Napoleonic Wars, Great Britain - General & Miscellaneous History, 1800 - 1815 (Napoleonic Wars) - French History

The terror before Trafalgar

Name: The terror before Trafalgar
Author: Tom Pocock
ISBN: 9780393057768

by Tom Pocock

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Overview

"The Royal Navy's annihilation of the French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar on October 21, 1805, was a pivotal event in European history. Because the victory was so stunningly complete, and because Admiral Horatio Nelson died heroically in the engagement, the event has become a legend. But Trafalgar was not an isolated battle fought and won in a single afternoon, for the naval campaign had in fact begun more than four years earlier." "This extraordinary period, following Napoleon's threat to invade England in 1801, came to be known as "The Great Terror." As Napoleon's formidable and battle-hardened Grande Armee faced an army of English volunteers across the Channel, a secret war of espionage and subversion was being fought by shadowy men with little-known names. New technologies of war - including rockets, submarines, and torpedoes - were being developed in both countries. (An interesting figure here is the American Robert Fulton - later to become famous as the inventor of the steamship - who tried to interest Napoleon in his submarine Nautilus, armed with explosive torpedoes. He failed, then took his plans across the Channel to the Admiralty in London.)" Drawing on diaries, letters, and newspapers, Tom Pocock offers a wonderful picture of the years 1801-1805, and of the people wittingly or unwittingly caught up in these unique events: Nelson himself as he blockaded the French at sea for two unbroken years; his love Emma Hamilton waiting at home; Jane Austen and her naval brothers; the diarist Fanny Burney; the admirals, generals and politicians; and those lesser known men Congreve, Moreau, and Pichegru - who waged the secret war, in England and in France.

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Editorials

The New York Times

[The Book] gives a chilling insight into ineffectual undercover operations and groundbreaking weaponry: rockets, torpedoes, submarines, airships and the construction of an undersea tunnel, all so far ahead of their time that none turned out in the end to be much use in practical terms to either side. — Hillary Spurling

The Washington Post

… with the help of letters and diaries long forgotten, Pocock broadens our perspective on this pivotal moment, writing in thrilling detail about the climactic battle and the heroics of Lord Nelson, breathing new life into one of the most oft-told battles in military history. — Victorino Matus

Library Journal

This is the lively story of the struggle between England and France from 1801 to 1805, a critical period in European history that last received full attention in Broadley and Wheeler's Napoleon and the Invasion of England: The Story of the Great Terror. After the inevitable demise of the Treaty of Amiens, Napoleon marshaled his forces on the French eastern coastline in preparation for invading the British Isles. A great terror swept over the English people and in desperation the British government turned to promoting a doomed scheme to assassinate Napoleon. British naval authorities also turned toward such devices as torpedoes in an attempt to strike at French naval forces while they were still at anchor. But in the end it was the indomitable nautical power of the British fleet that forced Napoleon to turn eastward to sustain his quest for world hegemony. Naval historian Pocock (Battle for the Empire) is at his best when he describes the high-seas maneuvers of the battle fleets of Lord Nelson and Vice Admiral Pierre de Villeneuve, but his incorporation of fascinating biographical vignettes of such personalities as Emma Hamilton, Capt. John Wesley Wright, Adm. Sidney Smith, and Georges Cadoudal also provides a cinematic window on that turbulent era. A great choice for all public and academic libraries. [For more on Nelson, see Vincent Edgar's Nelson: Love and Fame, reviewed on p. 130.-Ed.]-Jim Doyle, Sara Hightower Regional Lib., Rome, GA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.