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166-875: In 1789 the Kingdom of France had the second strongest navy in the world (only second to the Royal British Navy ). The navy had been rebuilt since the disasters of the Seven Years' War . During the American War of Independence , ( Anglo-French War (1778–1783) ), the French managed quite a few successes against the British Royal Navy which could at best contain this new, rejuvenated, navy. French naval officers had become more talented and one, Admiral Pierre André, Comte de Suffren , proved to be

332-648: A Parliament and a constitutional Charter , usually known as the " Charte octroyée " ("Granted Charter"). His reign was characterized by disagreements between the Doctrinaires , liberal thinkers who supported the Charter and the rising bourgeoisie , and the Ultra-royalists , aristocrats and clergymen who totally refused the Revolution's heritage. Peace was maintained by statesmen like Talleyrand and

498-438: A centralized state governed from the capital of Paris. He sought to eliminate the remnants of feudalism still persisting in parts of France and, by compelling the noble elite to regularly inhabit his lavish Palace of Versailles , built on the outskirts of Paris, succeeded in pacifying the aristocracy, many members of which had participated in the earlier " Fronde " rebellion during Louis' minority. By these means he consolidated

664-478: A planned expedition , under the command of Constantine Phipps , intended to survey a passage in the Arctic by which it was hoped that India could be reached: the fabled North-East Passage . At his nephew's request, Suckling arranged for Nelson to join the expedition as coxswain to Commander Skeffington Lutwidge aboard the converted bomb vessel , HMS  Carcass . The expedition reached within ten degrees of

830-492: A revolt led by Eleanor and three of their four sons, Henry had Eleanor imprisoned, made the Duke of Brittany his vassal, and in effect ruled the western half of France as a greater power than the French throne. However, disputes among Henry's descendants over the division of his French territories, coupled with John of England 's lengthy quarrel with Philip II , allowed Philip to recover influence over most of this territory. After

996-495: A French frigate, but on failing to catch her, sailed for Leghorn , and then to Corsica. He arrived at Toulon on 5 October, where he found that a large French army had occupied the hills surrounding the city and was bombarding it. Hood still hoped the city could be held if more reinforcements arrived, and sent Nelson to join a squadron operating off Cagliari . Early on the morning of 22 October 1793, Agamemnon sighted five sails. Nelson closed with them and discovered that they were

1162-460: A French squadron. He promptly gave chase, firing on the 40-gun Melpomene . During the action of 22 October 1793 , he inflicted considerable damage, but the remaining French ships turned to join the battle. Realising he was outnumbered, Nelson withdrew and continued to Cagliari, arriving on 24 October. After making repairs, Nelson and Agamemnon sailed for Tunis on 26 October with a squadron under Commodore Robert Linzee . On his arrival, Nelson

1328-522: A Student of the Navy ( Elève de la Marine ) (the equivalent of a Midshipman in the British Royal Navy), the young aspiring officer had to apply with a certified copy of his family genealogy to ensure that he had the required amount of ' blue blood '. This system, which ensured officer positions for the nobility, nevertheless produced good officers since they were highly trained. Its evil lay in

1494-499: A brief affair with a local woman, Adelaide Correglia. Hotham arrived with the rest of the fleet in December, whereupon Nelson and Agamemnon sailed on a number of cruises with them in late 1794 and early 1795. On 8 March, news reached Hotham that the French fleet was at sea and heading for Corsica. He immediately set out to intercept them, and Nelson eagerly anticipated his first fleet action. The French were reluctant to engage, and

1660-593: A brief return to England, he took over the Cádiz blockade, in 1805. On 21 October 1805, the Franco-Spanish fleet came out of port, and Nelson's fleet engaged them at the Battle of Trafalgar . The battle became one of Britain's greatest naval victories, but Nelson, aboard HMS  Victory , was fatally wounded by a musket ball fired from the French ship Redoutable . His body was brought back to England, where he

1826-573: A brilliant opponent in the Indian Ocean ( Second Anglo-Mysore War ). Following the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the French continued to make improvements to the navy that had brought them revenge for the defeats of the Seven Years' War. The standard French ships of the line were of 74 guns ( Third-rate designation ) and were of excellent design. Some reforms were made in 1782, which organised

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1992-495: A buffer state. The Admiralty recalled Nelson to service and gave him command of the 64-gun HMS  Agamemnon , in January 1793. Nelson took his stepson Josiah with him as a midshipman. On 1 February, France declared war. In May 1793, Nelson sailed as part of a division under the command of Vice Admiral William Hotham , joined later in the month by the rest of Lord Hood's fleet. The force initially sailed to Gibraltar and—with

2158-465: A decisive action. A number of small engagements were fought , but to Nelson's dismay, he saw little action. Nelson returned to operate out of Genoa, intercepting and inspecting merchantmen and cutting-out suspicious vessels, in both enemy and neutral harbours. Nelson formulated ambitious plans for amphibious landings and naval assaults to frustrate the progress of the French Army of Italy , which

2324-684: A decisive victory over the French at the Battle of the Nile and remained in the Mediterranean to support the Kingdom of Naples against a French invasion. In 1801, Nelson was dispatched to the Baltic Sea and defeated neutral Denmark at the Battle of Copenhagen . He commanded the blockade of the French and Spanish fleets at Toulon and, after their escape, chased them to the West Indies and back but failed to bring them to battle. After

2490-541: A frigate, were sighted closing fast. Unable to outrun them, Nelson was initially determined to fight, but Culverhouse and Hardy raised the British colours and sailed northeast, drawing the Spanish ships after them until being captured, giving Nelson the opportunity to escape. Nelson went on to rendezvous with the British fleet at Elba, where he spent Christmas. He sailed for Gibraltar in late January, and—after learning that

2656-515: A good navy takes many years to build, not only ships, but an ample reserve of skilled officers and sailors. At first, Napoleon wrongly presumed that uniting the fleets of Spain and Holland to that of France would automatically produce a great fleet – like gathering the contingents for the Grande Armée . Skilled manpower was always a problem for the fleet, which Napoleon tackled with increasingly military measures. A first experiment had been

2822-792: A long-standing dispute over the rights to Gascony in the south of France, and the relationship between England and the Flemish cloth towns, led to the Hundred Years' War of 1337–1453. The following century was to see devastating warfare, the Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War , peasant revolts (the English peasants' revolt of 1381 and the Jacquerie of 1358 in France) and the growth of nationalism in both countries. The losses of

2988-506: A number of decisive British naval victories during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars . He is widely regarded as one of the greatest naval commanders in British history. Nelson was born into a moderately prosperous Norfolk family and joined the navy through the influence of his uncle, Maurice Suckling , a high-ranking naval officer. Nelson rose rapidly through the ranks and served with leading naval commanders of

3154-639: A part of France. West Frankish kings were initially elected by the secular and ecclesiastical magnates, but the regular coronation of the eldest son of the reigning king during his father's lifetime established the principle of male primogeniture , which became codified in the Salic law . During the Late Middle Ages , rivalry between the Capetian dynasty, rulers of the Kingdom of France and their vassals

3320-550: A poor facsimile of his signature—appears out of character for Nelson whose many other surviving letters never expressed racist or pro-slavery sentiments. Comparison with the "pressed copy" of the original letter—now part of the Bridport papers held in the British Library—shows that the published copy had 25 alterations, distorting it to give it a more anti-Abolitionist slant. Many of Nelson's actions indicate his position on

3486-549: A rumoured mistress of fellow captain William Cornwallis ; she ran a combination lodging-house and convalescence home for sailors. He was discharged in August and returned to Britain aboard HMS  Lion , arriving in late November. Nelson gradually recovered over several months, and soon began agitating for a command. He was appointed to the frigate HMS  Albemarle on 15 August 1781. While Nelson served in

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3652-581: A short while, the French invasion force might succeed in crossing unmolested. The French aimed to achieve at least temporary control of the Channel, while the British aimed to prevent this at all costs. Villeneuve's fleet underwent repairs in Cádiz, covered by a hastily assembled blockade of British warships, initially commanded by Rear-Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood , and from 27 September by Vice-Admiral Nelson, who had arrived from England to take command. He spent

3818-440: A similar line parallel to the enemy. These squadrons would then cut the enemy's line in a number of places, allowing a pell-mell battle to develop in which the British ships could overwhelm and destroy parts of their opponents' formation, before the unengaged enemy ships could come to their aid. Napoleon, increasingly dissatisfied with Villeneuve's performance, ordered Vice-Admiral François Rosily to go to Cádiz and take command of

3984-660: A slaveowner who was born into a family which belonged to the Antiguan plantocracy . One of his friends in the West Indies was Simon Taylor , one of the richest plantation owners in Jamaica who owned hundreds of slaves. In 1805, Taylor wrote to Nelson, requesting that he publicly intervene in favour of the pro-slavery side in Britain's debate over abolition. Nelson wrote a letter back to Taylor, writing that "while [he had] ...

4150-464: A small force of frigates and sloops, bound for Genoa. On 6 July, Nelson ran into the French fleet and found himself pursued by several, much larger ships-of-the-line. He retreated to San Fiorenzo, arriving just ahead of the pursuing French, who broke off as Nelson's signal guns alerted the British fleet in the harbour. Hotham pursued the French to the Hyères Islands , but failed to bring them to

4316-664: A superpower from 1643 until 1815; from the reign of King Louis XIV until the defeat of Napoleon in the Napoleonic Wars . The Spanish Empire lost its superpower status to France after the signing of the Treaty of the Pyrenees (but maintained the status of Great Power until the Napoleonic Wars and the Independence of Spanish America ). France lost its superpower status after Napoleon 's defeat against

4482-578: A system of absolute monarchy in France that endured 150 years until the French Revolution . McCabe says critics used fiction to portray the degraded Turkish court, using "the harem, the Sultan court, oriental despotism, luxury, gems and spices, carpets, and silk cushions" as an unfavorable analogy to the corruption of the French royal court. The king sought to impose total religious uniformity on

4648-542: A tongue", he would "launch [his] voice against the damnable and cursed (sic) doctrine of Wilberforce and his hypocritical allies". In the same letter, Nelson also wrote that he had always "[endeavoured] to serve the Public weal, of which the West India Colonies form so prominent and interesting a part. I have ever been, and shall die, a firm friend to our present Colonial system. I was bred, as you know, in

4814-461: The Badger to Cuthbert Collingwood , while he awaited the arrival of his new ship: the 28-gun frigate HMS  Hinchinbrook , newly captured from the French. While Nelson waited, news reached Parker that a French fleet under the command of Charles Hector, comte d'Estaing , was approaching Jamaica. Parker hastily organized his defences and placed Nelson in command of Fort Charles , which covered

4980-461: The Battle of Genoa . Nelson joined the other British ships in attacking the battered Ça Ira , now under tow from Censeur . Heavily damaged, the two French ships were forced to surrender, and Nelson took possession of Censeur . Defeated at sea, the French abandoned their plan to invade Corsica and returned to port. Nelson and the fleet remained in the Mediterranean throughout the summer of 1795. On 4 July, Agamemnon sailed from San Fiorenzo, with

5146-623: The British , Prussians and Russians in 1815 . Following the French Revolution , which began in 1789, the Kingdom of France adopted a written constitution in 1791, but the Kingdom was abolished a year later and replaced with the First French Republic . The monarchy was restored by the other great powers in 1814 and, with the exception of the Hundred Days in 1815, lasted until the French Revolution of 1848 . During

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5312-556: The Capetian dynasty on the throne. With its offshoots, the houses of Valois and Bourbon , it was to rule France for more than 800 years. The old order left the new dynasty in immediate control of little beyond the middle Seine and adjacent territories, while powerful territorial lords such as the 10th- and 11th-century counts of Blois accumulated large domains of their own through marriage and through private arrangements with lesser nobles for protection and support. The area around

5478-694: The Duke of Richelieu , as well as the King's moderation and prudent intervention. In 1823, the Trienio Liberal revolt in Spain led to a French intervention on the royalists' side, which permitted King Ferdinand VII of Spain to abolish the Constitution of 1812 . However, the work of Louis XVIII was frustrated when, after his death on 16 September 1824, his brother the Count of Artois became king under

5644-494: The English Channel . Some gunboats might be useful on the coast, but meant nothing against the powerful ships of the British Royal Navy. Napoleon fully understood this and resolved to rebuild the fleet through a large long-term construction programme. Vast sums of money were poured into the great military ports in order to build new ships of the line. By 1811 the programme was running smoothly and six to seven ships of

5810-655: The Franco-Dutch War , 1672–1678) brought further territorial gains ( Artois and western Flanders and the free County of Burgundy , previously left to the Empire in 1482), but at the cost of the increasingly concerted opposition of rival royal powers, and a legacy of an increasingly enormous national debt . An adherent of the theory of the "Divine Right of Kings" , which advocates the divine origin of temporal power and any lack of earthly restraint of monarchical rule, Louis XIV continued his predecessors' work of creating

5976-507: The House of Plantagenet , who also ruled the Kingdom of England as part of their so-called competing Angevin Empire , resulted in many armed struggles. The most notorious of them all are the series of conflicts known as the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) in which the kings of England laid claim to the French throne. Emerging victorious from said conflicts, France subsequently sought to extend its influence into Italy , but after initial gains

6142-533: The Hundred Days . When a Seventh European Coalition again deposed Napoleon after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, the Bourbon monarchy was once again restored. The Count of Provence - brother of Louis XVI, who was guillotined in 1793 - was crowned as Louis XVIII , nicknamed "The Desired". Louis XVIII tried to conciliate the legacies of the Revolution and the Ancien Régime, by permitting the formation of

6308-543: The Industrial Revolution that was beginning in Britain, the rising middle class of the cities felt increasingly frustrated with a system and rulers that seemed silly, frivolous, aloof, and antiquated, even if true feudalism no longer existed in France. Upon Louis XV's death, his grandson Louis XVI became king. Initially popular, he too came to be widely detested by the 1780s. He was married to an Austrian archduchess, Marie Antoinette . French intervention in

6474-612: The Jansenists , a group that denied free will and had already been condemned by the popes. In this, he garnered the friendship of the papacy, which had previously been hostile to France because of its policy of putting all church property in the country under the jurisdiction of the state rather than that of Rome. In November 1700, King Charles II of Spain died, ending the Habsburg line in that country. Louis had long planned for this moment, but these plans were thrown into disarray by

6640-624: The July Revolution . The King abdicated, as did his son the Dauphin Louis Antoine , in favour of his grandson Henri, Count of Chambord , nominating his cousin the Duke of Orléans as regent. However, it was too late, and the liberal opposition won out over the monarchy. On 9 August 1830, the Chamber of Deputies elected Louis Philippe, Duke of Orléans as "King of the French": for the first time since French Revolution,

6806-677: The Loire , the Seine , and other inland waterways increased. During the reign of Charles the Simple (898–922), Vikings under Rollo from Scandinavia settled along the Seine, downstream from Paris, in a region that came to be known as Normandy . The Carolingians were to share the fate of their predecessors: after an intermittent power struggle between the two dynasties, the accession in 987 of Hugh Capet , Duke of France and Count of Paris, established

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6972-499: The North Pole , but, unable to find a way through the dense ice floes, was forced to turn back. By 1800, Lutwidge had begun to circulate a story that, while the ship had been trapped in the ice, Nelson had spotted and pursued a polar bear , before being ordered to return to the ship. Later, in 1809, Lutwidge had it that Nelson, and a companion, gave chase to the bear and upon being questioned as to why, replied: "I wished, Sir, to get

7138-597: The Third Republic , the French monarchy has not restored. Before the 13th century, only a small part of what is now France was under control of the Frankish king; in the north there were Viking incursions leading to the formation of the Duchy of Normandy ; in the west, the counts of Anjou established themselves as powerful rivals of the king, by the late 11th century ruling over the " Angevin Empire ", which included

7304-616: The Treaty of Verdun (843). A branch of the Carolingian dynasty continued to rule until 987, when Hugh Capet was elected king and founded the Capetian dynasty . The territory remained known as Francia and its ruler as rex Francorum ('king of the Franks') well into the High Middle Ages . The first king calling himself rex Francie ('King of France') was Philip II , in 1190, and officially from 1204. From then, France

7470-587: The War of the Polish Succession from 1733 to 1735. Large-scale warfare resumed with the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). But alliance with the traditional Habsburg enemy (the " Diplomatic Revolution " of 1756) against the rising power of Britain and Prussia led to costly failure in the Seven Years' War (1756–63) and the loss of France's North American colonies. On the whole,

7636-740: The War of the Three Henrys in which Henry III assassinated Henry de Guise , leader of the Spanish-backed Catholic League , and the king was murdered in return. After the assassination of both Henry of Guise (1588) and Henry III (1589), the conflict was ended by the accession of the Protestant king of Navarre as Henry IV (first king of the Bourbon dynasty ) and his subsequent abandonment of Protestantism (Expedient of 1592) effective in 1593, his acceptance by most of

7802-505: The West Indies , he came into contact with several prominent white colonists residing there, forming friendships with many of them. These relationships led Nelson to absorb their proslavery views, particularly the view that slavery was necessary to the islands' economic prosperity. According to Grindal, Nelson later used his social influence to counter the emerging abolitionist movement in Britain . University of Southampton academic Christer Petley contextualises this view: The debate over

7968-590: The conquest of Algeria . The absolutist tendencies of the King were disliked by the Doctrinaire majority in the Chamber of Deputies , that on 18 March 1830 sent an address to the King, upholding the rights of the Chamber and in effect supporting a transition to a full parliamentary system. Charles X received this address as a veiled threat, and in 25 July of the same year, he issued the St. Cloud Ordinances , in an attempt to reduce Parliament's powers and re-establish absolute rule. The opposition reacted with riots in Parliament and barricades in Paris, that resulted in

8134-451: The kingdom of England . It was only with Philip II of France that the bulk of the territory of Western Francia came under the rule of the Frankish kings, and Philip was consequently the first king to call himself "king of France" (1190). The division of France between the Angevin (Plantagenet) kings of England and the Capetian kings of France would lead to the Hundred Years' War , and France would regain control over these territories only by

8300-405: The "Two Fleets System", and the reorganisations into squadrons here. The 'Naval Corps' was the name given to the branch of the navy which oversaw the sailors, naval troops, and colonial troops. Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period. It was one of

8466-455: The 11th century and increased intermittently throughout the Middle Ages, with multiple expulsions and returns. Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronte (29 September [ O.S. 18 September] 1758 – 21 October 1805) was a British flag officer in the Royal Navy . His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics brought about

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8632-444: The 17th century under Louis XIV . Throughout the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries, France was Europe's richest, largest, most populous, powerful and influential country. In parallel, France developed its first colonial empire in Asia, Africa, and in the Americas. In the 16th to the 17th centuries, the First French colonial empire stretched from a total area at its peak in 1680 to over 10,000,000 square kilometres (3,900,000 sq mi),

8798-448: The 18th century saw growing discontent with the monarchy and the established order. Louis XV was a highly unpopular king for his sexual excesses, overall weakness, and for losing New France to the British. The writings of the philosophes such as Voltaire were a clear sign of discontent, but the king chose to ignore them. He died of smallpox in 1774, and the French people shed few tears at his death. While France had not yet experienced

8964-471: The American War of Independence was also very expensive. With the country deeply in debt, Louis XVI permitted the radical reforms of Turgot and Malesherbes , but noble disaffection led to Turgot's dismissal and Malesherbes' resignation in 1776. They were replaced by Jacques Necker . Necker had resigned in 1781 to be replaced by Calonne and Brienne , before being restored in 1788. A harsh winter that year led to widespread food shortages, and by then France

9130-468: The Americans and the colonies. Nelson served on the station under Admiral Sir Richard Hughes , and often came into conflict with his superior officer over their differing interpretation of the Acts. The captains of the American vessels Nelson had seized sued him for illegal seizure. Because the merchants of the nearby island of Nevis supported the American claim, Nelson was in peril of imprisonment; he remained sequestered on Boreas for eight months, until

9296-418: The Ancien Régime were the result of years of state-building, legislative acts (like the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts ), internal conflicts and civil wars, but they remained a confusing patchwork of local privilege and historic differences until the French Revolution brought about a radical suppression of administrative incoherence. For most of the reign of Louis XIV (1643–1715), ("The Sun King"), France

9462-428: The British Channel Fleet in August 1801, frustrating Admiral Horatio Nelson himself. Admiral Denis Decrès , an able administrator but unfortunately more of a courtier than a naval strategist, was made Minister of the Marine in 1801, a portfolio he held until the final exile of the Emperor in 1815 (see below). Great efforts and vast sums of money were allotted to the navy by the First Consul. The navy had 83 ships of

9628-466: The British with a naval base close to the French coast. Hood therefore reinforced Nelson with extra ships during January 1794. A British assault force landed on the island on 7 February, after which, Nelson moved to intensify the blockade off Bastia . For the rest of the month, he carried out raids along the coast and intercepted enemy shipping. By late February, San Fiorenzo had fallen and British troops, under Lieutenant-General David Dundas , entered

9794-477: The Caribbean. Privately, he came to sympathise with their political outlook. It is clear that, by the time of his death at Trafalgar, he despised Wilberforce and stood in staunch opposition to the British abolitionist campaign. Over the course of his life, Nelson came into contact numerous times with aspects of slavery and the people who were involved in that institution. These included both his relationships with Caribbean plantation owners and his marriage to Fanny,

9960-477: The Catholic establishment (1594) and by the Pope (1595), and his issue of the toleration decree known as the Edict of Nantes (1598), which guaranteed freedom of private worship and civil equality. France's pacification under Henry IV laid much of the ground for the beginnings of France's rise to European hegemony. France was expansive during all but the end of the seventeenth century: the French began trading in India and Madagascar , founded Quebec and penetrated

10126-400: The Catholic majority and a Protestant minority, the Huguenots , which led to a series of civil wars, the Wars of Religion (1562–1598). The Wars of Religion crippled France, but triumph over Spain and the Habsburg monarchy in the Thirty Years' War made France the most powerful nation on the continent once more. The kingdom became Europe's dominant cultural, political and military power in

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10292-407: The French Navy in the most sweeping fashion since the days of Louis XIV . The whole navy was divided into nine fleets (or squadrons) with many measures made for greater efficiency. The way the French fleet was officered and manned was somewhat different to that of the Royal British Navy. In the 1780s the officer corps was filled almost exclusively by the sons of noble families . Indeed, to become

10458-419: The French monarchy maintained a significant degree of autonomy, namely through its policy of " Gallicanism ", whereby the king selected bishops rather than the papacy. During the Protestant Reformation of the mid 16th century, France developed a large and influential Protestant population, primarily of Reformed confession; after French theologian and pastor John Calvin introduced the Reformation in France,

10624-450: The French monarchy was effectively abolished by the proclamation of the French First Republic . The role of the King in France was finally ended with the execution of Louis XVI by guillotine on Monday, January 21, 1793, followed by the " Reign of Terror ", mass executions and the provisional " Directory " form of republican government, and the eventual beginnings of twenty-five years of reform, upheaval, dictatorship, wars and renewal, with

10790-455: The French victory at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214, the English monarchs maintained power only in southwestern Duchy of Aquitaine . The death of Charles IV of France in 1328 without male heirs ended the main Capetian line. Under Salic law the crown could not pass through a woman (Philip IV's daughter was Isabella , whose son was Edward III of England ), so the throne passed to Philip VI , son of Charles of Valois . This, in addition to

10956-400: The King of France continued to use the title "King of Navarre" through the end of the monarchy). France in the Middle Ages was a decentralised, feudal monarchy. In Brittany and Catalonia (the latter now a part of Spain), as well as Aquitaine , the authority of the French king was barely felt. Lorraine , Provence and East Burgundy were states of the Holy Roman Empire and not yet

11122-408: The King was designated as the ruler of the French people and not the country. The Bourbon white flag was substituted with the French tricolour , and a new Charter was introduced in August 1830. The conquest of Algeria continued, and new settlements were established in the Gulf of Guinea , Gabon , Madagascar , and Mayotte , while Tahiti was placed under protectorate . However, despite

11288-423: The League of Augsburg") had just concluded. The reign (1715–1774) of Louis XV saw an initial return to peace and prosperity under the regency (1715–1723) of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans , whose policies were largely continued (1726–1743) by Cardinal Fleury , prime minister in all but name. The exhaustion of Europe after two major wars resulted in a long period of peace, only interrupted by minor conflicts like

11454-416: The North American Great Lakes and Mississippi , established plantation economies in the West Indies and extended their trade contacts in the Levant and enlarged their merchant marine . Henry IV's son Louis XIII and his minister (1624–1642) Cardinal Richelieu , elaborated a policy against Spain and the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) which had broken out in Germany. After

11620-449: The Reverend Edmund Nelson at Beccles Church, Suffolk , in 1749. Nelson attended Paston Grammar School , North Walsham , until he was 12 years old, and also attended King Edward VI's Grammar School in Norwich . His naval career began on 1 January 1771, when he reported to the newly commissioned third-rate HMS  Raisonnable as an ordinary seaman and coxswain under his maternal uncle, Captain Maurice Suckling, who commanded

11786-438: The Spanish fleet had sailed from Cartagena —stopped just long enough to collect Hardy, Culverhouse, and the rest of the prize crew captured with Santa Sabina , before pressing on through the straits to join Sir John Jervis off Cadiz . Nelson joined Sir John Jervis ' fleet off Cape St Vincent , and reported the Spanish movements. Jervis decided to engage and the two fleets met on 14 February 1797. Nelson found himself towards

11952-463: The Spanish territory of Roussillon after the crushing of the ephemeral Catalan Republic and ushered a short period of peace. The Ancien Régime , a French term rendered in English as "Old Rule", or simply "Former Regime", refers primarily to the aristocratic, social and political system of early modern France under the late Valois and Bourbon dynasties. The administrative and social structures of

12118-482: The Trafalgar campaign, left the navy with a lack of purpose and direction. Napoleon found himself with weak and demoralised remnants of a high-seas fleet and flotilla. The Boulogne Flotilla crews had been organised into 14 Crews battalions on 10 August 1805. This time, however, the flotilla was not disbanded and its better gunboats were used for coastal service, escorting convoys of small commercial vessels along

12284-818: The West Indies in order to take part in Major-General John Dalling's attempt to capture the Spanish colonies in Central America , including an assault on the Fortress of the Immaculate Conception on the San Juan River in Nicaragua. In February 1780, Hinchinbrook sailed from Jamaica as an escort for Dalling's invasion force. After sailing up the mouth of the San Juan River, Nelson's expeditionary force obtained

12450-458: The allies as they occupied the French naval bases during the summer of 1814. This third blow–the first had been the Revolution, the second Trafalgar–was to be fatal for the French navy. Not until the second half of the 19th century would France have a powerful battle fleet again. Because so many formations were formed and disbanded several times, effectively ad-hoc commands, only the permanent or long-lived formations are listed below: History of

12616-499: The approaches to Kingston . D'Estaing instead headed north, and the anticipated invasion never materialised. Nelson took command of the Hinchinbrook on 1 September 1779. Hinchinbrook sailed from Port Royal on 5 October and, in company with other British ships, proceeded to capture a number of American prizes. On his return to Jamaica in December, Nelson began to be troubled by recurrent attacks of malaria. Nelson remained in

12782-566: The assault. Several of the officers involved criticised Nelson, but Hood does not appear to have reprimanded him. Nelson spent the rest of the war cruising in the West Indies, where he captured a number of French and Spanish prizes. After news of the peace reached Hood, Nelson returned to Britain in late June 1783. Nelson visited France in late 1783 and stayed with acquaintances at Saint-Omer ; briefly attempting to learn French during his stay. He returned to England in January 1784, and attended court as part of Lord Hood's entourage. Influenced by

12948-405: The bases for most Marine units. They had large shipyards for the construction and refitting of warships, as well as related industries, and were the homes of thousands of ouvriers , the shipyard workers. There was a powerful corps of administrative and technical officers such as commissars , shipbuilding engineers, and so on. There were the officers of the pen ( officiers de plume ) as opposed to

13114-567: The century of war were enormous, particularly owing to the plague (the Black Death , usually considered an outbreak of bubonic plague ), which arrived from Italy in 1348, spreading rapidly up the Rhône valley and thence across most of the country: it is estimated that a population of some 18–20 million in modern-day France at the time of the 1328 hearth tax returns had been reduced 150 years later by 50 percent or more. The Renaissance era

13280-482: The convoy in late May, then detached on a cruise to hunt American privateers . Nelson was generally unsuccessful; he succeeded only in retaking several captured British merchant ships, and capturing a number of small fishing boats and assorted craft. In August 1782, Nelson had a narrow escape from a far superior French force under Louis-Philippe de Vaudreuil , only evading them after a prolonged chase. Nelson arrived at Quebec on 18 September. He sailed again as part of

13446-555: The convoy to return to port, but severe storms hampered him. Gales almost wrecked Albemarle , as she was a poorly designed ship and an earlier accident had left her damaged, but Nelson eventually brought her into Portsmouth , in February 1782. There, the Admiralty ordered him to fit Albemarle for sea and join the escort for a convoy collecting at Cork , Ireland, to sail for Quebec , Canada. Nelson arrived off Newfoundland with

13612-437: The costliest British disaster of the entire war. Despite this, Nelson was praised for his efforts. Parker recalled Nelson and gave him command of the 44-gun frigate, HMS  Janus . In 1780, Nelson fell seriously ill with what seemed to be dysentery and possibly yellow fever , in the jungles of Costa Rica , and was unable to take command. He was taken to Kingston, Jamaica, to be nursed by "doctoress" Cubah Cornwallis ,

13778-489: The country, repealing the Edict of Nantes in 1685. It is estimated that anywhere between 150,000 and 300,000 Protestants fled France during the wave of persecution that followed the repeal, (following " Huguenots " beginning a hundred and fifty years earlier until the end of the 18th century) costing the country a great many intellectuals, artisans, and other valuable people. Persecution extended to unorthodox Roman Catholics like

13944-469: The courts ruled in his favour. In the interim, Nelson met Frances "Fanny" Nisbet , a young widow from a Nevis plantation family. Nelson developed an affection for her. In response, her uncle, John Herbert, offered him a massive dowry . Both Herbert and Nisbet concealed the fact that their famed riches were a fiction, and Fanny did not disclose the fact that she was infertile due to a womb infection. Once they were engaged, Herbert offered Nelson nowhere near

14110-588: The crown unrivalled power in senior ecclesiastical appointments, France was deeply affected by the Protestant Reformation 's attempt to break the hegemony of Catholic Europe. A growing urban-based Protestant minority (later dubbed Huguenots ) faced ever harsher repression under the rule of Francis I's son King Henry II . After Henry II's death in a joust, the country was ruled by his widow Catherine de' Medici and her sons Francis II , Charles IX and Henry III . Renewed Catholic reaction headed by

14276-574: The death of both king and cardinal, the Peace of Westphalia (1648) secured universal acceptance of Germany's political and religious fragmentation, but the Regency of Anne of Austria and her minister Cardinal Mazarin experienced a civil uprising known as the Fronde (1648–1653) which expanded into a Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659) . The Treaty of the Pyrenees (1659) formalised France's seizure (1642) of

14442-515: The dispatches to Sardinia, Agamemnon arrived at Naples in early September. There, Nelson met King Ferdinand IV of Naples , followed by the British ambassador to the kingdom, William Hamilton . At some point during the negotiations for reinforcements, Nelson was introduced to Hamilton's new wife, Emma Hamilton , the former mistress of Hamilton's nephew, Charles Greville . The negotiations were successful, and 2,000 men and several ships were mustered by mid-September. Nelson put to sea in pursuit of

14608-655: The dowry he had promised. During the Georgian era , breaking a marital engagement was seen as quite dishonourable, and so Nelson and Nisbet were married at Montpelier Estate, on the island of Nevis, on 11 March 1787, shortly before the end of his tour of duty in the Caribbean. The marriage was registered at Fig Tree Church in St John's Parish on Nevis. Nelson returned to England in July, with Fanny following later. Following

14774-673: The end of 1778, which brought Nelson an estimated £400 (equivalent to £64,400 in 2023) in prize money . Parker appointed him as master and commander of the brig HMS  Badger on 8 December. Nelson and Badger spent most of 1779 cruising off of the Central American coast, ranging as far as the British settlements at British Honduras (now Belize), and Nicaragua , but without much success at interception of enemy prizes. On his return to Port Royal , he learnt that Parker had promoted him to post-captain on 11 June, and intended to give him another command. Nelson handed over

14940-683: The end of the Hundred Years' War: Prior to the French Revolution , the Catholic Church was the official state religion of the Kingdom of France. France was traditionally considered the Church's eldest daughter (French: Fille aînée de l'Église ), and the King of France always maintained close links to the Pope, receiving the title Most Christian Majesty from the Pope in 1464. However,

15106-412: The enemy positions had been disabled and that night Stuart, supported by Nelson, stormed the main defensive position and captured it. Repositioning their guns, the British brought Calvi under constant bombardment, and the town surrendered on 10 August. Nelson did regain partial sight in his damaged eye after the siege, but by his own account could only "...distinguish light from dark but no object." After

15272-538: The escort for a convoy to New York. He arrived in mid-November and reported to Admiral Samuel Hood , commander of the New York station. At Nelson's request, Hood transferred him to his fleet and Albemarle sailed in company with Hood, bound for the West Indies. On their arrival, the British fleet took up position off Jamaica to await the arrival of de Vaudreuil's force. Nelson and the Albemarle were ordered to scout

15438-412: The evacuation of the garrison at Elba. He then sailed for Gibraltar. During the passage, Nelson captured the Spanish frigate Santa Sabina and placed Lieutenants Jonathan Culverhouse and Thomas Hardy in charge of the captured vessel; taking the frigate's Spanish captain on board Minerve . Santa Sabina was part of a larger Spanish force and, the following morning, two Spanish ships-of-the-line, and

15604-465: The examination, and the next day received his commission, and an appointment to HMS  Lowestoffe , which was preparing to sail to Jamaica , under Captain William Locker . She sailed on 16 May, arrived on 19 July, and after reprovisioning, carried out several cruises in Caribbean waters. After the outbreak of the American War of Independence , Lowestoffe took several prizes, one of which

15770-496: The factional politics of the time , he contemplated standing for Parliament as a supporter of William Pitt , but was unable to find a seat . In 1784, Nelson received command of the frigate HMS  Boreas , with the assignment to enforce the Navigation Acts in the vicinity of Antigua . Nelson hated Antigua and the only consolation was (Mrs) Mary Moutray whom he greatly admired. The Acts were unpopular with both

15936-454: The first Army of England gathering on the Channel coast in 1798. Napoleon's concentration on campaigns in Egypt and Austria, and the Peace of Amiens caused these plans to be shelved in 1802. The resumption of hostilities in 1803 led to their revival, and forces were gathered outside Boulogne in large military camps in preparation for the assembling of the invasion flotilla. The Royal Navy was

16102-427: The fleet, sail it into the Mediterranean to land troops at Naples , before making port at Toulon. Villeneuve decided to sail the fleet out before his successor arrived. On 20 October the fleet was sighted making its way out of harbour by patrolling British frigates, and Nelson was informed that they appeared to be headed to the west. Nelson led his column of ships into battle aboard HMS Victory , and succeeded in cutting

16268-592: The following weeks preparing and refining his tactics for the anticipated battle and dining with his captains to ensure they understood his intentions. Nelson had devised a plan of attack that anticipated the allied fleet would form up in a traditional line of battle . Drawing on his own experience from the Nile and Copenhagen , and the examples of Duncan at Camperdown and Rodney at the Saintes , Nelson decided to split his fleet into squadrons rather than forming it into

16434-630: The formation of the Légion Nautique during the French campaign in Egypt and Syria . Following the defeat of the French fleet at Abukir , nearly 2,500 sailors and Marine artillerymen were stranded in Alexandria and used to form the new legion during October and November 1798. Issued with arms and uniforms, the new legion had eight companies of fusiliers, one of grenadiers, and sections of artillery and pioneers. General Bonaparte noted that

16600-450: The future of slavery divided Britons. Wilberforce personified one type of British patriotism—arguing for an end to slave-trading on the basis that it was a blot on the reputation of a proud and Christian nation. Slaveholders offered their own patriotic arguments—maintaining that the trade was so instrumental to the imperial economy that Britain could ill-afford to stop it. Nelson had befriended several slaveholding colonists during his time in

16766-525: The good old school, and taught to appreciate the value of our West India possessions." This letter was published in 1807, by the anti-abolitionist faction; some eighteen months after Nelson's death, and out of context, in an apparent attempt to bolster their cause prior to the parliamentary vote on the Abolition Bill. The wording of the letter as published in 1807—not in Nelson's handwriting, and with

16932-418: The initial reforms, Louis Philippe was little different from his predecessors. The old nobility was replaced by urban bourgeoisie, and the working class was excluded from voting. Louis Philippe appointed notable bourgeois as Prime Minister , like banker Casimir Périer , academic François Guizot , general Jean-de-Dieu Soult , and thus obtained the nickname of "Citizen King" ( Roi-Citoyen ). The July Monarchy

17098-708: The intention of establishing naval superiority in the Mediterranean—made their way to Toulon , anchoring off the port in July. Toulon was largely under the control of moderate republicans and royalists , but was threatened by the forces of the National Convention , which were marching on the city. Short of supplies and doubting their ability to defend themselves, the city authorities requested that Hood take it under his protection. Hood readily acquiesced, and sent Nelson to carry dispatches to Sardinia and Naples , requesting reinforcements. After delivering

17264-623: The kingdom of France. Charles the Bald was also crowned King of Lotharingia after the death of Lothair II in 869, but in the Treaty of Meerssen (870) was forced to cede much of Lotharingia to his brothers, retaining the Rhône and Meuse basins (including Verdun , Vienne and Besançon ) but leaving the Rhineland with Aachen , Metz , and Trier in East Francia . Viking incursions up

17430-561: The late 17th century by Louis XIV . The resulting exodus of Huguenots from the Kingdom of France created a brain drain , as many of them had occupied important places in society. Jews have a documented presence in France since at least the early Middle Ages . The Kingdom of France was a center of Jewish learning in the Middle Ages, producing influential Jewish scholars such as Rashi and even hosting theological debates between Jews and Christians. Widespread persecution began in

17596-558: The later years of Charlemagne 's rule, the Vikings made advances along the northern and western perimeters of the Kingdom of the Franks . After Charlemagne's death in 814 his heirs were incapable of maintaining political unity and the empire began to crumble. The Treaty of Verdun of 843 divided the Carolingian Empire into three parts, with Charles the Bald ruling over West Francia , the nucleus of what would develop into

17762-438: The line and causing the pell-mell battle he desired to break out. After several hours of fighting 17 French and Spanish ships had been captured and another destroyed, without the loss of a single British ship. Nelson was among the 449 British dead, having been mortally wounded by a French sharpshooter during the battle. Nine of the prizes were later scuttled or sunk in a storm that blew up the following day. A sortie led by some of

17928-456: The line from 74 to 118 guns were launched every year until Napoleon abdicated in 1814. The French fleet then had 81 ships of the line with 18 more under construction. There were also about 100 frigates afloat or under construction at that date. In time, given good leadership and opportunity, there is no doubt that this new fleet would have united and challenged the British Royal Navy. Instead, many of these new ships were dispersed or destroyed by

18094-477: The line had been lost at Finisterre, twenty-one at Trafalgar and in the ensuing storm, and four at Cape Ortegal. No British ships had been lost in these engagements. Many of those that had survived in French or Spanish hands were badly damaged and would not be ready for service for some time. The British victory gave them unchallenged supremacy of the seas, securing British trade and sustaining the Empire . After 1805

18260-435: The line in 1792, but only 46 ten years later, while the numbers of frigates had gone from 74 to 37. To build new ships large military seaports and shipyards were set up at Cherbourg and Antwerp – the latter especially worried British Prime Minister William Pitt , who felt it was a 'pistol aimed at the head of England'. For the first time in over a decade the navy emerged from chaos, thanks to Napoleon's measures. However,

18426-647: The lower Seine became a source of particular concern when Duke William of Normandy took possession of the Kingdom of England by the Norman Conquest of 1066, making himself and his heirs the king's equal outside France (where he was still nominally subject to the Crown). Henry II inherited the Duchy of Normandy and the County of Anjou , and married France's newly single ex-queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine , who ruled much of southwest France, in 1152. After defeating

18592-551: The main obstacle to a successful invasion, but Napoleon declared that his fleet need only be masters of the Channel for six hours and the crossing could be effected. Though the intended departure points were known and were being closely blockaded by the Royal Navy, First Lord of the Admiralty Lord Melville was short of ships. If a combined Franco-Spanish fleet were to force the Navy from its station for even

18758-606: The marriage he became the stepfather of Nisbet's 7-year-old son, Josiah Nisbet. Nelson remained with Boreas until she was paid off in November 1787. He and Fanny then divided their time between Bath and London, occasionally visiting Nelson's relations in Norfolk. In 1788, they settled at Nelson's childhood home at Burnham Thorpe. Now in reserve and on half-pay, he attempted to persuade the Admiralty—and other senior figures he

18924-521: The matter of slavery, most notably: Nelson received orders on 23 October 1781, to take the newly refitted Albemarle to sea. He was instructed to collect an inbound convoy of the Russia Company at Elsinore , and escort them back to Britain. For this operation, the Admiralty placed the frigates HMS  Argo and HMS  Enterprise under his command. Nelson successfully organised the convoy and escorted it into British waters. He then left

19090-478: The mid 15th century. What is now eastern France (Lorraine, Arelat) was not part of Western Francia to begin with and was only incorporated into the kingdom during the early modern period . Territories inherited from Western Francia: Acquisitions during the 13th to 14th centuries: Acquisitions from the Plantagenet kings of England with the French victory in the Hundred Years' War 1453 Acquisitions after

19256-466: The morale of the French navy was destroyed, while its continued blockade in port robbed it of efficiency and will. While Napoleon returned to the possibility of an invasion some years later, it was never with the same focus or determination. The failure of his navy to fulfil its objectives left him disillusioned, while the timidity of its commanders and the determination of the British to resist them, both factors clearly expressed at various stages throughout

19422-699: The most powerful states in Europe from the High Middle Ages to 1848 during its dissolution. It was also an early colonial power , with colonies in Asia and Africa, and the largest being New France in North America centred around the Great Lakes. The Kingdom of France was descended directly from the western Frankish realm of the Carolingian Empire , which was ceded to Charles the Bald with

19588-654: The name of Charles X . Charles X was a strong reactionary who supported the ultra-royalists and the Catholic Church . Under his reign, the censorship of newspapers was reinforced, the Anti-Sacrilege Act passed, and compensations to Émigrés were increased. However, the reign also witnessed the French intervention in the Greek Revolution in favour of the Greek rebels, and the first phase of

19754-521: The navy and the ranks opened to anyone with decent qualifications, including former officers of the Royal Navy , as well as educated and talented young men. To improve discipline, the old pre-1789 general regulations were brought back into force and new ones drafted, bringing back order and submission to central authority. The concept of having, besides the larger warships, armed small craft in 'flotillas' also evolved at this time and saw success against

19920-424: The navy. Being an artillery officer, he was given to precise calculations and never quite accepted that the wind was more important to ships than his orders. His impatience at his fleet at Boulogne is famous. Much less known but just as important were his naïve pragmatic measures toward the fleet taken during 1800–1801. In a general reform, a mass of individuals notable for their 'crass ignorance' were kicked out of

20086-544: The number of French Protestants ( Huguenots ) steadily swelled to 10 percent of the population, or roughly 1.8 million people. The ensuring French Wars of Religion , and particularly the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre , decimated the Huguenot community; Protestants declined to seven to eight percent of the kingdom's population by the end of the 16th century. The Edict of Nantes brought decades of respite until its revocation in

20252-556: The numerous passages for signs of the enemy, but it became clear by early 1783 that the French had eluded Hood. During his scouting operations, Nelson had developed a plan to attack the French garrison of the Turks Islands . Commanding a small flotilla of frigates, and smaller vessels, he landed a force of 167 seamen and marines early on the morning of 8 March, under a supporting bombardment. The French were found to be heavily entrenched and, after several hours, Nelson called off

20418-491: The occupation of Elba , but by September, the Genoese had broken their neutrality to declare in favour of the French. By October, the Genoese position and continued French advances, led the British to decide that the Mediterranean fleet could no longer be supplied. They ordered it to be evacuated to Gibraltar. Nelson helped oversee the withdrawal from Corsica and, by December 1796, was aboard the frigate HMS Minerve , covering

20584-405: The occupation of Corsica, Hood ordered Nelson to open diplomatic relations with the city-state of Genoa —a strategically important potential ally. Soon afterwards, Hood returned to England and was succeeded by Admiral William Hotham as commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean. Nelson put into Leghorn and, while Agamemnon underwent repairs, met with other naval officers at the port and entertained

20750-542: The officers of the sword ( officiers d'épée ), the sea-faring naval officers who had little regard and much disdain for the "paper pushers". There were smaller bases in France, such as Lorient and Cherbourg , and also in the colonies, such as Fort Saint Louis in Martinique and Port Louis in Île-de-France , which were humbler versions of the three great ports, all with the same military and administrative structure. Napoleon has often been considered to misunderstand

20916-417: The outskirts of Bastia. However, Dundas merely assessed the enemy positions and then withdrew, arguing that the French were too well entrenched to risk an assault. Nelson convinced Hood otherwise, but a protracted debate between the army and naval commanders meant that Nelson did not receive permission to proceed until late March. Nelson began to land guns from his ships and emplace them in the hills surrounding

21082-585: The period before obtaining his own command at the age of 20, in 1778. He developed a reputation for personal valour and a firm grasp of tactics, but suffered periods of illness and unemployment after the end of the American War of Independence . The outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars allowed Nelson to return to service, where he was particularly active in the Mediterranean . He fought in several minor engagements off Toulon and

21248-563: The powerful dukes of Guise culminated in a massacre of Huguenots (1572), starting the first of the French Wars of Religion , during which English, German, and Spanish forces intervened on the side of rival Protestant and Catholic forces. Opposed to absolute monarchy, the Huguenot Monarchomachs theorized during this time the right of rebellion and the legitimacy of tyrannicide . The Wars of Religion culminated in

21414-525: The sailors could be trained and led quite efficiently in a militarised organisation. He did not forget this. The Légion Nautique was repatriated to France at British expense in September 1801, but disbanded after returning. Many of the veterans of this legion would later serve in the famed Sailors of the Imperial Guard . Napoleon had been planning an invasion of England for some time, with

21580-654: The second-largest empire in the world at the time behind the Spanish Empire . Colonial conflicts with Great Britain led to the loss of much of its North American holdings by 1763. French intervention in the American Revolutionary War helped the United States secure independence from King George III and the Kingdom of Great Britain , but was costly and achieved little for France. France through its French colonial empire , became

21746-474: The ships blockading the French coast as a commodore . Nelson spent the first half of the year conducting operations to frustrate French advances and bolster Britain's Italian allies. Despite some minor successes in intercepting small French warships—such as in the action of 31 May 1796 , when Nelson's squadron captured a convoy of seven small vessels—he began to feel the British presence on the Italian peninsula

21912-481: The ships that managed to escape under Julien Cosmao managed to recapture the Spanish Santa Ana , but in doing so he lost three more of his ships, wrecked in the gale, while a fourth was captured by the British, but later wrecked. The British fleet and the surviving French prizes put into Gibraltar over the next few days. By early November the combined fleet had been practically destroyed. Two ships of

22078-527: The skin for my father." Nelson briefly returned to Triumph , after the expedition's return to Britain, in September 1773. Suckling then arranged for his transfer to HMS  Seahorse ; one of two ships about to sail for the East Indies . Nelson sailed for the East Indies on 19 November 1773, and arrived at the British outpost at Madras on 25 May 1774. Nelson and Seahorse spent the rest of

22244-456: The surrender of the Fortress of the Immaculate Conception and its 160 Spanish defenders after a two-week siege. Despite this initial success, the British forces never reached Lake Nicaragua and, decimated by yellow fever , were forced to return to Jamaica. The British destroyed the fortress when they evacuated in January 1781. The failed campaign cost the lives of more than 2,500 men, making it

22410-683: The throne would end up recreating the grand multi-national Empire of Charles V ; of the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, and the Spanish territories in Italy, which would also grossly upset the power balance. However, the rest of Europe would not stand for his ambitions in Spain, and so the long War of the Spanish Succession began (1701–1714), a mere three years after the War of the Grand Alliance (1688–1697, a.k.a. "War of

22576-765: The time he arrived in Britain, in September. His patron, Suckling, had risen to the post of Comptroller of the Navy in 1775, and used his influence to help Nelson gain further promotion. Nelson was appointed acting lieutenant aboard HMS  Worcester , which was about to sail to Gibraltar . Worcester , under the command of Captain Mark Robinson , sailed as a convoy escort on 3 December, and returned with another convoy in April 1777. Nelson then travelled to London to take his lieutenant's examination on 9 April; his examining board consisted of Captains John Campbell , Abraham North, and his uncle, Suckling. Nelson passed

22742-421: The town. On 11 April, the British squadron entered the harbour and opened fire, while Nelson took command of the land forces and commenced bombardment. After 45 days, the town surrendered. Nelson then prepared for an assault on Calvi , working in company with Lieutenant-General Charles Stuart . British forces landed at Calvi on 19 June, and immediately began moving guns ashore to occupy the heights surrounding

22908-448: The town. While Nelson directed a continuous bombardment of the enemy positions, Stuart's men began to advance. On the morning of 12 July, Nelson was at one of the forward batteries when a shot struck one of the nearby sandbags protecting the position, spraying stones and sand. Nelson was struck by debris in his right eye and forced to retire from the position. However, his wound was soon bandaged and he returned to action. By 18 July, most of

23074-425: The two fleets shadowed each other on 12 March. The following day, two of the French ships collided, allowing Nelson to engage the much larger, 84-gun Ça Ira . This engagement went on for two and a half hours, until the arrival of two French ships forced Nelson to veer away, having inflicted heavy casualties and considerable damage. The fleets continued to shadow each other before making contact again on 14 March in

23240-470: The unfairness to qualified men condemned to the lower deck or the merchant marine because they were not of noble blood. Because of this lacking hope, bitterness increased dramatically both in the army and the navy. In 1789 the French navy had three main military seaports: Brest and Rochefort on the Atlantic, and Toulon on the Mediterranean. These ports were the headquarters for senior commanders, and

23406-641: The various Napoleonic Wars . Following the French Revolution (1789–99) and the First French Empire under Napoleon (1804–1814), the monarchy was restored when a coalition of European powers restored by arms the monarchy to the House of Bourbon in 1814. However the deposed Emperor Napoleon I returned triumphantly to Paris from his exile in Elba and ruled France for a short period known as

23572-432: The vessel. Shortly after reporting aboard, Nelson was appointed a midshipman , and began officer training. Early in his service, Nelson discovered that he experienced seasickness , a chronic complaint that he experienced for the rest of his life. Raisonnable had been commissioned during a period of tension with Spain, but when this passed, Suckling was transferred to the Nore guardship HMS  Triumph and Nelson

23738-418: The way for France to undertake the long Italian Wars (1494–1559), which marked the beginning of early modern France. French efforts to gain dominance resulted only in the increased power of the House of Habsburg . Barely were the Italian Wars over, when France was plunged into a domestic crisis with far-reaching consequences. Despite the conclusion of a Concordat between France and the Papacy (1516), granting

23904-409: The wildlife and in particular a bird—now believed to be the white-necked jacobin . Locker, impressed by Nelson's abilities, recommended him to the new commander-in-chief at Jamaica , Sir Peter Parker . Parker duly took Nelson onto his flagship, HMS  Bristol . The entry of the French into the war, in support of the Americans, meant further targets for Parker's fleet. It took many prizes towards

24070-464: The will of King Charles, which left the entire Spanish Empire to Louis's grandson Philip, Duke of Anjou , (1683–1746). Essentially, Spain was to become a perpetual ally and even obedient satellite of France, ruled by a king who would carry out orders from Versailles. Realizing how this would upset the balance of power, the other European rulers were outraged. However, most of the alternatives were equally undesirable. For example, putting another Habsburg on

24236-503: The withdrawing army and prevent them from being surrounded, but he had too few ships and men to materially alter the strategic situation. The British were forced to withdraw from the Italian ports. Nelson returned to Corsica on 30 November, angry and depressed with the British failure, and questioning his future in the navy. In January 1796, the position of commander-in-chief of the fleet in the Mediterranean passed to Sir John Jervis , who appointed Nelson to exercise independent command over

24402-402: The year cruising off the coast and escorting merchantmen . With the outbreak of the First Anglo-Maratha War , the British fleet operated in support of the East India Company and in early 1775, Seahorse was dispatched to carry a cargo of the company's money to Bombay . On 19 February, two of Hyder Ali 's ketches attacked Seahorse , which drove them off after a brief exchange of fire. This

24568-412: Was Nelson's first experience of battle. Nelson spent the rest of the year escorting convoys, during which he continued to develop his navigation and ship handling skills. In early 1776, he contracted malaria and became seriously ill. He was discharged from Seahorse on 14 March and returned to England aboard HMS  Dolphin . Nelson spent the six-month voyage recuperating and had almost recovered by

24734-403: Was a nephew of Robert Walpole , 1st Earl of Orford, (second creation) the de facto first prime minister of Great Britain . Nelson retained a strong Christian faith throughout his life. Nelson's uncle Maurice Suckling was a high-ranking naval officer, and is believed to have had a major impact on Nelson's life. Catherine Suckling lived in the village of Barsham, Suffolk , and married

24900-478: Was a powder keg ready to explode. On the eve of the French Revolution of July 1789, France was in a profound institutional and financial crisis, but the ideas of the Enlightenment had begun to permeate the educated classes of society. On September 3, 1791, the absolute monarchy which had governed France for 948 years was forced to limit its power and become a provisional constitutional monarchy. However, this too would not last very long and on September 21, 1792,

25066-440: Was accorded a state funeral. Nelson's death at Trafalgar secured his position as one of Britain's most heroic figures. His signal just prior to the commencement of the battle, " England expects that every man will do his duty ", is regularly quoted and paraphrased. Numerous monuments, including Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square , London, and the Nelson Monument in Edinburgh , have been created in his memory. Horatio Nelson

25232-470: Was acquainted with, such as Hood—to provide him with a command. He was unsuccessful, as there were too few ships in the peacetime navy, and Hood did not intercede on his behalf. Nelson spent his time trying to find employment for former crew members, attending to family affairs, and cajoling contacts in the navy for a posting. In 1792, the French revolutionary government annexed the Austrian Netherlands (modern Belgium), which were traditionally preserved as

25398-414: Was beset by corruption scandals and financial crisis. The opposition of the King was composed of Legitimists , supporting the Count of Chambord , Bourbon claimant to the throne, and of Bonapartists and Republicans , who fought against royalty and supported the principles of democracy. The King tried to suppress the opposition with censorship, but when the Campagne des banquets ("Banquets' Campaign")

25564-429: Was born on 29 September [ O.S. 18 September] 1758, at a rectory in Burnham Thorpe , Norfolk , England; the sixth of eleven children of the Reverend Edmund Nelson and his wife, Catherine Suckling . He was named " Horatio " after his godfather Horatio Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (third creation), (1723–1809), the first cousin of his maternal great-grandmother Anne Turner (1691–1768). Horatio Walpole

25730-402: Was continuously ruled by the Capetians and their cadet lines under the Valois and Bourbon until the monarchy was abolished in 1792 during the French Revolution . The Kingdom of France was also ruled in personal union with the Kingdom of Navarre over two time periods, 1284–1328 and 1572–1620, after which the institutions of Navarre were abolished and it was fully annexed by France (though

25896-514: Was defeated by Spain and the Holy Roman Empire in the ensuing Italian Wars (1494–1559). France in the early modern era was increasingly centralised; the French language began to displace other languages from official use, and the monarch expanded his absolute power in an administrative system, known as the Ancien Régime , complicated by historic and regional irregularities in taxation, legal, judicial, and ecclesiastic divisions, and local prerogatives. Religiously, France became divided between

26062-471: Was dispatched to serve aboard the West Indiaman Mary Ann of the merchant shipping firm of Hibbert, Purrier and Horton , in order to gain experience at sea. He sailed from Medway , Kent, on 25 July 1771, heading to Jamaica and Tobago, and returning to Plymouth on 7 July 1772. He twice crossed the Atlantic, before returning to serve under his uncle as the commander of Suckling's longboat, which carried men and dispatches, to and from shore. Nelson then learnt of

26228-456: Was given command of a small squadron consisting of Agamemnon , three frigates, and a sloop, and ordered to blockade the French garrison on Corsica. The fall of Toulon at the end of December 1793 severely damaged British fortunes in the Mediterranean. Hood had failed to make adequate provisions for a withdrawal and 18 French ships-of-the-line fell into republican hands. Nelson's mission to Corsica took on an added significance, as it could provide

26394-493: Was important in the capture of Corsica , where he was wounded and partially lost sight in one eye, and subsequently performed diplomatic duties with the Italian states. In 1797, he distinguished himself while in command of HMS  Captain at the Battle of Cape St Vincent . Shortly after that battle, Nelson took part in the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife , where the attack failed and he lost his right arm, forcing him to return to England to recuperate. The following year he won

26560-425: Was noted for the emergence of powerful centralized institutions, as well as a flourishing culture (much of it imported from Italy ). The kings built a strong fiscal system, which heightened the power of the king to raise armies that overawed the local nobility. In Paris especially there emerged strong traditions in literature, art and music. The prevailing style was classical . The Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts

26726-432: Was now advancing on Genoa, but could excite little interest in Hotham. In November, Hotham was replaced by Sir Hyde Parker , but the situation in Italy was rapidly deteriorating: the French were raiding around Genoa and strong Jacobin sentiment was rife within the city itself. A large French assault at the end of November, broke the allied lines, forcing a general retreat towards Genoa. Nelson's forces were able to cover

26892-444: Was rapidly becoming useless. In June, the Agamemnon was sent back to Britain for repairs, and Nelson was appointed to the 74-gun HMS  Captain . In the same month, the French thrust towards Leghorn and were certain to capture the city. Nelson hurried there to oversee the evacuation of British nationals and transport them to Corsica. After which, Jervis ordered him to blockade the newly captured French port. In July, he oversaw

27058-412: Was repressed in February 1848, riots and seditions erupted in Paris and later all France, resulting in the February Revolution . The National Guard refused to repress the rebellion, resulting in Louis Philippe abdicating and fleeing to England. On 24 February 1848, the monarchy was abolished and the Second Republic was proclaimed. Despite later attempts to re-establish the Kingdom in the 1870s, during

27224-591: Was signed into law by Francis I in 1539. Largely the work of Chancellor Guillaume Poyet , it dealt with a number of government, judicial and ecclesiastical matters. Articles 110 and 111, the most famous, called for the use of the French language in all legal acts, notarised contracts and official legislation. After the Hundred Years' War, Charles VIII of France signed three additional treaties with Henry VII of England , Emperor Maximilian I , and Ferdinand II of Aragon respectively at Étaples (1492), Senlis (1493) and Barcelona (1493). These three treaties cleared

27390-409: Was taken into Navy service as Little Lucy . Nelson asked for, and was given, command of her, and took her on two cruises of his own. As well as giving him his first taste of command, it gave Nelson the opportunity to explore his fledgling interest in science. During his first cruise in command of Little Lucy , Nelson led an expeditionary party to the Caicos Islands, where he made detailed notes of

27556-423: Was the dominant power in Europe, aided by the diplomacy of Cardinal Richelieu's successor as the King's chief minister, (1642–61) Cardinal Jules Mazarin , (1602–1661). Cardinal Mazarin oversaw the creation of a French Royal Navy that rivalled England's , expanding it from 25 ships to almost 200. The size of the French Royal Army was also considerably increased. Renewed wars (the War of Devolution , 1667–1668 and

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