The Battle of Trafalgar, rivers of ink have been spilled over a naval battle of such caliber. English ships against a Franco-Spanish Aramada, The tension between these three countries, unresolved for centuries, seemed to settle in this terrible battle. But what caused this confrontation, what characters intervened, where the battle took place or what consequences it had. We are going to answer this and other questions in this article that we have titled The Battle of Trafalgar – Background, Characters, Countries, Battle and Aftermathlet us know all the data, how a battle was forged that has inspired great writers and film directors.
The Battle of Trafalgar | Background
Spain, France and England throughout history have coincided in terms of interests, the three countries with a strong tendency to colonialism and to territorial expansion, their interests have often been harmed. Rough edges that have been ironed out on some occasions by means of treaties and others by means of confrontations.
For many years, alliances were created with the aim of defeating the third party, the country that had not entered said alliance. At the beginning of the 19th century, Napoleon Bonaparte it intended to expand throughout Europe but there was another power with the same pretensions, England. Tensions between the two countries began to become apparent, Napoleon’s obsession with crushing England It led him to park his differences with Spain and ally himself with it to put an end to a common enemy.
Spain claimed Gibraltar, while Napoleon had just won the battle of Ulm, defeating the Austrian army, given that in 1805, England, Austria, Sweden and Russia had created the third coalition with the sole purpose of overthrowing the French Empire.
The old wounds between France and England had been opened and Napoleon found the opportune moment to fulfill his great dream of invading England or, failing that, being able to isolate them by blocking the English Channel. The Treaty of Aranjuez in 1779 signed by the Count of Floridablanca, by which Spain and France established the commitment to invade England and recover for Spain Gibraltar and Minorca, as well as the Florida peninsula and British Honduras, while France would recover Senegal, Newfoundland and the right to power trade with India.
Spain was obliged to contribute its navy if France needed it. But neither France nor Spain were aware of the naval power that England had harvested. It was not taken into account that in land battles Spain and France were superior, but the British Navy was much more powerful than the continental Navy.
The Battle of Trafalgar | Battle Plans. The deception
Napoleon, who saw his possessions in America threatened, decided concoct a plan to destroy the English Y to be able to invade Englandwhich deep down was his great dream.
It was about a distraction Plan, joined under the command of Vice Admiral Pierre-Charles Silvestre de Villeneuve the Spanish Navy and the French Navy in order to attack the British possessions in the Caribbean. This would force British ships to come to the defense of their American colonies. But Napoleon’s strategy was to invade England through the calais pass, where a large infantry army was already waiting ready to embark for England.
However, Napoleon did not correctly choose who was going to command the Spanish-French army, Vice Admiral Villeneuve, a man who not only hated Napoleon and his policies, but also disagreed with attracting the British Admiral Nelson to the Caribbean. In part this was due to the terrible dread he had towards Admiral Nelson, after a confrontation in Abourkir Bay.
Villeneuve, left Toulon on March 30. while Admiral Nelson, thinking that France’s strategy was to head for Egypt, waited sailing between Sardinia and Sicily. Soon Nelson would discover the deception. Nelson directed his fleet of 10 ships of the line and three frigates to the West Indies.
Villeneuve waited on Martinique Island for the 21 ships of the line commanded by the admiral Ganteaume, joined him, later 6 Spanish ships commanded by Admiral Federico Gravin, they would also join the French fleet. Villeneuve, had to return to Europe to support the landing of the troops in Calais, whose deadline was June 22.
Nelson, who had set course for the West Indies, was misinformed heading south instead of north, where Villeneuve was. The deception had worked and Nelson was out in the Atlantic looking for the elusive Villeneuve.
The Battle of Trafalgar | Battle of Finisterre
The English, aware of the border weakness that existed in the English Channelhad arranged a fleet that would constantly watch the channel, and it was this fleet that by chance found on July 22 with the whole Navy combined in Finisterre, which was going to support the incursion of the troops in the Pas de Calais.
The Admiral Sir Robert Calder he directed the Canal surveillance flotilla with 15 ships in line, while Villeneuve had 21 ships and 7 frigates. The confrontation resulted in two Spanish ships captured and damage to another 4. The British suffered damage to 4 ships and had 199 casualties. On July 27 both fleets left the place of confrontation in different directions.
The Battle of Trafalgar | Start of the Battle
Villeneuve received express orders to proceed to the south of France, but Villeneuve, disobeying Napoleon’s orders, headed with the entire fleet towards the port of Cadiz, where it docked on August 21.
Nelson returned to England on August 19, after having suffered the deception of Villeneuve but aware of the destination they had chosen in the port of Cádiz. He got 27 ships and 5 frigates, the latter under the command of Sir Henry Blackwood.
with this fleet Nelson headed towards Cadiz in order to monitor the combined fleet of 2,600 sailors and 33 ships, while Nelson’s fleet numbered 27 ships and 2,100 sailors.
Nelson’s strategy was that once the fleet left Cádiz, he would attack in two columns formed at right angles, breaking through enemy lines and isolating the rear and then destroying it before the combined army was able to back it up.
The Battle of Trafalgar | The battle
The Franco-Spanish fleet left Cadiz at dawn of Saturday October 19, but it was a disorderly fleet, a 9-mile-long line of scattered ships, so much so that it took them two days to reach the Strait of Gibraltar.
October 21 a rising tide predicted the approach of a storm. Villeneuve, He decided change course and back to the mediterranean the Spanish fleet commanded by Granvina, before leading the fleet, were now in the rear, an hour later, Admiral Nelsón’s fleet fell on the Spanish navy, in the formation of two columns.
Nelson who saw how the combined fleet took flight decided to chase herbut what was his surprise when, Villenueve’s combined fleet, turned around and headed straight for them. After a signal and a slogan, Nelson started the first shots. On a second order from the Admiral the English fleet came even closer receiving the victoryship captained by Nelson, a hail of shots from the Bucentaure, led by Villenueve.
As the guns bombarded the Victory, French and Spanish sharpshooters fired onto the deck. ANDl Victory sustained major damage at the helm and in all its sticks, practically ungovernable, it had enough courage to pass close to the Bucentaure, unload a devastating load through its galleries, killing dozens of Bucentaure’s crew and rendering 20 guns useless.
With the ranks broken, the fight continued with a series of individual actions, where the fight was from ship to ship, a technique that the English dominated.
The Redeemable, at whose command was Captain Jean-Jacques Lucas, fired one last wave with such precision that it ended the lives of 40 marines. While a sniper managed to hit Admiral Nelson, leaving him seriously injured.
The Redoutable began to receive shots from all sides, but when the Temerairejoined the fray and destroyed what was left of the Redoutable, while her new captain refused to surrender until eventually 88% of her crew, including her captain, were dead.
The Holy Trinity unable to fire a single shot, he could only await boarding by the English, but when this occurred, a Spanish officer warned that the captain had not lowered her flag. The heroics of the Santísima Trinidad and its crew delayed what was already inevitable.
The result of the entire contest was Admiral Nelson’s death and the resounding defeat of the Franco-Spanish navy, although both Spanish and French offered a fierce resistance but a disorganization on the part of the Franco-Spanish navy together with a great shipping experience and better equipped and faster ships, made a victory impossible.
The Battle of Trafalgar | Impact
The consequences of one of the most important and heroic naval battles in history, had been saldado with the failure of his attempts to invade Great Britain by Napoleon. But what he did make clear throughout the 19th century was the superiority of the English naval fleet and its hegemony.
For Spain it meant greater control of the Strait of Gibraltar by Great Britain as well as hinder trade relations with the American colonieseven reaching to facilitate the removal of these as well as the beginning of their independence process.
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