Nelson (part 1/3)

[TheRhinehart86]

There's no denying the significance of Trafalgar but I think its heroic status is a little overblown. The Franco-Spanish had been bottled up in their ports for months and even years, the crews were untrained and their ships were armed with obsolete guns. The British were experienced, relatively fresh and far better positioned. It seems a little silly to celebrate so wildly such a one sided pummeling, the British didnt lose a single ship!!

[artacania]

everyone always says that nelson did alot of bad things such as his affairs but ultimatly he gets the job done

[baycast]

You have a great channel i love all of your history videos etc., Thanks so very much. 

[Alphamask978]

Good British navy commander but the information in this video is all wrong he dies in 1805 not 1801.

[Spainisdifferent1000]

Are you talking about the same guy that ‘killed’ a polar bear? hahahahaha

[am1966ath]

Why is Nelson wearing boots?? his unifrm required shoes, not boots.

[canadarox14]

@am1966ath I have a really hard time finding info on the uniforms worn back then. You seem to know about it, so I was wondering, where can I find more info? Do you have any suggestions?

[am1966ath]

@canadarox14 there are some english bookS about it or the HMS victory museum I think, the british naval officers didn t wear boots.

[canadarox14]

@am1966ath That's really interesting, thank you. You don't happen to know if the French officers wore boots, do you? Sorry to bug you, but this time period really Fascinates me.

[am1966ath]

@canadarox14 you are not bugging me at all....the imperial french at the time of the sea battle of Trafalgar had

first the sailors(clothes unknown) and then marine infantry in some sort of shoes with spats..I think that french naval officers and marine officers(naval infantry) had some kind of shoes in spats..boots were usually for riding.

I in my childhood had a collection of books with the entire uniforms of napoleons army(cavalry,imperial guard,infantry,navy etc) but these are long gone.

[canadarox14]

@am1966ath Thank you so much! I'm glad I'm not bugging you. That's really interesting about the clothes for the French navy, and it's great that you had books about this stuff. All this info is really hard to find when those books just aren't available, like at my local library. Anyways, thanks again!

[am1966ath]

@canadarox14 the imperial navy was neglected by Napoleon after Trafalgar 1805, the french used some ships of the line to attack british shipping in the Indian Ocean and bay of Bengal but Napoleon didnt put much faith in fleets..his choice were marching armies.

[canadarox14]

@am1966ath I can see why Napoleon might want to stick with the land armies after that. He really knew his stuff with armies, and the fleet had let him down. I'm a big fan of Captain Jean-Jacques-Étienne Lucas, one of the French captains who fought at Trafalgar. He was pretty impressive even after Trafalgar when you read about him. He's the kind of person I wish there was more information on. I love reading about England from this period, but I like learning about France too.

[am1966ath]

@canadarox14 Napoleon let Villenueve down, the french admiral of the spano-french fleet at Trafalgar.

Mind you the british ruled the seas from mid 18th century untill WWI which made it possible to seek up and anihilate ennemies on the other side of the world and then land troops. Look at Canada and India,captured because of a superior british fleet. I think the secret of the british lay in the training of the seamen and their officers. Most fleets were just huge ships of the line with

[am1966ath]

@canadarox14 800men crew, most of them riff-raff and scum, commanded by snobbish officers who bought their command...that meant that the huge spanish ships like Santissima Trinidad were no match in a sea battle with an eglish ship, were the sailors were disciplined,well thought and could/were trained to quick reload and fire rounds after rounds. The spanish had the same problem they had in 1588 or 1628..huge ships,huge untrained crews and huge guns, slow reloading,chaos etc

[am1966ath]

@canadarox14 Dear candarox, there is a british publishing house called Ospery-books, they have many titles on Nelsons fleet(books with colourpictures) ex nelsons sailor,Nelsons officers,armaments in Nelsons time,french napoleonic sailors etc..go and have a look, you can also mail order them.

[canadarox14]

@am1966ath That's super, thank you! And thanks for all the info. I really have a soft spot for Admiral Villenueve, who made a blunder going into the battle, but was under a ton of stress. I agree that Napoleon kind of pushed him to the combined fleet's demise, but I don't think Napoleon was nearly as good at naval strategy as he was at land strategy, and perhaps didn't know what he was doing. Interesting comment about the British winning Canada through use of their navy. That's a good point.

[am1966ath]

@canadarox14  I think that Villenueve knew that he was no match for Nelson. As an Admiral he knew that his sailors both spanish and french were not as good trained as the british under Nelson. That must be a horrifying

knowledge and also having an emperor who demands a sea battle.

[bugzbunnys]

I love Nelson

[racingteg]

Thanks for posting.  Nelson was a great man.