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Battle Of Trafalgar
The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval engagement that took place on 21 October 1805 between the Royal Navy and a combined fleet of the French Navy, French and Spanish Navy, Spanish navies during the War of the Third Coalition. As part of Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom, the French and Spanish fleets combined to take control of the English Channel and provide the Grande Armée safe passage. The allied fleet, under the command of French admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, sailed from the port of Cádiz in the south of Spain on 18 October 1805. They encountered a British fleet under Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, Lord Nelson, recently assembled to meet this threat, in the Atlantic Ocean along the southwest coast of Spain, off Cape Trafalgar. Nelson was outnumbered, with 27 British ships of the line to 33 Franco-Spanish ships, including the largest warship in either fleet, the Spanish ''Spanish ship Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trafalgar Campaign
The Trafalgar campaign was a long and complicated series of fleet manoeuvres carried out by the combined French Navy, French and Spanish Navy, Spanish fleets; and the opposing moves of the Royal Navy during much of 1805. These were the culmination of French plans to force a passage through the English Channel, and so achieve a successful Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom, invasion of the United Kingdom. The plans were extremely complicated and proved to be impractical. Much of the detail was due to the personal intervention of Napoleon I of France, Napoleon, who as a soldier rather than a sailor failed to consider the effects of weather, difficulties in communication, and the strengths of the Royal Navy. Despite limited successes in achieving some elements of the plan the French commanders were unable to follow the main objective through to execution. The campaign, which took place over thousands of miles of ocean, was marked by several naval engagements, most si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grande Armée
The (; ) was the primary field army of the French Imperial Army (1804–1815), French Imperial Army during the Napoleonic Wars. Commanded by Napoleon, from 1804 to 1808 it won a series of military victories that allowed the First French Empire to exercise unprecedented control over most of Europe. Widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest fighting forces ever assembled, it suffered catastrophic losses during the disastrous French invasion of Russia, after which it never recovered its strategic superiority and ended its military career with a total defeat during the Hundred Days in 1815. The ''Grande Armée'' was formed in 1804 from the Army of the Coasts of the Ocean (1804), Army of the Coasts of the Ocean, a field army of over 100,000 men assembled for Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom. He subsequently led the field army to Central Europe and defeated Austrian Empire, Austrian and Russian Empire, Russian forces as part of the War of the Third Coalition. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naval Fleet
A fleet or naval fleet is a large formation of warships – the largest formation in any navy – controlled by one leader. A fleet at sea is the direct equivalent of an army on land. Purpose In the modern sense, fleets are usually, but not necessarily, permanent formations and are generally assigned to a particular ocean or sea. Most fleets are named after that ocean or sea, but the convention in the United States Navy is to use numbers. A fleet is typically commanded by an admiral, who is often also a commander in chief. Still, many fleets have been or are commanded by vice admirals or rear admirals. Most fleets are divided into several squadrons, each under a subordinate admiral. Those squadrons, in turn, are often divided into divisions. In the Age of Sail, Royal Navy fleets were divided into van, center, and rear squadrons, named after each squadron's place in the line of battle. In more modern times, the squadrons are typically composed of homogeneous groups of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flotilla
A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' ( fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. Composition A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same class of warship, such as frigates, destroyers, torpedo boats, submarines, gunboats, or minesweepers. Groups of larger warships are usually called squadrons, but similar units of non-capital ships may be called squadrons in some instances, and flotillas in others. Formations including more than one capital ship, e.g. men-of-war, battleships, and aircraft carriers, typically alongside smaller ships and support craft, are typically called fleets, each portion led by a capital ship being a squadron or task force. A flotilla is usually commanded by a rear admiral, a commodore or a captain, depending on the importance of the command (a vice admiral would normally command a squadron). A flotilla is often divided into two or more divisions, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peace Of Amiens
The Treaty of Amiens (, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France, the Spanish Empire, and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition. It marked the end of the French Revolutionary Wars; after a short peace it set the stage for the Napoleonic Wars. Britain gave up most of its recent conquests; France was to evacuate Naples and Egypt. Britain retained Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Trinidad. It was signed in the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) of Amiens on 25 March 1802 (4 Germinal X in the French Revolutionary calendar) by Joseph Bonaparte and Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis as a "Definitive Treaty of Peace". The consequent peace lasted only one year (18 May 1803) and was the only period of general peace in Europe between 1793 and 1814. Under the treaty, Britain recognised the French Republic. Together with the Treaty of Lunéville (1801), the Treaty of Amiens marked the end of the Second Coalition, which had waged war against Revolutionary Fra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Third Coalition
The War of the Third Coalition () was a European conflict lasting from 1805 to 1806 and was the first conflict of the Napoleonic Wars. During the war, France and its client states under Napoleon I and its ally Spain opposed an alliance, the Third Coalition, which was made up of the United Kingdom, the Austrian Empire, the Russian Empire, Naples, Sicily, and Sweden. Prussia remained neutral during the war. Britain had already been at war with France following the breakdown of the Peace of Amiens and remained the only country still at war with France after the Treaty of Pressburg. From 1803 to 1805, Britain stood under constant threat of a French invasion. The Royal Navy, however, assured its naval dominance at the Battle of Trafalgar in October 1805. The Third Coalition itself came to full fruition in 1804–05 as Napoleon's actions in Italy and Germany (notably the arrest and execution of the Duc d'Enghien) spurred Austria and Russia into joining Britain against France. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blockade
A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force. A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are legal barriers to trade rather than physical barriers. It is also distinct from a siege in that a blockade is usually directed at an entire country or region, rather than a fortress or city and the objective may not always be to conquer the area. A blockading power can seek to cut off all maritime transport from and to the blockaded country, although stopping all land transport to and from an area may also be considered a blockade. Blockades restrict the trading rights of neutrals, who must submit for inspection for contraband, which the blockading power may define narrowly or broadly, sometimes including food and medicine. In the 20th century, air power has also been used to enhance the effectiveness of blockades by halting air traffic w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career of Napoleon, a series of military campaigns across Europe during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars from 1796 to 1815. He led the French First Republic, French Republic as French Consulate, First Consul from 1799 to 1804, then ruled the First French Empire, French Empire as Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814, and briefly again in 1815. He was King of Italy, King of Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic), Italy from 1805 to 1814 and Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine from 1806 to 1813. Born on the island of Corsica to a family of Italian origin, Napoleon moved to mainland France in 1779 and was commissioned as an officer in the French Royal Army in 1785. He supported the French Rev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First French Empire
The First French Empire or French Empire (; ), also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from 18 May 1804 to 6 April 1814 and again briefly from 20 March 1815 to 7 July 1815, when Napoleon was exiled to Saint Helena. Although France had already established a French colonial empire, colonial empire overseas since the early 17th century, the French state had remained a France in the early modern period, kingdom under the Bourbons and a French First Republic, republic after the French Revolution. Historians refer to Napoleon's regime as the ''First Empire'' to distinguish it from the restorationist ''Second French Empire, Second Empire'' (1852–1870) ruled by his nephew Napoleon III. On 18 May 1804 (28 Floréal year XII on the French Republican calendar), Napoleon was granted the title Emperor of the French (, ) by the French and w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naval Tactics In The Age Of Sail
Sailing ship tactics were the naval tactics employed by sailing ships in contrast to galley tactics employed by oared vessels. This article focuses on the period from to the mid-19th century, after which sailing warships were replaced with steam-powered ironclads. Overview Early history Since ancient times, war at sea had been fought much as on land: with melee weapons and bows and arrows, but on floating wooden platforms rather than battlefields. Though the introduction of guns was a significant change, it only slowly changed the dynamics of ship-to-ship combat. The first guns on ships were small wrought-iron pieces mounted on the open decks and in the fighting tops, often requiring only one or two men to handle them. They were designed to injure, kill or simply stun, shock and frighten the enemy prior to boarding. As guns were made more durable to withstand stronger gunpowder charges, they increased their potential to inflict critical damage to the vessel rather than j ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spanish Ship Nuestra Señora De La Santísima Trinidad
''Nuestra Señora de la Santísima Trinidad'', nicknamed ''La Real'', was a Spanish first-rate ship of the line and was the largest warship in the world when launched. She originally had 112 guns; this was increased in 1795–96 to 130 guns by closing in the spar deck between the quarterdeck and forecastle. Around 1802 she was further upgraded, to 136 guns (plus 4 small guns on the poop), effectively creating a continuous fourth gundeck, although the extra guns added were relatively small. She was the most heavily armed ship in the world when rebuilt, and bore the most guns of any ship of the line outfitted in the Age of Sail. Design and construction She was built at Havana, Cuba, to a design by Irish naval architect Matthew Mullan (domiciled in Spain under the name Mateo Mullán), originally intended as a ship of 112 guns. He died on 25 November 1767, and the construction of the ship was continued by his son, Ignacio Mullán. The ship was launched in March 1769 and comp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ships Of The Line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which involved the two columns of opposing warships manoeuvering to volley fire with the cannons along their broadsides. In conflicts where opposing ships were both able to fire from their broadsides, the faction with more cannons firingand therefore more firepowertypically had an advantage. From the end of the 1840s, the introduction of steam power brought less dependence on the wind in battle and led to the construction of screw-driven wooden-hulled ships of the line; a number of purely sail-powered ships were converted to this propulsion mechanism. However, the rise of the ironclad frigate, starting in 1859, made steam-assisted ships of the line obsolete. The ironclad warship was predecessor to the 20th-century battleship, whose very designation is itself a co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
