The Battle of Trafalgar is known for its historical consequences. The legendary Admiral Nelson died in this battle. The undeniable victory of the English fleet put an end to attacks from France.

    The cape where all this happened is called Trafalgar, and the battle itself took place on October twenty-first, one thousand eight hundred and five. The answer is TRAFALGAR.

    For England, this event is significant as a national holiday of the victory of its fleet. For world history, as the most ambitious naval battle that took place in the nineteenth century. This naval battle took place in the area of ​​​​Cape Trafalgar. The place became known in history as TRAFALGAR.

    TRAFALGAR

    Or rather, a naval battle at the above-mentioned cape.

    It was here that the British naval force, the beauty and pride of the Grand Fleet, Sir Horatio Nelson, died.

    The British, I think, would happily agree to lose a bunch of ships.

    Naval Englishmen, not City sponsors, of course.

    In general, it is considered the largest naval battle of the nineteenth century.

    The Battle of Trafalgar took place on this day and is celebrated in Britain as the day of the victory of the Royal Navy. The fleet was commanded by the famous Vice Admiral Nelson, and the battle was the admiral's last. The Battle of Trafalgar has gone down in history as one of the greatest naval battles. The ten letter answer is Trafalgar.

    The question in question is about the famous naval battle, it took place off Cape Trafalgar.

    Then two fleets took part in the battle - the Franco-Spanish, it was a joint fleet and the English fleet.

    The battle was named Trafalgar. Although England's victory was unconditional, it did not lose a single ship, but it was in this battle that Horatio Nelson died.

    TRAFALGAR is the correct answer.

    The correct answer to the question is TRAFALGAR (10 letters)

    Twenty-first October 1805 at trafalgar there was a battle in which British fleet just destroyed Spanish fleets, this battle was called Trafalgar

    The correct answer to this question is TRAFALGAR.

    A historical naval battle took place on this cape, which is called the Battle of Trafalgar. The battle was between the Franco-Spanish and English fleets. To the surprise of the enemy, Britain did not lose a single ship in this battle, but Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson died. After this battle, Napoleon did not attack England again.

    The question is about the famous battle of the 19th century, when two fleets met at sea: the English and the united Franco-Spanish.

    The battle took place on October 21, 1805 at Cape Trafalgar, which is why this battle went down in history as Trafalgar.

    According to some sources, the allies Spain and France lost 18 ships in the battle, while according to others the number increases to 22. England did not lose a single warship. But Foggy Albion still received significant damage, because the famous admiral Horatio Nelson died in the battle.

    TRAFALGAR is the correct answer to this question.

    And this battle took place at Cape Trafalgar. This cape is of Arab origin and is located on the Spanish coast. This battle is sometimes also called the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. In general, the correct answer is TRAFALGAR.

    This famous battle is called TRAFALGAR.

    The battle really became famous, since the losses were really different for these countries, and the consequences were severe. England was finally able to fight off France.

    Since the question provided a sufficient amount of information, the answer to it was found very quickly - the battle, the place of which must be guessed, is inextricably linked with the name of Admiral Nelson, whose monument is erected in Trafalgar Square in London - in 1805, the English fleet under the command of Nelson won valiant victory in the naval battle off the Cape Trafalgar.

On October 21, 1805, a historic naval battle took place between British and Franco-Spanish naval forces on the Atlantic coast of Spain off Cape Trafalgar near the city of Cadiz. During the eight-hour battle, the British squadron of Admiral Horatio Nelson, without losing a single ship, completely destroyed the allied fleet, destroying and capturing half of its ships. Nelson himself died in this battle.

In 1805, the leading land force in Europe was the army of the French Empire led by Napoleon. And at sea, the main force was the English Royal Navy, which introduced a naval blockade in France, affecting its trade and the mobilization of naval forces. Despite several fairly successful campaigns, the French were unable to completely break the blockade. And then Napoleon switched to the same policy, establishing a continental blockade, prohibiting all countries dependent on him from trading with Great Britain. This, in turn, disrupted the British Isles' connection with Europe.

Not limiting himself to his plans to seize the English colonies, Napoleon intended to land a large force on the territory of Foggy Albion, and called the preparation for this operation the “Boulogne expedition.” Actually this was the reason for the Battle of Trafalgar. The English squadron of Admiral Nelson blocked the Franco-Spanish fleet in the harbor of Cadiz. The French Admiral Villeneuve received an order from Napoleon to break through the encirclement and break into the waters of the Mediterranean Sea to reunite with the forces there.

The English squadron consisted of 27 battleships and 4 frigates, and the Franco-Spanish fleet included 33 battleships and 5 frigates. Villeneuve, using traditional tactics, lined up the ships. Nelson used a revolutionary technique - he built a squadron in two columns, which, using a tailwind, rushed at the slow-moving enemy ships.

The first salvo of this battle was heard at 11 o'clock, and at 17.30 the battle ended with the complete defeat of the allied fleet. As a result of the battle, France and Spain lost twenty-two ships, while Great Britain lost none. The British victory was overshadowed by the death of their admiral: 47-year-old Nelson, whose personal courage and skill as a naval commander played a decisive role in the battle, was mortally wounded on his flagship Victory - a musket bullet shattered his spine. The French admiral Charles Villeneuve was captured.

The Trafalgar triumph brought England more than a century of undivided world dominance on the seas. Britain's victory confirmed the country's naval supremacy, established in the 18th century. After his defeat, Napoleon abandoned his plan to attack southern England and began a war against the other two main powers in Europe: Russia and Austria.

Today in the UK, Trafalgar Day is a national holiday - festive events are held in its honor every year.

The beginning of the 19th century in Europe was marked by the Napoleonic wars. Revolutionary France, repelling the attacks of counter-revolutionaries of all stripes, replaced the established republican system with a dictatorship, and then with a new monarchy under the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte.

The newly-minted French Empire now itself acted as an invader, intending to redraw the world map to its liking.

In order to assert dominance in Europe, France needed to neutralize its longtime sworn enemy, England.

By 1805, Napoleon had fully developed plans for an invasion of the British Isles. According to him, two waves of landing were being prepared. The first 1,700 barges were supposed to transport 113 thousand people and 5,600 horses. In the second, they were to be joined by 48 thousand soldiers and 3,400 horses, for the transportation of which 590 barges were prepared.

The army, which had already received the name “English,” was preparing to cross the English Channel in the specially created Boulogne camp. Napoleon visited the troops several times to check on their condition and strengthen the morale of the soldiers.

Bad commander of a bad fleet

Everything was ready for crossing the English Channel. However, this operation was prevented by the English fleet guarding the strait.

The navy was the main hope and support of the British Empire, and in order to carry out invasion plans, France needed to, if not defeat it, then at least force it to weaken its presence in the English Channel.

The problem was that the French fleet was seriously damaged during the revolution. The backbone of its officer corps consisted of people from aristocratic families, who for the most part either died or were forced to flee the country.

The commander of the French fleet was Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, also a descendant of aristocrats, who suffered for his origin, but escaped the worst. He had behind him a defeat from the British in the Battle of Aboukir, which did not set him in an optimistic mood, but Napoleon did not have a better naval commander.

The French emperor was aware that his fleet was no match for the British, and therefore set auxiliary tasks for it. In March 1805, Admiral Villeneuve received orders from Napoleon to make a trip to the Caribbean Sea. The calculation was that the British, alarmed by the fate of their colonies, would send the main forces of their fleet after Villeneuve and thereby allow them to cross the English Channel.

Villeneuve's Caribbean expedition. March - October 1805. Source: Public Domain

Military campaign under threat of resignation

The British, however, figured out the enemy's plans and continued to keep ships near the English Channel.

The French Emperor demanded that Villeneuve take his ships to the English Channel to make another attempt to divert the British fleet.

Admiral Villeneuve, citing illness and the poor condition of the ships, led the squadron to Spanish Cadiz, where he anchored for repairs. The French were accompanied by allied Spanish ships.

The stopover in Cadiz lasted for two months, which the British took advantage of. British fleet under the command Admiral Horatio Nelson organized a blockade of Cadiz, depriving the enemy of the opportunity to maneuver.

On September 17, 1805, Napoleon sent Villeneuve an order to weigh anchor with the entire allied fleet and go to Cartagena to unite with the Spanish there. Rear Admiral Salcedo, and from there - to Naples, to land there the troops located with his squadron as reinforcements to General Saint-Cyr, who was supposed to invade the Kingdom of Naples from the north.

Admiral Villeneuve hesitated, believing that a clash with the British would turn into a disaster. Spanish supported him Commander Antonio de Escaño, who believed that the Franco-Spanish forces should strengthen the defenses of Cadiz, and not go for a breakthrough.

In the second half of October, Admiral Villeneuve learned that the emperor, who had lost patience, was preparing a replacement for him, and gave the order for the squadron to go to sea. On October 19, 1805, Franco-Spanish forces left Cadiz to meet the British.

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English plan

The allied fleet had at its disposal 18 French and 15 Spanish battleships versus 27 English. This advantage, however, was offset by the indecisiveness of Admiral Villeneuve.

The French commander did not have any clear battle plan. After Aboukir, Villeneuve seemed to believe in English invincibility and did not believe in the possibility of a successful outcome of the battle.

Horatio Nelson was a determined and active man. He approached the encounter with the enemy with a carefully thought-out plan of action. Abandoning the classical linear tactics of naval combat at that time, Nelson intended to attack the enemy from a marching formation without changing into a combat formation from the shortest distance by cutting through his formation and delivering the main blow to the flagship ships. In accordance with this plan, Nelson formed his fleet in two columns. The first column, consisting of 15 battleships, was commanded by junior flagship Collingwood, the second, numbering 12 battleships, was Nelson himself. According to the plan, the main blow to the enemy was to be delivered by Admiral Collingwood's column; she had to cut through the formation of the Franco-Spanish fleet between the 12th and 13th ships from the end, surround the cut-off rearguard ships, and then destroy them or capture them.

Risk is a noble cause

At about 5:30 am on October 21, 1805, about 10 miles from Cape Trafalgar, French signalmen saw an English squadron approaching from the west. Admiral Villeneuve hesitated again. In the end, he gave the order to take a reverse course, so that in case of an unsuccessful outcome of the battle he would be able to take refuge in Cadiz. The turn of the allied squadron lasted about two hours. Due to weak winds and poor training of ship commanders, the formation of the wake column was disrupted after the turn, and this subsequently prevented many ships from using their weapons in battle.

Nelson, having discovered the enemy, understood Villeneuve's intentions and ordered an immediate attack. The wind and ocean wave favored the British in these conditions. At the same time, the movement of the British ships, approaching the enemy at a heading angle close to 90 degrees, put them in an extremely disadvantageous position, since they were almost deprived of the opportunity to use their artillery during the period of approach, while the enemy could hit them with longitudinal salvos.

Horatio Nelson took this risk consciously. Knowing about the poor level of training of French naval sailors, he was confident that enemy cannon fire would not cause significant damage.

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Bullet for the Admiral

The battle began around noon. The first column of English ships cut through the formation of the French and Spaniards. The British fired longitudinal salvos from several tens of meters from both sides, causing serious damage to the enemy ships in the hull and causing heavy losses in personnel. The English gunners fired at the enemy approximately three times faster than the Allies.

Nelson's plan, however, was almost ruined by Admiral Collingwood. An error in maneuvering forced 15 British ships to fight with 16 enemy ships, while Nelson expected that the British would have an advantage of “15 versus 12” in the main direction. In addition, the attack was not simultaneous - the British ships entered the battle at long intervals, which gave the French the opportunity to use their numerical superiority. However, Villeneuve's indecisiveness and the poor preparation of the French commanders led to the fact that these chances were missed.

At one o'clock in the afternoon Nelson's column entered the battle. Powerful artillery and rifle fire fell on the flagship of the English admiral, Victory, which was sailing first.

One of the bullets from the French ship pierced Admiral Nelson's golden epaulet, passed through the shoulder, shattered the spine and entered the lung, filling it with blood. The wound turned out to be fatal - the English commander-in-chief died before the end of the battle.

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"My Lord, this day is yours"

Nelson's mortal wound finally turned the battle into battles between individual ships. Here the best training of English sailors came to the fore.

At about two o'clock in the afternoon, Admiral Villeneuve's flagship lowered its flag and surrendered. Several more French and Spanish ships were so seriously damaged that they could not continue the battle.

Many British ships were also seriously damaged, but there was more tenacity, determination and professionalism in the actions of the British.

Admiral Nelson died around four o'clock in the afternoon. Before his death, one of the officers reported to him: “My Lord, this day is yours,” making it clear that the naval commander had won his last battle.

Unlike Villeneuve, Spanish Admiral Federico Gravina, who led the Allied rearguard, did not lower the flag. He continued to lead the battle even when his hand was crushed by buckshot. It was Admiral Gravina who managed to withdraw the surviving Allied ships from the battle and take refuge with them in Cadiz, avoiding English pursuit.

Gravina's personal courage could not change the overall outcome of the battle, which ended at about half past five in the evening. The Allies lost 18 ships (of which 1 was destroyed and 17 captured) and, according to various sources, from 7 to 14 thousand people killed, wounded and captured. The British lost up to 2 thousand people killed and wounded, and their ships were so damaged that they could not bring captured allied ships to their bases. Some of them sank, while others were recaptured by the French the next day.

The birth of "admiral's blood"

The difference was that the losses of the English fleet were replaceable, while for the Franco-Spanish forces the defeat at Trafalgar was a complete disaster.

Defeat at the Battle of Trafalgar forced Napoleon to abandon plans to invade England and turn his attention back to his opponents in continental Europe. The British Empire was saved.

The main hero of the battle, Horatio Nelson, was buried in London at St. Paul's Cathedral on January 9, 1806. The flagship Victory was so seriously damaged that it was repaired in Gibraltar for a long time. All this time, the body of the deceased Nelson was kept in a barrel of brandy for safety.

According to legend, the English sailors, thirsty for alcohol, did not disdain to secretly strain alcohol from the barrel where Nelson’s body was located. Perhaps this is just a myth, but from then on the rum given to English sailors on ships received the unofficial name “admiral’s blood.”

There is another famous legend about the Battle of Trafalgar. According to it, before the start of the battle, Nelson raised the flag signal on the flagship: “England expects everyone to do their duty.” This phrase has become a catchphrase in Britain, but skeptics insist that there is no evidence for it, and the signal raised by the admiral read the usual “Follow me” in such cases.

Honor for some, shame for others

The losers, of course, did not receive the glory that Nelson received. Admiral Federico Gravina, whose courage allowed the Spaniards and French to retain honor, never survived the consequences of his severe wound received at Trafalgar, and died in March 1806.

Admiral Villeneuve was in English captivity until April 1806 and was released on his word of honor that he would no longer fight against the British Empire.

Understanding all the consequences of the defeat at Trafalgar, the French admiral could not stand waiting for the emperor to decide his fate. On April 22, his body was found in one of the rooms of the inn where he had stayed awaiting Napoleon's orders. Police said Villeneuve committed suicide.

The victory at the Battle of Trafalgar is still revered in Great Britain as one of the most outstanding military triumphs in the country's history.

On the 204th anniversary of the battle, October 21, 2009, the last surviving flag from an English ship that took part in the Battle of Trafalgar was sold at auction in London. With an initial asking price of £14,000, the flag sold for £384,000.

This naval battle off the coast of Spain turned out to be decisive for the fate of Europe. In the event of a victory for the Franco-Spanish naval forces, France would have deprived England of its main weapon of defense - the fleet, and then the landing of Napoleon's troops on the island would have been sealed, as might have been the fate of Great Britain. After the defeat at Trafalgar, Napoleon abandoned his landing plans and focused on the land theater of military operations - where he had no equal. In the future, there was an intention to strike India - the main colony of the British - from land, which Napoleon had already agreed on with the Russian Tsar Paul in 1800. The plans of the world conqueror were broken by the English Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson - a bright personality, an experienced and talented naval commander. He managed to waylay the Franco-Spanish fleet when, on Napoleon's orders, it left the port of Cadiz with the goal of sailing into the Mediterranean Sea and connecting there with ships located in Toulon and Spanish ports. The Allied ships under the command of Admiral Villeneuve had a numerical superiority over the British and sailed in a wake column heading south, towards Gibraltar. Not far from Cape Trafalgar, Nelson saw enemy ships. The English fleet, without reforming into a linear combat column, moved in two columns to approach the Allied ships from the west, perpendicular to their movement. Nelson’s courageous flag order, hung on his flagship, the ship Victory, has forever entered world naval history: “England expects that every man will do his duty.” Villeneuve, noticing the British maneuver, decided to return to Cadiz, his ships made a “all of a sudden” turn by 180 degrees (i.e., with a tailwind) and went back, but at the same time they broke formation and hesitated, fearing a collision with each other. Nelson's ships "cut up" Villeneuve's column, wedging between the enemy ships heading north and firing on both sides. The British gunners were better prepared than the French and Spaniards - for every enemy cannon shot they responded with three shots, and they hit mainly the lower decks, suppressing the crews of the heavy guns. Then the Victory entered into a boarding battle with the French flagship. At that moment, a gunner from the top of the French ship noticed the shiny ceremonial uniform and the Order of Nelson and mortally wounded him. Meanwhile, Villeneuve lowered the flag and surrendered to the enemy. The formation broke down everywhere, one-on-one ship battles began, and 11 ships of the Allied rearguard did not get involved in the battle and passed by their comrades fighting the British in Cadiz, abandoning them to their fate. As a result, the result of the battle was incredible: the allies lost one ship sunk by the enemy, and 17 (!) surrendered to the British, who, in turn, did not lose a single ship. Losses in people were also in their favor: 2 thousand people versus 7 thousand for the allies. But the British lost Admiral Nelson, who alone was worth entire fleets: he died before the end of the battle. "Victory" was in terrible condition and went to Gibraltar for repairs, and the body of the great admiral was placed in a barrel of rum (according to another version - with brandy), where it lay until returning to England.

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Cadiz, where she arrived on August 15, 1805 Villeneuve's squadron consisting of 33 battleships (18 French, 15 Spanish), was blocked Nelson's squadron , numbering 27 battleships.

October 20, 1806 by order Napoleon The Franco-Spanish under the command of Villeneuve left Cadiz with the goal of breaking into the Mediterranean Sea for action against Naples. In terms of combat training, it was inferior to the British squadron. Myself Villeneuve didn't believe in victory. Being a representative of French tactics of the 18th century, he avoided battle. Developed battle plan Villeneuve didn't have. The instructions given to them before leaving Cadiz indicated only the need for mutual support in battle and provided for the allocation of a reserve. Nelson He developed a battle plan in advance, in which he sought to decisively defeat the enemy. In this regard, it provided for the construction of a marching order that could simultaneously be a combat one, the use of reserves in battle, approaching at the shortest distance, cutting through the formation, dividing enemy forces and striking flagship ships in order to disrupt control.

Assuming that the strength of his squadron will be increased to 40 battleships, Nelson decided to divide the entire squadron into three parts, two of which, with 16 battleships each, in the formation of wake columns were supposed to simultaneously attack the enemy, and the third of eight battleships was to form a reserve.

The main blow was to be delivered Collingwood's column , for which she should have cut through the formation of the French squadron at the 12th ship from the end and attacked the cut off ships. Nelson's Column was supposed to carry out a supporting blow at this time: attack the center of the French squadron and, having tied it up in battle, preventcometo help the rearguard of the column. No forces were allocated against the French vanguard, since Nelson, knowing about the poor preparation of the French, believed that their rearguard and center would be defeated before reaching the battlefield.

Having set general tasks for the command of their ships, Nelson allowed them to act independently, refusing to control forces and adjust tasks during the battle.

Leaving Cadiz, Villeneuve, trying to avoid battle, turned to the northwest, trying to mislead the British. After walking in this direction for some time, Villeneuve turned south. At dawn on October 21, he ordered a change from a marching order - five wake columns - to a combat one - one.

About 6 o'clock on the parallel of Cape Trafalgar The British saw the enemy. About 8 o'clock Villeneuve ordered to turn north through to be closer to Cadiz. By 10(?) o'clock the turn was completed. Despite the fact that it lasted two hours, the line of formation fell into disarray due to weak winds and poor seamanship of the ship commanders. The allied fleet sailed at a speed of two to three knots.

At this time, the English squadron was moving in two parallel columns, descending on the enemy. Since by the beginning of the battle Nelson There were 27 battleships instead of the expected 40, then he refused to allocate a reserve and ordered an attack on the French squadron in two columns. The main attack on the French rearguard was carried out by 15 battleships, and the auxiliary attack was carried out by 12 battleships.

Meteorological conditions extremely favored the British. A weak wind was blowing in a west-northwest direction, which made it difficult to control the ships of the Franco-Spanish squadron. Being more to the wind, the British could control their ships better. The Allied ships accepted the ocean swell coming from the west, which made it very difficult to conduct targeted artillery fire. After turning north, Villeneuve was unable to form a squadron into a battle line, which made it easier for Nelson to cut through the enemy's formation.

In the process of approaching, when the angle between the course line of the English squadron and the direction towards the enemy for the column of the junior flagship Collingwood was approximately 30°, and for the column Nelson 60°, the Franco-Spanish squadron could inflict severe damage on the British with artillery fire, since the latter could hardly fire at that time. However, due to the poor preparation of the Allied ships and the rolling motion of their ships, the fire of their ships was ineffective.

The first to approach the allied squadron Collingwood's column . At 12 o'clock 30 min. her flagship Royal Sovereign cut through the enemy formation under the stern ship "Santa Anna" , who was in sixteenthfrom the end Thus, namevaluable Nelson the creation of quantitative superiority in the direction of the main attack by cutting through the formation at the twelfth from the end of the French ship due to a miscalculation in maneuvering was not achieved. The following English ships cut through the formation one by one, being exposed to little actual broadside salvos from the Allies, while the longitudinal salvos of the English ships were very effective.

Nelson's flagship Victory only at 13 o'clock did I get close to Villeneuve's flagship Bucentaur and cut through the lineunder him stern For Nelson The remaining ships followed one by one. The wind died down, the speed decreased to 1.2 knots, and the approaching ships Nelson's Columns were under Allied fire for a long time. The British, having cut off the center of the Franco-Spanish squadron from the vanguard, concentrated their fire on the flagship ships - "Bucentaur" and "Santissima Trinidad". Despite the signal being raised at about 2 p.m. Villeneuve on providing assistance to the attacked center, 10 ships of the French vanguard under the command Dumanoir continued on the same course.

Nelson's flagship was subjected to fierce artillery and rifle fire, as a result of which the English squadron lost control. During this shelling Nelson was mortally wounded by a French non-commissioned officer firing from the mast ship "Redoutable" , and died before the end of the battle.

At about 3 p.m., individual ships of the French vanguard began to turn partly, partly across, and went to the aid of their forces. Admiral Collingwood, having completed the almost complete encirclement of the rearguard by this time, discovered the turn of the French vanguard. But since no signals were received from Nelson’s ship, and the situation in the northern sector of the battle was not clear to Collingwood, he raised the signal “lead to the wind” in order to meet the approaching enemy vanguard. This erroneous decision allowed both French and Spanish ships to escape the encirclement and go to Cadiz. In addition, four ships left Dumanoir. Ships Collingwood were severely damaged, the personnel suffered heavy losses, so pursue the Allied ships Collingwood I couldn't. At 5 p.m. 30 min. the fight is over.

The Allies lost 18 ships (17 were captured, one burned) and more than 6,000 people killed, wounded and captured. The British lost 3,000 people. The English ships were so badly damaged that they were unable to bring the captured French ships to their bases. Some of them were recaptured by the French the next day, while others sank during a storm. Thus, The British failed to completely destroy Villeneuve's squadron.

Conclusions

1. The English fleet defeated a weaker enemy at the Battle of Trafalgar. The English ships showed greater skill in individual and group maneuvering than the French. The English naval artillery fired better than the French, and the ship's crews showed greater resilience. A significant role was played by the British system of firing at the hulls of enemy ships, while the French fired at the mast.

2. Nelson was able to ensure the preparation of the squadron for battle and its deployment. He developed a battle plan in advance aimed at decisively defeating the enemy. Nelson's tactics in this regard were not new. Techniques such as building a new marching order, which could also be a combat formation, allocating a reserve, approaching at the shortest distance, striking flagship ships in order to disrupt control, were used by the creator of offensive tactics, the outstanding Russian admiral F. F. Ushakov, during the war with Turkey in 1787-1791.

Cutting through the formation and dividing the enemy forces were also recommended John Clerk .

3. In terms of combat Nelson made the following mistakes:

- refused control in battle;

- miscalculated in determining the tempo of the battle, which, when refusing at the last moment to allocate a reserve in case the enemy vanguard approached, led to the fact that the junior flagship of the English squadron, without fully completing the task of delivering the main blow to the French rearguard, turned towards the approaching enemy vanguard and thereby gave the opportunity to 11 ships of the Franco-Spanish rearguard to leave the encirclement and escape.

Nelson's mistakes did not have a significant impact on the outcome of the battle because the enemy failed to take advantage of them.

The success of the British was facilitated by the following shortcomings of the Franco-Spanish squadron:

- low level of combat training;

- lack of interaction;

- Villeneuve's indecisiveness.

Trafalgar fight did not have much military-political significance. In this battle the British achieved only tactical success.

Falsification of the role of the English fleet by bourgeois historiography

in the Napoleonic Wars and Nelson's role in the development of naval art

Bourgeois, especially American-British historians (Mahan, Colomb) argue that the English fleet played a decisive role in the victory over Napoleonic France. Such a statement by bourgeois historians does not correspond to reality. In the fight against Napoleonic France, Russia played a major role with its armed forces, the actions of the English fleet were of auxiliary importance. The largest battles at sea between the English and French fleets at Abukir in 1798 and at Trafalgar in 1805. brought only tactical successes to the British. In the subsequent years of the struggle against Napoleonic France, the English fleet had no major military clashes with the French fleet.

English bourgeois historians, in order to show the decisive role of the English fleet in the victory over Napoleonic France, exalted Admiral Nelson, who commanded the English naval forces at Aboukir and Trafalgar. Nelson's personality suited the English bourgeoisie well, since he was a loyal servant of his class and actively supported the reaction. For example, in the summer of 1799 he dealt with the Republicans in Italy with terrible cruelty. The great Russian democrat A. I. Herzen rightly called Nelson a bad person.

He is credited with the honor of creating new tactics, the main provisions of which were developed and applied by the outstanding Russian admiral F. F. Ushakov in the Russian-Turkish War of 1787-1791.

When comparing these two naval commanders, it must be noted that Nelson was, at best, a talented tactician. Nelson's mistakes in analyzing and assessing the strategic situation indicate that, unlike Ushakov, he did not have the breadth of strategic views on the use of naval forces.

Kubrick's notes:

On the pages of our website you can read poems by Dmitry Maslov , and also article by Alexey Romanov with colorful

illustrations .