Horatio Nelson
Britain's Greatest Naval Commander · September 29, 1758, Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk, England - October 21, 1805, at sea, Battle of Trafalgar
The most celebrated admiral in British history, Nelson won a series of decisive naval victories against Napoleon's forces, culminating in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, where he destroyed the combined French and Spanish fleets but was killed by a sniper's bullet at the moment of his greatest triumph.
Life and legacy
Horatio Nelson was born in a Norfolk parsonage, the sixth of eleven children of a country clergyman. He went to sea at the age of twelve, joining the Royal Navy through the influence of his maternal uncle, Captain Maurice Suckling. By twenty, he had commanded his first ship and served in the Arctic, the East Indies, and the Caribbean, developing the aggressive, unconventional tactics that would become his hallmark.
Nelson burst onto the world stage at the Battle of the Nile on August 1, 1798, when he tracked Napoleon's fleet to Aboukir Bay in Egypt and destroyed it almost entirely, stranding Napoleon's army in the Middle East and shattering French naval power in the Mediterranean. The victory made Nelson a national hero and earned him the title Baron Nelson of the Nile. He had already lost the sight in his right eye at the Siege of Calvi in Corsica (1794) and would lose his right arm at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1797).
Nelson's personal life was as dramatic as his professional career. His passionate affair with Lady Emma Hamilton, the wife of the British ambassador to Naples, became one of the most famous love stories of the age and scandalized polite society. Despite the controversy, Nelson's public popularity only grew.
The Battle of Trafalgar on October 21, 1805, was Nelson's masterpiece and his death. Facing the combined fleets of France and Spain off the coast of southern Spain, Nelson deployed his famous tactic of breaking the enemy line in two columns rather than fighting in the traditional parallel formation. Before the battle, he signaled the fleet: "England expects that every man will do his duty." The British won a crushing victory, capturing or destroying 22 enemy ships without losing a single one of their own.
Nelson was struck by a musket ball fired from the French ship Redoutable during the battle and died below decks on HMS Victory, having been told that the battle was won. His body was preserved in a cask of brandy and brought home for a state funeral at St. Paul's Cathedral. Trafalgar ensured British naval supremacy for a century and ended any realistic threat of a Napoleonic invasion of Britain.
Key accomplishments
- Destroyed the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile (1798), stranding Napoleon in Egypt
- Won the decisive Battle of Trafalgar (1805), ensuring a century of British naval supremacy
- Developed aggressive close-combat naval tactics that broke with conventional doctrine
- Destroyed the Danish fleet at the Battle of Copenhagen (1801)
- Continued fighting despite losing his right eye (1794) and right arm (1797)
Quotes
England expects that every man will do his duty.
Signal to the fleet before the Battle of Trafalgar, October 21, 1805
Thank God, I have done my duty.
Last words aboard HMS Victory, October 21, 1805