regulating trade routes and withstanding every form of tide and weather. In contrast, many enemy ships had spent time cooped up in harbour and relied on crews of inexperienced landsmen.

Victory’s 20-year-old 2nd Marine Lieutenant, Lewis Roatley, wrote about operating the guns:

‘A man should witness a battle in a three-decker from the middle deck, for it beggars all description: it bewilders the senses of sight and hearing.’

In light of this chaos, it seems unsurprising that experienced British sailors would have the upper hand against unseasoned landsmen.

4. Victory was built with the strongest wood in England

When HMS Victory was built, she was a state-of-the-art beacon of British technology – the modern-day fighter jet or spacecraft. When she was commissioned in 1763, Britain fought in the final stages of the Seven Years War, and huge swathes of money were pumped into the Royal Navy to make it the most effective in the world.

Designed by the Surveyor of the Navy, Sir Thomas Slade, her keel was to be 259 ft long and carry a crew of about 850.

The Stern of HMS Victory. Image source: Ballista / CC BY-SA 3.0

About 6,000 trees were used in construction. These were mainly oaks from Kent, with some from the New Forest and Germany.

Certain parts of the ship needed to be made from a single piece of oak to take great pressure, such as the 30-foot-high ‘stern post’. For this, enormous mature oak trees were acquired. Parts of the decks, keel and yard arms were made of fir, spruce and elm.

After the keel and frame were constructed, shipwrights would usually cover the ship in canvas for several months to allow more seasoning of the wood, thereby strengthening it.

Soon after work on HMS Victory started, the Seven Years War ended and her construction stalled. This allowed her wooden frame to remained covered for three years and gain immense strength and sturdiness.

5. However, it wasn’t all plain sailing

When the shipbuilders sought to launch the new vessel, it became apparent that the gates out of the yard were 9 inches too narrow. The master shipwright, John Allin, ordered every available shipwright to hew away enough of the gate to allow the ship to pass.

After this first hurdle, other embarrassments emerged. She had a distinct lean to the starboard, which was rectified by increasing the ballast to settle her upright, and she sat so low in the water that her gun ports were just 1.4m below the waterline.

This second problem could not be rectified, and her sailing instructions were changed to note the lower gun ports were unusable in rough weather, potentially limiting her firepower immensely. As it turned out, she never fought a battle in rough seas, so these limitations never materialised.

By the turn of the 19th century, after leading fleets in the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars, it seemed Victory had served her term.

She was considered too old for service, and left anchored off Chatham Dockyard in Kent. In December 1796, her fate was to house French and Spanish prisoners of war as a hospital ship.

However, after HMS Impregnable ran aground off Chichester, the Admiralty were short of a three-decked ship of the line. Victory was destined to be reconditioned and modernised at the cost of £70,933.

Extra gun ports were added, magazines lined with copper and she was painted black and yellow, giving rise to the pattern of ‘Nelson Chequer’. In 1803, as sharp and speedy as any new ship, the most glorious period of Victory’s history began, as Nelson sailed her to command the Mediterranean fleet.

Denis Dighton’s imagining of Nelson being shot on the quarterdeck.

The victory halted Napoleon’s grand ambitions of conquering Britain, and ensured that a French fleet could never establish control over the seas. Britain became the dominant naval power for most of the rest of the 19th century.

1. The British fleet was outnumbered

While the British had 27 ships, the French and Spanish had a combined total of 33 ships.

The Battle of Trafalgar, as seen from the starboard mizzen shrouds of the Victory by J. M. W. Turner.

2. Before the battle, Nelson sent the famous signal: ‘England expects every man to do his duty’

3. Nelson famously sailed in the face of naval doctrine

Normally opposing fleets would form two lines and engage in a clash of broadsides until one fleet withdrew.

Instead, Nelson split his fleet in two, placing half of it under the command of his deputy, Admiral Collingwood, and sailed straight at the French and Spanish lines, aiming to cleave them in half, and avoid engaging the numerically superior fleet in a battle of attrition.

Tactical map showing Nelson’s strategy to split the French and Spanish lines.

4. Nelson’s flagship was HMS Victory

It had 104 guns, and was constructed from 6,000 oaks and elms. It required 26 miles of rope and rigging for the three masts, and was crewed by 821 men.

5. The first British ship to engage the enemy was Admiral Collingwood’s flagship, the Royal Sovereign

As the ship engaged the Spanish Santa Anna, Collingwood supposedly remained composed, eating an apple and pacing about. This was despite suffering severe bruising in the leg from a flying splinter of wood as well as being hurt in the back by a cannonball.

Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood (26 September 1748 – 7 March 1810) was an admiral of the Royal Navy, notable as a partner with Horatio Nelson in several of the British victories of the Napoleonic Wars, and frequently as Nelson’s successor in commands.

6. Nelson was fatally wounded as his ship was engaged with the French ship the Redoutable

He was standing on deck, as was the tradition for officers in this age of naval combat, and was hit in the spine by a French sharpshooter. He realised he would die quickly, and was taken below deck so as not to demotivate the men. Nelson’s final words, according to contemporary accounts, were:

Take care of my dear Lady Hamilton, Hardy, take care of poor Lady Hamilton.

He paused then said very faintly,

Kiss me, Hardy.

This, Hardy did, on the cheek. Nelson then said,

Now I am satisfied. Thank God I have done my duty.

Painter Denis Dighton’s imagining of Nelson being shot on the quarterdeck of Victory.

7. The total firepower of both armies at Waterloo amounted to 7.3% of the firepower at Trafalgar

8. The Spanish expressed their sorrow when they heard of Nelson’s death

This was reported from an exchange of prisoners:

“The English Officers, who have returned from Cadiz, state that the account of Lord Nelson’s death was received there with extreme sorrow and regret by the Spaniards, and that some of them were even observed to shed tears on the occasion.

They said, ‘though he had been the ruin of their Navy, yet they could not help lamenting his fall, as being the most generous Enemy, and the greatest Commander of the age!’”

9. After Trafalgar, many of the men were not allowed to either go home or spend much time on shore

This was because the British had to maintain a blockade of Cadiz and other ports. Admiral Collingwood was continuously on board his ship for nearly five years as he commanded a fleet involved in the blockade.

The Battle of Trafalgar by Clarkson Stanfield.

10. Collingwood’s only consolation was his pet dog, Bounce, who was ailing, much like Collingwood himself

Collingwood wrote to his children that he had written a song for his dog:

Tell the children that Bounce is very well and very fat, yet he seems not to be content, and sighs so piteously these long evenings, that I am obliged to sing him to sleep, and have sent them the song:

Sigh no more, Bouncey, sigh no more,
Dogs were deceivers never;
Though ne’er you put one foot on shore,
True to your master ever.
Then sigh not so, but let us go,
Where dinner’s daily ready,
Converting all the sounds of woe
To heigh phiddy diddy.

Bounce fell overboard and drowned in August 1809, and Collingwood became seriously ill around this time. He wrote to the Admiralty for permission to return home, which was finally granted, but as he was on his way to England, he died at sea in March 1810.

He was sixty-two, and he hadn’t seen his wife or his children since before Trafalgar.

11. Originally, Trafalgar Square was the site of the Royal Stables

When it was rebuilt in the the 1830s, Trafalgar Square was supposed to be named after William IV, but the architect George Ledwell Taylor proposed naming it for Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar. Nelson’s column was erected in 1843.

Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square. It was built between 1840 and 1843 to commemorate Admiral Horatio Nelson’s death at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

12. Sir Edwin Landseer was supplied with a dead lion from the London Zoo as a model for the lions at its base

Some of its corpse had begun to rot, which is said to be why its paws resemble those of a cat.

In the UK at least, the battle’s fame is second only to Waterloo among the many clashes of the Napoleonic Wars. Even if the details are sketchy, this celebrated British naval victory, and the fate of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, is familiar to most Brits. But was Trafalgar as significant a battle as its fame suggests?

An unorthodox and gutsy plan

Trafalgar was fought off the western mouth of the Straits of Gibraltar, where a Franco-Spanish fleet of 33 ships, commanded by Vice Admiral Pierre-Charles de Villeneuve and Admiral Don Federico Gravina, clashed with 27 ships of the line commanded by Nelson. The British squadron prevailed in spectacular fashion, downing 22 Franco-Spanish ships without the loss of a single vessel.

Villeneuve was captured along with his ship while Gravina escaped but died two months later from injuries sustained in the battle.

This strikingly decisive victory – the most comprehensive of the Napoleonic Wars – owed much to Nelson’s tactical ingenuity.

By breaking from the convention of forming a single line of battle and instead dividing his smaller fleet into two columns directed perpendicularly against the enemy fleet, Nelson was able to force a number of individual ship-to-ship actions. He was confident that his men would prevail in such close-quarter combat.

Nelson’s heroism

Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1799 portrait by Lemuel Francis Abbott.

The admiral’s plan was bold and his leadership exemplary. Having led the first column of attack from the deck of his ship, HMS Victory, and successfully taken the enemy flagship out of action, Nelson was struck by musket fire and mortally wounded.

Nelson’s was a heroic death that only served to seal his legend. Though his death was a great loss to the British Navy, it galvanised British spirits at a time when the threat of French domination in Europe was a matter of growing national concern.

Trafalgar proved Britain’s naval superiority beyond doubt

The emphatic nature of Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar was important. It has been said that, while other British admirals may have also prevailed in the battle, Nelson did so in such a style that he effectively sealed Britain’s reputation as the world’s leading naval power for more than a century.

Napoleon’s maritime ambitions were crippled at Trafalgar and his plans to invade Britain were made to look more misguided in their ambition than ever before.