The Wars Against Napoleon: Debunking the Myth of the Napoleonic Wars by General Michel; Weider Franceschi

Author:General Michel; Weider Franceschi
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Bisac Code 1: HIS013000
ISBN: 9781611210293
Publisher: Savas Beatie
Published: 2008-02-01T10:00:00+00:00

Britain Saved by its Navy at Trafalgar

With due allowance for the differences, the Franco-British confrontation may be compared to that between Rome and Carthage during the Punic Wars, with the leading land power opposed to the leading maritime power. Napoleon found himself in some ways in the situation of Scipio, forced to defeat Hannibal at Zama in 202 B.C., with the slogan “delenda Carthago”—Carthage must be destroyed.

Yet, the first important difference was that Napoleon’s war aim was not to annihilate and conquer the new Carthage and its allies, but solely to destroy their armed forces, in order to dissuade them from recommencing the war. One cannot over-emphasize the limited character of Napoleonic geo-strategy, laid down as a fundamental principle.

The second difference from Scipio was that Napoleon suffered from a crushing naval inferiority. The British army could only be defeated in England itself. This required a crossing of the channel by an expeditionary corps that the emperor estimated at 150,000 men, 450 guns, and 11,000 horses. This gigantic force assembled around Boulogne, from whence came the label “Boulogne Camp.”

The crossing depended on two requirements: an appropriate transport fleet and the neutralization of the Royal Navy in the channel during the crossing. The first presented no insurmountable obstacles. A flotilla of 2,000 flat-bottomed, armed boats was constructed in all the neighboring ports, including river basins. The second requirement was a completely different matter. The assistance obtained from the Spanish fleet could not compensate for French maritime weakness. As was his habit, Napoleon sought by a strategic maneuver to obtain the local naval superiority he needed during the period of time necessary for his army to cross.

The emperor’s plan depended on a naval diversion on a grand scale. It consisted of luring Nelson’s fleet to the Antilles by a threat against the British colonies caused by the concentration of the French squadrons of Toulon, La Rochelle, and Brest. Once that was accomplished, the combined fleet must return with all sails set to the Channel, stripped of British ships. Unfortunately, the execution of this plan was to lead to the greatest catastrophe in the maritime history of France.

Since Aboukir Bay in 1798, the relationships between Napoleon and his admirals were persistently fatal. As commander-designate of a naval operation, the brave Admiral Latouche-Tréville died suddenly on August 19, 1804. The same fate struck Admiral Bruix, commander of the invasion fleet, in March 1805. Their successors, Villeneuve and Ganteaume, were not of the same stature. Villeneuve (from Toulon) and Missiessy (from La Rochelle) missed their rendezvous in the Antilles first in February 1805 and then in June of the same year. Reinforced by the Spanish squadron of Admiral Gravina, Villeneuve could find nothing better to do in August than to take refuge at Cadiz, where Nelson mounted guard.

After all these delays, the invasion plan for Britain had become precarious. The Third Coalition had had sufficient time to form. Napoleon thus had to abandon the invasion of Great Britain to deal with aggression coming from the east. Without even having been in action, its fleet already had saved Britain.

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