What Does Lady Hamilton have to do with Trafalgar?

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	• Trafalgar 1805: Nelson's Crowning Victory (Campaign) Gregory Fremont-Barnes Osprey Publishing, 2005 - 96 pages average customer review:based on 2 reviews view larger image
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An Epic Battle That Is Clearly Explained

This book does a fine job of describing the battle and is one of the better editions in "Osprey's "Campaign" series. The author spends just the right amount of time on related aspects of this campaign such as the state of the three navies involved and the opposing commanders. One criticism of the book, however, is that more time could have been spent on the French commander, Vice Admiral Pierre Villeneuve. Vice Admiral Lord Nelson clearly receives the lion's share of attention.

The author does an excellent job of describing the various stages of the battle. The story is told in a chronological order that is both clear and concise. This is a significant accomplishment given that the battle consisted of a several different engagements. For example, he does not just focus on Lord Nelson's flagship in the weather column, HMS Victory. A fair amount of time is spent on other vessels, such as the French ship Redoutable and the HMS Royal Sovereign, which lead the lee column.

The maps do a good job of describing the numerous ship locations. In addition, full color drawings of some of the battles provide a good feel for 19th Century warfare and the activities of the crews. The 3D Birds Eye View maps are nice, but do have one flaw. The critical events described on these maps are mostly positioned at the fold in the page. Thus, it is hard to see what the text is trying to describe.

The book carries the reader through several significant events that followed the battle. Specifically, it describes the storm that nearly destroyed the fleet. The author also spends time on Lord Nelson's funeral. Bottom line: this is a short book that does an excellent job of describing in detail the very chaotic Battle of Trafalgar.

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What Does Lady Hamilton have to do with Trafalgar?

Oxford historian Dr. Gregory Fremont-Barnes provides an Anglo-centric but capable interpretation of the British naval victory at Trafalgar in October 1805. Readers interested in a quick summary of the events leading up to the battle and the main actions in the battle will be satisfied with this volumes narrative and maps. The author's writing style is crisp and he is able to keep both maps and text in synch to deliver a coherent summary of the battle. However, the author's over-emphasis on Nelson's personal life detracts from his coverage of the Franco-Spanish participants and his interpretations are far too over-generalized. Over time, the British victory at Trafalgar has morphed into a certain mythology, to which this author adheres.

The author begins with the usual Osprey introductory sections, including campaign background, opposing commanders, forces and plans. To be blunt, these sections are somewhat less than adequate. About 60% of the opposing commanders section is just about Nelson, with just a nod to the other British commanders and their Franco-Spanish opponents. The section on opposing forces is overly-generalized to a fault, with no real specifics on the ships or their weapons; for example, there is no mention that different rates carried different size cannon or that some ship types were more maneuverable than others. The author does repeat the oft-quoted simplification that British ships fired roundshot and that the French fired chain-shot to disable sails. While the French may have preferred anti-rigging tactics in frigate actions, this makes no sense in a general action like Trafalgar where vessels were not as free to independently leave the battle. Furthermore, much of the action at Trafalgar was at close range - does it make any sense to aim at the enemy's rigging when the enemy ship is virtually alongside?

The section on opposing plans and the lead-up to Trafalgar has its ambiguities. Although British historians like to claim that Trafalgar prevented a French invasion of England, this volume - as other larger works do as well - avoids much discussion of actual French plans. Given that Napoleon was already planning major operations in central Europe, there really weren't any uncommitted French forces left to invade England by the time that Trafalgar was fought and the best weather period in the English Channel was already past. Indeed, the Franco-Spanish fleet was essentially aborting the invasion when it left Cadiz, enroute to return to Toulon (a fact that most English historians tend to gloss over). Despite all the coming and going to the West Indies, the Franco-Spanish fleet had accomplished nothing in 1805, other than finding their way back to their homeports.

The author's description of the actual battle of Trafalgar is decent and readers should have no trouble following it, but some of the pre-battle dispositions are vague. For example, why was HMS Africa on its own up by the front of the Allied fleet? There is also a disconnect between the order of battle and the text, which uses different terminology for the same sections of the Allied fleet (which reversed course and position at the start of the battle); for example, the author refers to Admiral Le Pelley's "van division" but the OB refers to this as the "rear squadron." It's confusing. The volume includes five 2-D Maps (fleet movements before Trafalgar; Calder's Action; opening phase of Trafalgar; situation at the end of the battle; Strachan's action), three 3-D maps (Bellerophon under pressure; situation of leading vessels of Nelson's column; final stage begins) and three color battle scenes by Christa Hook (Royal Marines on the Royal Sovereign; French sharpshooters in the mizzen top of the Redoutable; gun crews in action on HMS Victory). The author also includes an excellent bibliography and a glossary of naval terms.

Assessing the scale of the British victory is difficult, since the only compilation of Allied losses is in tiny print in the OB section. The Allies lost 17 ships at Trafalgar, subsequently recaptured 3, and then lost 8 more in the next two weeks. Indeed, of the 33 Allied ships-of-the-line at Trafalgar, 23 had been lost in October 1805. Other than the elimination of so many Allied warships, the author claims that Trafalgar had "important consequences" - namely, the British occupation of Sicily. However, a British foothold in Sicily did not contribute to the defeat of Napoleon. Like most British historians, Dr. Fremont-Barnes sees Trafalgar as an epoch-making event, but this ignores the fact that the French made strenuous efforts to rebuild their fleet and while there were no more major fleet actions, the Royal Navy still had to commit substantial forces to blockade French ports. Naval history did not just "end" after Trafalgar and this author ignores the fact that the French Navy was at the cutting edge of naval technology for the next fifty years after Trafalgar. Claiming that Trafalgar was "the most decisive naval battle in modern times" as this author does ignores the fact that other battles, like Midway and Leyte Gulf, also had major strategic implications.

Nowhere is the author's over-emphasis on Nelson more prominent than in the final section, where he spends a couple pages discussing Nelson's funeral and his requests about Lady Hamilton and his daughter. Why is it that the author found it more important to mention Lady Hamilton's debts (a person who was not at Trafalgar) and death, but fails to mention that poor old French Admiral Villeneuve committed suicide? Throughout this volume, spotlight on Nelson drives the Franco-Spanish opponents into the shadows.

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Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson?s decisive victory over the combined fleets of France and Spain on 21 October 1805 remains one of the greatest naval triumphs in history. Off Cape Trafalgar, 27 British and 33 Franco-Spanish ships pounded each other in an epic four-hour struggle on whose outcome rested nothing less than Britain?s security against Napoleonic invasion. Nelson?s brilliant tactics, inspiring leadership and the superior training and morale of his crews left his opponents shattered in a savage encounter that not only marked the last great battle fought in the age of sail, but ushered in a century of British naval mastery.

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