He was clearly a very charismatic man. A lot of people were drawn to him and one of his great skills, I think, was encouraging a sort of esprit de corps amongst his him and his fellow officers. One of the reasons why Trafalgar, the British win at Trafalgar is because Nelson had essentially coached them over the previous weeks into exactly how he wanted them to fight the battle. And reports are that the morale of the Toulon fleet dropped when Letchus trivial died and was replaced by a nove,. Just because he didn't have that same presence like a Nelson to build that camaraderie amongst his command.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the events of 21st October 1805, in which the British fleet led by Nelson destroyed a combined Franco-Spanish fleet in the Atlantic off the coast of Spain. Nelson's death that day was deeply mourned in Britain, and his example proved influential, and the battle was to help sever ties between Spain and its American empire. In France meanwhile, even before Nelson's body was interred at St Paul's, the setback at Trafalgar was overshadowed by Napoleon's decisive victory over Russia and Austria at Austerlitz, though Napoleon's search for his lost naval strength was to shape his plans for further conquests.
The image above is from 'The Battle of Trafalgar' by JMW Turner (1824).
With
James Davey
Lecturer in Naval and Maritime History at the University of Exeter
Marianne Czisnik
Independent researcher on Nelson and editor of his letters to Lady Hamilton
And
Kenneth Johnson
Research Professor of National Security at Air University, Alabama
Producer: Simon Tillotson