Топик: Nelson

After receiving Napoleon's orders that he must break the blockade, Villeneuve, on October 20, sailed out of Cadiz. At dawn next day, the Franco-Spanish fleets were silhouetted against the sunrise off cape Trafalgar, and the British began to form the two divisions in which they were to fight, one by Nelson, the other by Collingwood. As the opposing fleets closed, Nelson made signal. "England expects that every will man do his duty". The Battle of Trafalgar raged at its fiercest around the victory. A French sniper from the mast of the Redoutable, shot Nelson through the shoulder and chest. He was carried below to the surgeon, and it was soon clear that he was dying. When told that 15 enemy ships had been taken, he replied, "That is well, but I had bargained for 20". Thomas Hardy, his flag captain, kissed his forehead in farewell and Nelson spoke his last words, "Now I am satisfied. Thank God, I have done my duty".

Although the victory of Trafalgar finally made Britain safe from invasion, it was, at the time, overshadowed by the news of Nelson's death. A country racked with grief gave him a majestic funeral in St. Paul's Cathedral, and his popularity in countless monuments, streets, and inns named after him and, eventually, in the preservation at Portsmouth of the Victory. Emma Hamilton and his daughter, however, were ignored. Emma died, almost destitute, in Calais nine years later. Horatia, showing her father's resilience, married a clergyman in Norfolk and became the mother of large and sturdy family.

Assessment.

Nelson had finally broken the unimaginative strategical and tactical doctrines of the previous century and taught individual officers to think for themselves. His flair and forcefulness as a commander in battle were decisive factors in his two major victories- the battles of the Nile and Trafalgar. In the former, he had destroyed the French fleet upon which Napoleon Bonaparte had based his hopes of Eastern conquest, and in the latter he had destroyed the combined French and Spanish fleets, thus ensuring the safety of the British Isles from invasion and the supremacy of British sea power for more than a century. Spectacular success in battle, combined with his humanity as a commander and his scandalous private life, raised Nelson to godlike status in his lifetime, and after his death at Trafalgar in 1805, he was enshrined in popular myth and iconography. He is still generally accepted as the most appealing of Britain’s national heroes.

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