he knew exactly that french fleet was damaged by revolution and spanish was suffering lack of funds. what is more, britsh sailors were capable of maintaining higher fire rate
Thank you. This is short and to the point. After watching a couple of dramatized edutainment "documentaries" without being any wiser about how the battle actually went down, I finally found this little gem.
Nelson's strategy seems inspired from the greek period.. or pirating period, boarding action, every ship that could pulled alongside and boarded an enemy. Was that new in large fleet engagements during the period?
@@ShrekMeBe Not really, but the choice to dive right into a disorganized melee was seen as risky. Typically the line would be brought up against the other line going the opposite way, with both sides looking to get a shot at the bow of the other- like a massive game of snake basically. Usually after the two lines had exchanged fire like that did boarding action and super-close range stuff occur.
@@ShrekMeBe It was more typical for battle to be fought as the way Gregory Borton describes. But in this case, the British would never stand a chance in a typical line engagement given their fleet being 2/3 the size of the enemy. Splitting up the enemy fleet and defeating them in detail was a fairly sound strategy. It did expose them to heavy gunfire without being able to return fire (getting their T crossed) at the beginning but once they cut through the enemy line, they had a local numerical superiority. At least until the Franco-Spanish vanguard could turn around which took time. By the time the Vanguard could turn around, the rest of the fleet has been destroyed and the British could mop up the remaining ships if the French and Spanish stayed.
If you like historic novels there is one called Trafalgar by Benito Pérez Galdós, about a 14-year-old boy recruited by force who fought in that battle, which explains very accurately how bad the situation was on the Spanish side
@@neurofiedyamato8763 Also, either by luck or intention most of the british ships seemed to end up hidden behind captured ships so the enemy Vanguard had no targets.
This a whole other beast that rears it's ugly head when someone doesn't follow the rules of queuing. We go to war. Queue warfare, just pitched battles in the middle of a post office it's nuts xD
The double formation used by Nelson was considered to be very risky as approaching ships would be facing intense broadsides without a chancre of replying, apart from the bow chasers. However Nelson knew that the French still used the slow match system when firing their guns, which was less efficient than the method used by the Royal Navy gunner's. Combined with the position of the French/ Spanish fleet, which had the lee shore of Cape Trafalgar too close for comfort and the ocean swells causing the ships to move erratically, making aiming at best, luck rather than accurate. Also they tended to want to dismast their opponent by aiming high, whereas the faster, more accurate firing from the British ,aiming at the hulls sometimes managed to use ricochets off the surface and the practice of a broadside from a 3 decker into the stern of an enemy resulted in a large loss of life, as the final tally of the different casualty lists on both sides shows.
I didn't realize that naval tactics of the day were so much about close battle. I assumed that it was about trading shots at a distance. Did the British have an advantage in boarding, etc? It seems that in pretty much every one of the one-on-one close actions, that the Brits won... a surprising outcome to me.
@@JohnKruse Naval battles were fought at close range because naval guns were very inaccurate and solid shot was ineffective against the sides of the ships at long range.
The idea, the concept, the reasons and why the battle went like this are far from those you mention. but it was certainly a regrettable performance that of the Spanish fleet, under French rule. Possibly the worst and last act. There is a lot of literature on this subject, and frankly interesting books if you like naval and vintage literature.
Missing from this animation is the wind direction. In the Age of Sail, this was a key factor in naval tactics. The French typically took the position downwind (leeward) of the enemy to give themselves an option to break off battle. The British typically took the position upwind (weather gage) of the enemy to give themselves the choice to engage or not. At Trafalgar the British and French took their typical positions. The wind was NNW (approx. 337º) so it was coming directly astern the British fleet. This was an ideal wind for the British to close quickly on the French and avoid French fire.
There was virtually no wind, men on board RN ships said they were moving at no more than walking pace, so they didn't close quickly, and the lead ships of both columns, Victory and Royal Sovereign were quite badly damaged by the time they broke the enemy line, one of the first shots to hit Victory (before she fired a shot), took away the ships Wheel, and throughout the battle she had to be steered from the tiller.
It was not ideal. The wind was astern but it was so extremely light that the ships moved slower than a man could swim. The leading ships were under fire for upwards of thirty minutes. A bigger factor was that the French and Spanish were poorly trained, firing from atop moving swell, and trying to time their long range shots while using slow-fuse matches on their cannons.
In french we have a saying : "Un coup de Trafalgar", means a play that aim to get the initiative over your opponent with an unexpected blow. It's to say how this particular event has been burned in French culture.
Just a quick note to correct a little mistake spotted in the video: Spanish admiral Federico Gravina commanded the ship "Príncipe de Asturias". The "Santa Ana" was commanded by Ignacio de Álava.
@@fransmurdani83 in TW empire and TW Napoleon the naval battles aren't that bad, and if you have a good pc (not like mine) , you can have battles with a lot of ships
Ive been onboard HMS Victory and have a souvenir piece of oak from her, 76 men from my home town fought in the battle of Trafalgar. The first Trafalgar square was built in Sunderland several years before the London Trafalgar square, it was built as alms houses for retired sailors and their families.
Had family on board at Trafalgar, the Nelson memorial on top of Portsdown Hill which was paid for by the crews of the English fleet was also erected before Nelsons column in Trafalgar Square, it seems London was a bit slow In the act
This is something that people don't know about the monument dedicated to Nelson: 90% (the column) is a tribute to the island. Without the island, Great Britain would have been invaded in 4 weeks by Philip II or Napoleon. The other 10% is a little man who won a sea battle because Britain is an island. That's why he's on top of the column.
@@chairforce1234 Ships lost by Spain at Trafalgar 1805: 11 Spain had another 34 great ships and 24 frigates. The British believe that Trafalgar is the only naval battle in history. -1806-07 British defeat of the red coats in Argentina and Uruguay. Capture of the British generals. We still have the captured flag there. -1797. 3 defeats for Nelson against Spain in Cádiz, Central America and Tenerife. Another British defeat in Puerto Rico -1779-80 Spanish blockade of England (Luis de Córdova): capture of two British fleets of 24 and 55 ships. London stock market crash -1779-81 British defeats in Louisiana, Florida, Menorca, Bahamas and Central America. Spanish Governor of Louisiana, Bernardo de Gálvez. -1741 Battle of Cartagena de Indias. Blas de Lezo. Destruction of 50 British ships. Greatest defeat of the Royal Navy in its history. All Europe laughs at the British coins commemorating the victory before the battle. -1741-48 War between Spain and England. England captures 108 Spanish ships. Spain captures 411 British ships -1726. Spain seizes hundreds of British ships in the Atlantic and Caribbean -1701-1714 The English lose the War of the Spanish Succession -1630. Spain wins the war against England -1629. Spain captures 14 ships of the combined fleet of France and England in San Cristóbal, Caribbean -1625 Spain sinks 62 ships of the combined fleet of England and Holland in Cádiz -1625 Spain defeats the combined army of Holland, England and Denmark in Breda, Holland -1625 Spain defeats the fleet of Holland in Brazil. 20 ships captures. -1594-95 Drake loses five battles in the Caribbean against Spain and dies, with his cousin -1589 Spain destroys the invincible English armada, capturing or sinking 80 ships. Queen Elisabeth, furious, condemns Drake to be a lighthouse keeper -1554 Felipe II arrives in England with a fleet commanded by the Duke of Alba, and 4,000 Spanish nobles, and becomes King of England, marrying María Tudor, half-Spanish Queen of England -1410 Spanish invasion of southern England -1380-81 Spanish invasion of southern England, going up the Thames -1377 Spanish invasion of southern England -1372 Spain sinks 48 English ships, without losing any Other Spanish victories with more than 11 ships sunk to the enemy -1585 Miracle of Empel. 100 Dutch ships sunk in a single night -1580 Spanish annexation of Portugal. Battle of Terceira Island, more than 30 ships of the combined French and Portuguese fleet sunk -1571 200 ships sunk in the battle of Lepanto. I say this knowing that the British have sunk 18 ships in the Battle of Passaro in Sicily in 1718 or half a dozen Spanish ships at Cape St. Vincent. But Spain is the fleet that sinks the most ships. 👍🙃
Many thanks. My great-great-grandfather, then about 15 years old, was on HMS Defiance. I have Hilary Rubinstein's biography of Captain Durham which includes an account of Defiance's actions on that day. From that I can pick out which blue ship in your animation represents my ancestor. It is very sobering to consider what he went through. Again, many thanks to you.
@@kv4648 The animation starts at 2:03. The top line of British ships have held their formation pretty well, but the bottom line is slightly fragmented. There is a line of four ships leading, then another group of four moving slightly starboard and starting to overtake the leading four, then six more bringing up the rear. Defiance is the leading ship in the overtaking group. Hope that makes sense.
Island, island... The English live on an island. Nelson tried to occupy the island of Tenerife in 1797, and lost his arm. The islands are difficult to invade. If the United Kingdom had an arm of land 500 meters wide, communicating with Europe, it would not exist 300 years ago.
Subbed. Great job. This battle and Jutland are the two examples I like to give about how "Crossing the T" isn't instant win. Nelson decided to make the Franco-Spanish capital T into a lower case t by sailing through it. Nelson was a total unit when it came to ignoring the enemy's courage while piling on his own. Even in death, he still routed the enemy. The Germans at Jutland (not having to worry about the wind) just turned out of the trap and used support ships and smoke to disengage.
I remember in my extreme youth watching some kidadult program; so this kid had a bet on the horses while he was still in school history class . Subject of the moment the Battle of Trafalgar. Following the race on a quiet radio under his desk lid, the boy suddenly leapt up; "We won!! We Won!!!" Teacher: "What?!" Boy: "By two lengths Sir!!!" Teacher: "Well, I'm glad someone's listening!"
Doug, if you haven't already read John Keegan's book Battle at Sea, I couldn't recommend it more. It has a brilliant account of Trafalgar, covers not only the battle but personal experiences of those there. The sort of book you must occasionally put down and think about what you have just read.!
I used to practically live at the Portsmouth historic dockyard and have spent many days there. It is full of historical treasures and although the Victory is having its masts repaired it is still well worth a visit although the real jewel in the crown is the national museum of the Royal navy or even the Mary Rose.
from what i've gathered, villeneuve was being soft blockaded in Cadiz by nelson, and instead of waiting for a more opportune time such as the royal navies supplies running low, since you can't really sustain a blockade, he took the threat of being replaced at napoleon's order a little too personally and went out and fought at cape trafalgar, resulting in this. his ship was the first to surrender after nelson went for it and he was imprisoned in england. sea strategies were much simpler than land strategies because of wind and weather limiting what you can do, the line of battle used makes a lot of sense for it's simplicity, if you out number them you can bend the line around to get multiple ships firing on targets, but it's also extremely wasteful when the line gets cut like this, since a number of the ships need to turn about.
Camero56 The French commander might have known that a British Fleet was lurking somewhere, but he couldn't be sure, the RN had one frigate patrolling outside of Cadiz, and there were another two or three ships out at sea, ready to relay signals of any enemy action to the fleet which was hidden over the horizon, you mention supplies, Nelson did send ships to Gibraltar to pick up supplies.
The British gun crews achieved twice the rate of fire than their enemies did. They were the best. "England expects every man to do his duty"! Nelson. Thanks for the video. I enjoyed it.
Just read of this battle in "Age of Nelson" by G.J. Marcus, and this animation matches that account and is a big help in understanding the action, thank you. One useful addition would be some indication of the wind direction and strength which was so important in that era.
If Nelson had seen the Battle of Jutland, I think he would have been amazed at the advances in naval technology. And I think he would have been appaled at the way the British admirals handled their ships. They were using tactics that predated Trafalgar. The whole point of Trafalgar was to avoid having to do it that way.
@@fredferd965 The tactics used in the battle of Trafalgar were used in the Battle of Jutland then the Grand Fleet would Have been destroyed. Jellicoe did alright, Beatty not so much.
@@georgea.567 This is true. I believe that, for the British, Trafalgar was both a blessing and a curse. It gave the Royal Navy a magnificent tradition, but it ended the last great sea battles. The enemy teaches you your trade, and from that time until the First World War the Royal Navy had no great opponents to fight. They were basically a peace-keeping show-the-flag force. Admiral Nelson's Band-of-Brothers was perhaps the best trained naval force the world has ever seen.
@@fredferd965 At Jutland, despite the invention of the radio, the British ships still communicated with each other during the battle by signal flags, as in Nelson's time.
@@legalvampire8136 Yes, I agree. However, they did it poorly. Admiral Beaty supposedly signaled his few Queen Elizabeth Class battleships to follow his cruisers, but they didn't get the signal, and he didn't wait for them. Poor workmanship.
The French and Spanish fleets used a slow burning fuse to fire their guns. Their average rate of fire was 3 to 5 minutes per volley. The British ships used a flintlock firing mechanism to fire their guns. Average rate of fire was 90 sec per volley. Even though the combined Franco-Spanish fleet had an extra six ships they could not make up for the rate of fire disparity. Combined with the inexperience of the combined fleet the battle was over before it even started.
Napoleon's army invaded all of Europe. A month after Trafalgar, they defeated two empires at Austerlitz. Spain defeated the British redcoats in Argentina and Uruguay a year later, capturing the generals. The British won the Battle of Trafalgar because they live on an island. Otherwise everything would have ended in the 300 years before.
@@Gloriaimperial1 😂😂You still butthurt Spanish boy? we kicked both you and the French arses at Trafalgar to stop you from invading my country, then Napoleon betrayed you and you come crying for help from us to save your ass, pathetic.
Interesting. So while sailing straight into the teeth of the enemy battle line was not pleasant, they probably only suffered 1 or 2 volleys from a pair of enemy ships at a range where the cannon were very dangerous. A risk. But once the line is cut the British close range firepower is actually greater.
This is the first time I see such an accurate depiction of a naval battle. I didn’t even know this was possible since formations are hard to grasp on the sea. How did you Menage to get that?
have you ever heard of the ship's log? it's a near sacred book which is constantly updated and is even safeguarded when the ship or uboat sinks. Seagoing is a much more techinical undertaking than moving armies on land. Political generals and other officers are common in the armies, but on the sea, such hacks are few.
I have visited Victory in Portsmouth, and as you walk through the internals of the ship, you have an audio tour of how different parts of the ship prepared for & engaged in the battle. It is immersive and awe inspiring at the same time. For example, there is a 32 pound cannon below decks near the bow. It was loaded with anything & everything (grapeshot ) and Victory rammed into an enemy boat where it was fired killing scores !
One thing missing (sorry to be negative) is the wind direction. This was crucial to the success of Nelson's tactics as it made it impossible for the French / Spanish van to turn back in time to impact the battle.
The pub the British sailors drank at in Gibraltar, before and after the battle is still there, and is still a pub. Many souvenirs from the fleet adorn the walls. Many British casualties from the battle are buried in the Gibraltar cemetary.
Its weird that, in at least the popular view, during the iconic British victories of the Napoleonic wars the British broke the famous French column formation by firing in lines at waterloo and the British broke the French naval line at Trafalgar by forming a column.
@@GGdeTOURS37 Yes, but they were battles that ended the war in victory for the British and their allies and put an end to Napoleon, first at sea, then on land.
It seems like Villeneuve had advantages in numbers and starting position and yet the British managed to win anyway without losing a single ship. What a great victory.
Ultimate Admiral: Age of Sail has this as one of the set battles and the initial set up is exactly the way the forces were set up for the original battle, plus whatever upgrades you've made to your ships... But if you want to win that battle, this tactic is pretty much the only way to do it as the French firepower is immense. The Spanish and French First Rates are very scary so cutting them out early is essential.
El del vídeo no tiene ni idea La estrategia franco-española fue diseñada por Escaño y era formar 2 líneas paralelas para envolver a los buques ingleses que pasaran la primera línea. Escaño sabía que Nelson emplearía la táctica del envolverlos, pero salió mal porque había barcos fuera de su zona asignada
What everyone always forgets about the Battle of Trafalgar is that within hours of the battle ending, a hurricane hit the area and the crews had to,fight for their lives throughput the night. Many captured ships foundered.
Trafalgar is extremely important for more reasons as well: Firstly, while Nelson's plan worked spectacularly, he was killed in the action while leading the column in his flagship HMS Victory. Nelson was a spectacularly brave man and was already missing his arm and an eye from previous battles, so this is in honor of his sacrifice. Secondly, it and other battles broke the French and Spanish fleets, leaving the French to play catch up and the Spanish to fall behind for the next 200 years. This is important because permanently remove the threat of Napoleon's invasion of Britain and the other victorious powers of the Napoleonic wars: Prussia, Austria and Russia were not navel powers. All this meant that Britannia really did rule the waves for the next 100 years, giving it the power to enforce its ban of the Atlantic slave and build a global empire.
Clever. Although we couldn't fire until fairly late, our ships presented a narrow profile on the approach. The British, as this plan illustrates, divide the Franco/Spanish. Once at close quarters our superior rate of fire would do the rest - at a terrible cost it must be said. Apart from Lord Nelson's death, the outcome couldn't have been better; which only makes the lamentable way in which Nelson's immediate family were treated all the more inexcusable.
I hope to see soon a video of the frustrated attack of the largest English fleet in Cartagena de Indias. where they were repelled by an infinitely smaller force under the command of Blas de Lezo.
@@daneelolivaw602 por tu nombre entiendo que entiendes el idioma español, te mando un enlace de uno de los muchos videos que hay sobre el tema, curiosamente en inglés no he encontrado ninguno. Entre el desastre de Cartagena y el de la contraarmada inglesa en 1589 tienen los ingleses un gran vacío en su historia que borraron por vergüenza th-cam.com/video/Xm1BKh2F804/w-d-xo.html
My ancestor, Richard Lale, was at the Battle of Trafalgar. He was on the Royal Sovereign. He died about a year after the battle when he fell overboard from the ship HMS Formidable.
If the combined ship hadn’t been commanded by the French incompetent villeneuve things would have gone different. The Spanish captains urged not to attack as the conditions were disadvantageous for the fleet, but the French having known that napoleon was about to “”fire”” him (I don’t know the word sorry haha), he decided to go for it and compromised the fleet, ultimately losing the battle. Also to point out that the French were the only ones to flee, the Spanish fought to the last man (Santa Ana, Santísima Trinidad, San Juan Nepomuceno, …); even the British recognised their bravery
El Trinidad, ES, el que en la primera descarga de Trafalgar, desarbolo al Victory de Nelson: 👉 Véase, la serie con el nombre *Batalla de Trafalgar: las mentiras de los ingleses, los pecios.* Son unos 4 episodios. th-cam.com/video/r-hBY0Mx7PQ/w-d-xo.html *DATOS DE LA BATTALLA* th-cam.com/video/8-s1z5wgzUk/w-d-xo.html *LA BATALLA* th-cam.com/video/S8E211EewfI/w-d-xo.html *VA POR ELLOS*
@@Hornetmelli Quedaron todos, menos los que se largaron, tocados. Esta batalla no cambio nada: los Rothschilds ya estaban instalados en inglaterra, y lo "bueno" para españa estaba por llegar; como llego i.
@@Hornetmelli Eso fue la Armada, no. Véase, la Contra Armada Inglesa: menudo polizón se llevaron: terminaron pidiendo y firmando la PAZ: ahí fue el punto de.... En fin, no a las Guerras i.
@@Hornetmelli No.. La mal llamada invencible fue la española, y la Contra Armada Inglesa: que vino al año siguiente fue, el nombre lo dice todo. No me digas que no sabes nada de ella. No pasa na. A te mando el enclace. th-cam.com/video/zykvObEMIqM/w-d-xo.html Salud2
I like to use the two line formation to cut into the enemy fleet in empire total war...... without knowing it's an actual strategy, it was just because it's easier to control and I have the chance to fire on both sides. But that's pretty coo that it's actually legit.
@@gamma505 a storm scattered the Armada after it was savaged by the English Fleet off Plymouth. The storm happened in the North Sea a bit further up the coast that's why a lot of Scots have Spanish bloodlines
@@michaelcampin1464 If a Spaniard had led the fleet, maybe the battle would have been different. -1372 Battle of La Rochelle: 48 English ships sunk or captured. 0 Spanish ships sunk -Invasion of the English coast in 1377, 1380-81 and 1411, reaching up the Thames almost to London -1554. The Spanish fleet, led by the Duke of Alba, arrives in England with 4,000 Spanish soldiers and nobles. Philip II becomes King of England and Ireland -1571. Battle of Lepanto. 200 Turkish ships sunk -1582. Spain destroys the combined fleet of Portugal and France -1585. Spain sinks 100 Dutch ships in one night -1589. Defeat of Drake's invincible fleet. 80 English ships sunk or captured -1591. 3 Spanish ships defeat 23 English ships in the Bay of Biscay -1596. Second Spanish fleet to invade England. More than 130 boats. The Royal Navy is lost in the Atlantic. The Spanish fleet is stopped by storms. A sunny day and... -1597. Third Spanish fleet to invade England. More than 130 boats. 12,000 elite soldiers. The Royal Navy is lost in the Atlantic. The Spanish fleet is stopped by storms. Although 400 soldiers disembark. A sunny day and... -1597. Defeat of the English Essex Fleet in the Atlantic -1625. Battle of Cadiz. 62 English and Dutch ships captured -1625. Battle of Brazil. Spain sinks 23 ships of the Dutch fleet. -1629. Battle of San Cristobal, Caribbean. 14 English and French ships of the combined fleet are sunk or captured by the Spanish. -1726. War in the Atlantic and Caribbean. Spain captures dozens of British ships -1741. Battle of Cartagena de Indias. Destruction of 50 British ships. Blas de Lezo -1779-80. Spanish blockade of England. Capture of two British fleets of 24 and 55 ships. London stock market crash -1797. 3 defeats for Nelson in Tenerife, Central America and Cádiz. Another British fleet loses in Puerto Rico. Spain only lost 11 ships at Trafalgar. And we won in Argentina and Uruguay 1806-1807, capturing the redcoats and General Beresford. I mean that wars were also fought on land. I also know that the British defeated Spain at Cape St. Vincent and Cape Pesaro. You cannot isolate a single battle. Álvaro de Bazán was the best sailor of the 16th century. He never lost a battle. He was in charge of directing the fleet of 1588, but died 1 years before.
There was very little wind, which played into the British strategy, it meant a longer approach under bombardment but once they were in close quarters the Spanish/french couldn’t escape The wind direction in that area is normally ither east to west or west to east directly depending on time of year or unique weather conditions as the Gibraltar straits act as a funnel
Bangley. Tsushima was noteworthy. But hardly decisive in the same way as Trafalgar. This victory dictated naval thinking and history for over 140 years.
It was a decisive victory, but I think you mean it was one of the most far impacting battles of it's time. Pretty much granting Britain naval dominance for the next 100 years.
@@bazd884 Tsushima heralded the end of the European empires. The world saw Europeans defeated by non-Europeans on a much grander scale than had ever been seen before. It wasn't like Isandlwana where the Zulus won a battle and lost the war. Tsushima was a blow the Russian Empire never recovered from, leading to its collapse and the rise of the Soviet Union while the Japanese would go on to humiliate Britain, France and the Netherlands with their later conquests while landing a blow on the USA that Americans still haven't gotten over psychologically. It told all the subjects of European empires that their masters weren't superior. That white folk could be beaten. Within fifty years, the European empires were collapsing as peaceful and violent independence movements rose up everywhere. The Vietnamese knew they could beat the French because they had been forced to give up Indochina to the Japanese during the Second World War, just as they knew the Americans weren't invincible because of Pearl Harbour. Tsushima also made the Japanese think they could conquer China and take on the European empires and the USA in the first place. They decided the victory wasn't because of the terrible state of the Russian fleet but destiny. Destiny for Japan to rise and defeat all comers, regardless of her lack of resources and manpower. Without Tsushima, Japanese imperial ambitions would have been far more restrained.
Ok I have 2 questions. 1. Why was the French vanguard unable to turn around and engage in battle? 2. Why did close quaters combat overwhelmingly favor the British?
British had better guns, more trained crew, so could fire faster into the Franco-Spanish fleet, basically. Came down to the fact that France didn't invest as much in their navy. France's last line of defence was their army, whilst Britain's was essentially the navy, with the army mainly being a colonial police force. It showed pretty heavily on this occasion.
Fue una gran victoria británica, hay que reconcoerlo, y tenemos que lamentar la derrota. Pero creo que los británicos hablan de esto como si fuera la única victoria naval de la historia. Seguro que sacan hasta películas. En Trafalgar España perdió sólo 11 barcos. También tuvimos derrotas en Cabo San Vicente y Cabo Pessaro, 23 barcos. Pero España capturó y hundió flotas británicas más grandes. -1372. Batalla de La Rochelle. 48 barcos ingleses hundidos y capturados. 0 barcos españoles perdidos. -1589. Invencible flota de Drake. 80 barcos ingleses hundidos -1625. Batalla de Cádiz. 62 barcos ingleses y holandeses hundidos. -1629. Batalla de San Cristóbal, Caribe. 14 barcos de la flota combinada de Inglaterra y Francia, hundidos -1726. Cientos de barcos británicos capturados en el Atlántico -1741. Batalla de Cartagena de Indias. 50 barcos británicos hundidos. Blas de Lezo -1779-80. Luis de Córdova captura dos flotas británicas de 24 y 55 barcos, durante el bloqueo naval de Inglaterra, hundiendo la bolsa de Londres. -1797. 3 derrotas de Nelson en Cádiz, Centro América y Tenerife. Derrota de otra flota británica en Puerto Rico Un año después de Trafalgar 1805, España captura al general Beresford y a los casacas rojas en Buenos Aires y Uruguay También hundimos flotas portuguesas, francesas, holandesas, alemanas, turcas, de 20, 40, 50, 100 y 200 barcos. Pero ellos tienden a olvidar esto para magnificar sus victorias.
Muy buena animación, sí señor, en Trafalgar de Benito Perez Galdós lo describe muy vagamente desde la perspectiva del Santísima Trinidad y del Santa Ana, pero aquí hay un gran trabajo. Mis dieces!!
@@trut52 no sorry we are spanish england is far away and we have a great honor Nelson say kill all the people we defeat Nelson and Nelson writhe after this thanks for be human .. if they win they kill all the canarian people so where is the honor in that Man the spanish people belived in god black leyends talk so bad about of this country spain one day was a empire
@@brolyaliabagua9226thanks for your reply. I hope I haven't offended you in any way, that was not my goal. As you know the saying 'history is written by the victorious' The winning side will always be gracious saviors while the losing side will be always be de-humanized animals. It's always like that.
@@trut52 no problem im not offended But this is spanish land you know the awnser black leyends talk bad about spain my english is too bad mr for try to make a good reply But the truth is on the history spanish land be free years later in América But english colonias are english yet
@@trut52 Exactly. The ignorance of these commenters not realizing that nelson supported the slave trade whilst napoleon was fighting for the liberty of Europe and the emancipation of slaves
Why on earth would you colour the British ships blue? British=red French=blue Spanish=yellow or gold Italian=light green Russian=dark green German or Prussian=black or dark grey Dutch=orange Austrian=white Like how hard is this? They pretty much used these colours themselves for most of the 18th and 19th centuries.
What were the French and Spanish ships doing when the British was approaching? Wasn't the whole idea of lining up like they did on the right hand side of the screen, they'd have all their cannons directed at oncoming ships and they'd hit those ships with their entire broadsides. The F&S appear to have allowed the British sail so close to them that the British broke up their line. Why weren't the F&S able to hit the British in the front of the British ships?
They did fire, but Conqueror, Victory, Royal Sovereign and Temeraire (the ships leading the british lines) are very tough and can take a lot of punishment (which they did). One or two broadsides were just not enough to disable them. And there's another big factor that isn't explained in the video: the wind. The british were sailing with the wind, allowing them to rapidly close the gap while the F&S could not retreat due to being boxed in between Nelson, Collingwood and the spanish coast.
They did! Victory had her helm shot away for example. It was definitely a risky plan but Nelson gambled his ships, flying with the wind behind them with every scrap of sail manageable (hence why paintings of the battle show the British ships cracking on with studdingsails, a rare sight in battle), would close the gap quickly enough to avoid serious damage. He was also very much aware his opponents had poorly manned and poorly trained gun crews, made up of inexperienced sailors or infantry not used to operating naval artillery at sea, which seriously reduced their effective ranged fire. TL;DR: Damage was dealt, but the Brits were fast enough, and the Franco-Spanish were too inaccurate.
@@mauricedesaxe1745 Thank you Jay! Still seems curious that 30+ Spanish/French ships with 100 cannon apiece were unable to position themselves to broadside the daylights out of the British fleet before it could approach to cut the line. It's not like sail ships could travel quickly (what? 20 km/h?) and you'd think that each Spanish/French gun could get off a few rounds within range of the British ships. And yet not a single British ship was lost. Miraculous, but I guess that's why the battle has a special place in the heart of the British.
@@tadhgocaoimh1077 if you read testimonies from nelsons ship and in general the frist ships to cut the line you will know that they were smashed to hell. Fatalities on these ships were very high.
Nelson essentially crossed his own "T" but didn't care. He was willing to take the initial damage in order to grind the enemy into bits. At the famous battle of Jutland, in my opinion, both sides, the British and the Germans, reverted to pre-Nelson tactics. If Admiral Nelson had seen the Battle of Jutland, he would have shaken his head twice, once in amazement at the advances in naval ships and weaponry, and another time for t he stupidity of the admirals on both sides.
@@stevshaboba7476 I will have you know that I am not an armchair admiral. I am, however, a confirmed armchair seaman third class and, if I may boast, the prowd owner of a pair of leaky swim fins, one oar (with holes in it) and a six pack of Corona Lite (the beer, not the virus)., Indeed, I have managed (only once) to actually cross the local swimming pool, which was exhausting. Where IS that beer? Cheers!
It's a good British victory. As the United Kingdom is an island, it was able to stop Napoleon's invasion with only 1000 dead in a sea battle, Trafalgar. Spain, Russia, Austria, Italy, Germany, were not islands, and they were invaded, and they all had more than 100,000 deaths and a lot of destruction, and France. The British took advantage of that factor (island) and had a very effective fleet in that battle. Spain lost 11 ships in that battle. But Trafalgar is one more battle in a long story. Spain had much more important naval victories. -1372. La Rochelle. 48 English ships sunk or captured. 0 Spanish ships sunk. Spanish invasion of all of southern England. -1419. La Rochelle. 40 German ships captured. -1543. Battle of Muros. 24 French ships captured. -1571. Battle of Lepanto. 200 Turkish ships destroyed. Italy is saved. -1573. Battle of Haarlemmermeer. 21 Dutch ships captured. -1583. Battle of Azores. Spain defeats the combined Portuguese and French fleet. 12 ships sunk or captured. Annexation of the Portuguese empire. -1585. Miracle of Empel. 100 Dutch ships destroyed. Catholic Belgium and Luxembourg. -1589. Drake's English Invincible Armada. 40 ships destroyed (without storms). Spain retains the Portuguese empire. -1625. Naval battle of Brazil. 18 Dutch ships sunk or captured. -1625. Cadiz. Spain destroys 62 ships of the combined English and Dutch fleet. -1629. Saint Kitts, Caribbean. Spain defeats the combined English and French fleet. 13 ships destroyed or captured. -1741. Battle of Cartagena de Indias. 37 English ships destroyed. 17 severely damaged. -1780. Capture of a British fleet of 24 ships at Brest. -1780. Capture of a British fleet of 55 ships. Spanish blockade of England. -1797. Nelson's attack on Cadiz. 6 English ships sunk or captured. -1797. Attack and defeat of Nelson in Tenerife. -1805. British victory at Trafalgar. 11 Spanish ships sunk or captured -1806-07. Spain defeats the British in Buenos Aires and Montevideo.
Umm the British suffered 300,000 casualties during the napoleonic wars, the second most after Austria, so yes Britain did suffer the same amount of deaths as any other mainland European country, and I’m sorry but no Britain has more impressive victories.
Battle of sluys Battle of of quibecron bay Battle of gravelines Battle of cape st Vincent Battle of trafalgar Battle of Copenhagen Battle of Jutland Battle of the Nile Battle of Barbary coast Battle of Bermuda Battle of western Cuba Capture of Cadiz Battle of the narrow seas Battle of the straits of Gibraltar Action of may 1st 1781 Battle of the Falkland Islands Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1657
@@mranonymous2830 Spain had 500,000 dead in that war. The only reason London wasn't invaded is because Britain is an island. In that war against Napoleon, the Spanish economy sank by 80%, with the destruction of cities, industry, roads, agricultural fields, livestock, herds, fleet. Half a million injured and 1 million emigrants to America in the following decades. It took us a century to recover. If England were not an island, the English royal family would have had to escape to Canada, and London, Liverpool, Birminham or Manchester would have been destroyed (like Valencia, Lleida, Zaragoza, Gerona...), with a large part of the cultural heritage taken to Paris. Some works of art were recovered in 1940, when Germany invaded Paris. The Spanish military victories that I have put on that list mean 330 million Spanish speakers in the Caribbean area (battle of Cartagena de Indias 1741), 150 million Spanish speakers in southern Latin America (victory against the British in Argentina and Uruguay 1806-07) the independence of the United States (naval blockade of England 1779-80 and victories in the southern United States) and the Balearic and Canary Islands within Spain. But we all have defeats and victories, British and Spanish.
@@Gloriaimperial1 okay but 300,000 is still a lot though, yeah I know that, okay that’s rough, England isn’t a island, Great Britain is, England is a country that’s part of the island of Great Britain. There is no “English royal family” there hasn’t been since 1707, but if your talking about the British royal family then yes I know about that, there was a plan in ww2 to evacuate the royal family to Vancouver canada, I doubt Napoleon would have destroyed any of those cities except for maybe London, true probably. Britain not England for the American Revolutionary War, and yes that is true both countries have lost and won major battles.
I guess im wierd, im not a sailing but love simple battle animations like this, to see exactly what happened. The only thing i wished it had was the wind direction blowing. very cool, shit ton of research had to be done for 4 mins where every ship was etc.. Nice an thank you, !!!
Viva Nelson, over two hundred years ago the Spanish got their arses torn to shreds, and some of them STILL haven't got over the embarrassment, your jealousy will eat into your guts and drive you mad, so the royal navy lost a battle to the spanish, mostly fought on land, calm down mate, chill out, relax, have some sangria, go to a bull fight, go and laugh at bankrupt Real Madrid and Barcelona, we couldn't give a shit, IT'S HISTORY, understand? HISTORY. VIVA HORATIO NELSON, VIVA HMS VICTORY, VIVA ROYAL NAVY.
@@daneelolivaw602 jaja, y a cerca de 300 años, cinco naves españolas y un Almirante torto conocido como "medio hombre" puso derrota en el culo de casi 200 naves Inglesas y casi 30000 soldados... derrota humillante de Los britânicos que hasta hoy tembran las canillas y su culo cuando escuchan el nombre de Blas de Lezo.
@@andrenavarro771 The Spanish humiliation at Trafalgar was so bad you still feel the shame today. We won't mention the Armada. VIVA HORATIO NELSON, VIVA HMS VICTORY, VIVA ROYAL NAVY.
@@daneelolivaw602 , ninguna humillacion ha sido mas grande que la de Blas de Lezo puso para Veron y su Rey Jorge... Toda la arrogancia Britanica, cayo por tierra en manos de un genio valiente que hasta Napoleon Bonaparte tendria respeto. Las medallas de victoria que el Rey Jorge havia solicitado producion para felicitar la "Victoria cierta" de la Armada Inglesa em Cartagena, hoy es un símbolo de bofetada en la cara de la arrogância Britanica... la misma arrogancia que covardemente financiava Piratas para atacar otros paises. Y sobre la Armada... solo tengo que decir que fue muy peor la contra armada... jaja
@@andrenavarro771 British Arrogance? No mate, you are confused, you meant to say Spanish arrogance. Total humiliation for Spain and humiliation for king Philip, when the Armada couldn't invade England. Trafalgar was a total and absolute humiliation, the Spanish knew they shouldn't side with france, but as a weak nation, scared of Napoleon, they took the wrong decision, which led to the annihilation of the once great and powerful Spanish navy, at least after Trafalgar neither country was ever a threat to Britain again. Arrogant Spain.
"If you had One shot, or one opportunity, to seize everything you ever wanted, in one moment, would you capture it?" - Admiral Nelson
his palms were sweaty, knees weak, arms were heavy
Lol
@@joelthomastr ma's spaghetti
He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready to drop bombs.
Nelson a una pata
High risk high reward tactic, Nelson must have trusted in his fleet
"No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy." That's the kind of confidence Nelson had in British seamanship.
Nelson was a coward
@@kaliyuga1476 what? His own ship was the first in and he died for musket fire fighting with his man?
he knew exactly that french fleet was damaged by revolution and spanish was suffering lack of funds. what is more, britsh sailors were capable of maintaining higher fire rate
Alejandro Reguera Diaz he was standing on the deck of the first ship to break though the line of the outnumbering Enemy fleet...
Thank you. This is short and to the point. After watching a couple of dramatized edutainment "documentaries" without being any wiser about how the battle actually went down, I finally found this little gem.
Nelson's strategy seems inspired from the greek period.. or pirating period, boarding action, every ship that could pulled alongside and boarded an enemy. Was that new in large fleet engagements during the period?
@@ShrekMeBe Not really, but the choice to dive right into a disorganized melee was seen as risky. Typically the line would be brought up against the other line going the opposite way, with both sides looking to get a shot at the bow of the other- like a massive game of snake basically. Usually after the two lines had exchanged fire like that did boarding action and super-close range stuff occur.
@@ShrekMeBe It was more typical for battle to be fought as the way Gregory Borton describes. But in this case, the British would never stand a chance in a typical line engagement given their fleet being 2/3 the size of the enemy. Splitting up the enemy fleet and defeating them in detail was a fairly sound strategy. It did expose them to heavy gunfire without being able to return fire (getting their T crossed) at the beginning but once they cut through the enemy line, they had a local numerical superiority. At least until the Franco-Spanish vanguard could turn around which took time. By the time the Vanguard could turn around, the rest of the fleet has been destroyed and the British could mop up the remaining ships if the French and Spanish stayed.
If you like historic novels there is one called Trafalgar by Benito Pérez Galdós, about a 14-year-old boy recruited by force who fought in that battle, which explains very accurately how bad the situation was on the Spanish side
@@neurofiedyamato8763 Also, either by luck or intention most of the british ships seemed to end up hidden behind captured ships so the enemy Vanguard had no targets.
Doesn't seem very British to win a battle by cutting in line
It's probably the most British thing out there. You will know by now that the British are somewhat special
queue
"They never saw it coming!"
This a whole other beast that rears it's ugly head when someone doesn't follow the rules of queuing. We go to war. Queue warfare, just pitched battles in the middle of a post office it's nuts xD
@@yersipest queue is a French word. I am British but prefer the word line.
The double formation used by Nelson was considered to be very risky as approaching ships would be facing intense broadsides without a chancre of replying, apart from the bow chasers. However Nelson knew that the French still used the slow match system when firing their guns, which was less efficient than the method used by the Royal Navy gunner's. Combined with the position of the French/ Spanish fleet, which had the lee shore of Cape Trafalgar too close for comfort and the ocean swells causing the ships to move erratically, making aiming at best, luck rather than accurate. Also they tended to want to dismast their opponent by aiming high, whereas the faster, more accurate firing from the British ,aiming at the hulls sometimes managed to use ricochets off the surface and the practice of a broadside from a 3 decker into the stern of an enemy resulted in a large loss of life, as the final tally of the different casualty lists on both sides shows.
Nelson was credited with using the bouncing bomb idea before Barns Wallis even shot his first ping pong ball!😉👍
I didn't realize that naval tactics of the day were so much about close battle. I assumed that it was about trading shots at a distance. Did the British have an advantage in boarding, etc? It seems that in pretty much every one of the one-on-one close actions, that the Brits won... a surprising outcome to me.
@@JohnKruse Naval battles were fought at close range because naval guns were very inaccurate and solid shot was ineffective against the sides of the ships at long range.
The idea, the concept, the reasons and why the battle went like this are far from those you mention. but it was certainly a regrettable performance that of the Spanish fleet, under French rule. Possibly the worst and last act. There is a lot of literature on this subject, and frankly interesting books if you like naval and vintage literature.
Nelson in Tenerife: I'd swear l ad two legs 😫
Missing from this animation is the wind direction. In the Age of Sail, this was a key factor in naval tactics. The French typically took the position downwind (leeward) of the enemy to give themselves an option to break off battle. The British typically took the position upwind (weather gage) of the enemy to give themselves the choice to engage or not. At Trafalgar the British and French took their typical positions. The wind was NNW (approx. 337º) so it was coming directly astern the British fleet. This was an ideal wind for the British to close quickly on the French and avoid French fire.
There was virtually no wind, men on board RN ships said they were moving at no more than walking pace, so they didn't close quickly, and the lead ships of both columns, Victory and Royal Sovereign were quite badly damaged by the time they broke the enemy line, one of the first shots to hit Victory (before she fired a shot), took away the ships Wheel, and throughout the battle she had to be steered from the tiller.
@@daneelolivaw602 I once steered a girl from the tiller. Now I know why they refer to a ship as "she".
@@moistmike4150 I don't get it
@@moistmike4150
That _girl_ of yours had a tiller?
You from Thailand, I'm guessing?
It was not ideal. The wind was astern but it was so extremely light that the ships moved slower than a man could swim. The leading ships were under fire for upwards of thirty minutes. A bigger factor was that the French and Spanish were poorly trained, firing from atop moving swell, and trying to time their long range shots while using slow-fuse matches on their cannons.
"The British army should be a projectile to be fired by the British navy." - Sir Edward Grey
England expects that every man will do his duty
@@williamt.sherman9841 '' [...] including serving as a projectile for the artillery.''
-Trafalgar, the untold story, 2021
@@vacciniumaugustifolium1420 really? People were put into artillery guns?
@@zaighamabbas2041 nah, but imagine the scene! 😳
@@vacciniumaugustifolium1420 It is raining men on uncle sam's party boat lmao
In french we have a saying : "Un coup de Trafalgar", means a play that aim to get the initiative over your opponent with an unexpected blow. It's to say how this particular event has been burned in French culture.
These fleets had over 2,000 guns in an era where armies having even a 100 guns was considered overwhelmingly superior firepower
that would explain why spain entered in such a huge crysis after just this war
Really now? And here I tought the battle of waterloo had over 60k casualties total.
@windrose5988even better: old naval warfare had more guns than modern time naval warfare.
@windrose5988 exactly
Keep in mind the "standard" ship-of-the-line was a 74 (74 cannon - carronades weren't counted) and three-deckers with over 100 guns were not uncommon.
Just a quick note to correct a little mistake spotted in the video: Spanish admiral Federico Gravina commanded the ship "Príncipe de Asturias". The "Santa Ana" was commanded by Ignacio de Álava.
Man if only a battle like this can be recreated in games. Total war can't even reach such magnitude
Naval action comes close at 50 players per side, wait for regular sale price of like £5.70 though
Ultimate Admiral: Age of Sail
TW series not good at naval battle
Im often bring large or over power fleet to ensure winning without much sacrifice
@@fransmurdani83 in TW empire and TW Napoleon the naval battles aren't that bad, and if you have a good pc (not like mine) , you can have battles with a lot of ships
May I introduce you to empire at war
Ive been onboard HMS Victory and have a souvenir piece of oak from her, 76 men from my home town fought in the battle of Trafalgar. The first Trafalgar square was built in Sunderland several years before the London Trafalgar square, it was built as alms houses for retired sailors and their families.
And of course Victory Street in Pallion
Had family on board at Trafalgar, the Nelson memorial on top of Portsdown Hill which was paid for by the crews of the English fleet was also erected before Nelsons column in Trafalgar Square, it seems London was a bit slow In the act
This is something that people don't know about the monument dedicated to Nelson: 90% (the column) is a tribute to the island. Without the island, Great Britain would have been invaded in 4 weeks by Philip II or Napoleon. The other 10% is a little man who won a sea battle because Britain is an island. That's why he's on top of the column.
@@Gloriaimperial1 Levels of cope 🤣🤣
@@chairforce1234 Ships lost by Spain at Trafalgar 1805: 11 Spain had another 34 great ships and 24 frigates.
The British believe that Trafalgar is the only naval battle in history.
-1806-07 British defeat of the red coats in Argentina and Uruguay. Capture of the British generals. We still have the captured flag there.
-1797. 3 defeats for Nelson against Spain in Cádiz, Central America and Tenerife. Another British defeat in Puerto Rico
-1779-80 Spanish blockade of England (Luis de Córdova): capture of two British fleets of 24 and 55 ships. London stock market crash
-1779-81 British defeats in Louisiana, Florida, Menorca, Bahamas and Central America. Spanish Governor of Louisiana, Bernardo de Gálvez.
-1741 Battle of Cartagena de Indias. Blas de Lezo. Destruction of 50 British ships. Greatest defeat of the Royal Navy in its history. All Europe laughs at the British coins commemorating the victory before the battle.
-1741-48 War between Spain and England. England captures 108 Spanish ships. Spain captures 411 British ships
-1726. Spain seizes hundreds of British ships in the Atlantic and Caribbean
-1701-1714 The English lose the War of the Spanish Succession
-1630. Spain wins the war against England
-1629. Spain captures 14 ships of the combined fleet of France and England in San Cristóbal, Caribbean
-1625 Spain sinks 62 ships of the combined fleet of England and Holland in Cádiz
-1625 Spain defeats the combined army of Holland, England and Denmark in Breda, Holland
-1625 Spain defeats the fleet of Holland in Brazil. 20 ships captures.
-1594-95 Drake loses five battles in the Caribbean against Spain and dies, with his cousin
-1589 Spain destroys the invincible English armada, capturing or sinking 80 ships. Queen Elisabeth, furious, condemns Drake to be a lighthouse keeper
-1554 Felipe II arrives in England with a fleet commanded by the Duke of Alba, and 4,000 Spanish nobles, and becomes King of England, marrying María Tudor, half-Spanish Queen of England
-1410 Spanish invasion of southern England
-1380-81 Spanish invasion of southern England, going up the Thames
-1377 Spanish invasion of southern England
-1372 Spain sinks 48 English ships, without losing any
Other Spanish victories with more than 11 ships sunk to the enemy
-1585 Miracle of Empel. 100 Dutch ships sunk in a single night
-1580 Spanish annexation of Portugal. Battle of Terceira Island, more than 30 ships of the combined French and Portuguese fleet sunk
-1571 200 ships sunk in the battle of Lepanto.
I say this knowing that the British have sunk 18 ships in the Battle of Passaro in Sicily in 1718 or half a dozen Spanish ships at Cape St. Vincent. But Spain is the fleet that sinks the most ships. 👍🙃
Many thanks. My great-great-grandfather, then about 15 years old, was on HMS Defiance. I have Hilary Rubinstein's biography of Captain Durham which includes an account of Defiance's actions on that day. From that I can pick out which blue ship in your animation represents my ancestor. It is very sobering to consider what he went through. Again, many thanks to you.
Honor to your great-great grandfather.
Which one was it ?
@@kv4648 The animation starts at 2:03.
The top line of British ships have held their formation pretty well, but the bottom line is slightly fragmented.
There is a line of four ships leading, then another group of four moving slightly starboard and starting to overtake the leading four, then six more bringing up the rear.
Defiance is the leading ship in the overtaking group. Hope that makes sense.
@@RunnerBeanzDad Thank you!
Island, island... The English live on an island. Nelson tried to occupy the island of Tenerife in 1797, and lost his arm. The islands are difficult to invade. If the United Kingdom had an arm of land 500 meters wide, communicating with Europe, it would not exist 300 years ago.
Man really just secured a century of British naval dominance and dipped
Subbed. Great job.
This battle and Jutland are the two examples I like to give about how "Crossing the T" isn't instant win. Nelson decided to make the Franco-Spanish capital T into a lower case t by sailing through it. Nelson was a total unit when it came to ignoring the enemy's courage while piling on his own. Even in death, he still routed the enemy.
The Germans at Jutland (not having to worry about the wind) just turned out of the trap and used support ships and smoke to disengage.
I remember in my extreme youth watching some kidadult program; so this kid had a bet on the horses while he was still in school history class . Subject of the moment the Battle of Trafalgar. Following the race on a quiet radio under his desk lid, the boy suddenly leapt up; "We won!! We Won!!!"
Teacher: "What?!"
Boy: "By two lengths Sir!!!"
Teacher: "Well, I'm glad someone's listening!"
Very interesting, I have been aboard the Victory it’s in Portsmouth England
I've been a few times, and will go again. The history is very intense there.
Doug, if you haven't already read John Keegan's book Battle at Sea, I couldn't recommend it more. It has a brilliant account of Trafalgar, covers not only the battle but personal experiences of those there.
The sort of book you must occasionally put down and think about what you have just read.!
I too have been on board the victory, and I LOVE battleships
Same, as a fan of those kind of ships, that place was brilliant
I used to practically live at the Portsmouth historic dockyard and have spent many days there. It is full of historical treasures and although the Victory is having its masts repaired it is still well worth a visit although the real jewel in the crown is the national museum of the Royal navy or even the Mary Rose.
from what i've gathered, villeneuve was being soft blockaded in Cadiz by nelson, and instead of waiting for a more opportune time such as the royal navies supplies running low, since you can't really sustain a blockade, he took the threat of being replaced at napoleon's order a little too personally and went out and fought at cape trafalgar, resulting in this. his ship was the first to surrender after nelson went for it and he was imprisoned in england.
sea strategies were much simpler than land strategies because of wind and weather limiting what you can do, the line of battle used makes a lot of sense for it's simplicity, if you out number them you can bend the line around to get multiple ships firing on targets, but it's also extremely wasteful when the line gets cut like this, since a number of the ships need to turn about.
"Admirals need only the science of navigation. Generals need the sciences of everything."
- Napoleon Bonaparte
I guess if it's a Napoleon quote must be true ...
Villeneuve subsequently took his own life
@@legalvampire8136
Did he?, if he did, he stabbed himself about six times in the lungs and once in the heart.
Camero56
The French commander might have known that a British Fleet was lurking somewhere, but he couldn't be sure, the RN had one frigate patrolling outside of Cadiz, and there were another two or three ships out at sea, ready to relay signals of any enemy action to the fleet which was hidden over the horizon, you mention supplies, Nelson did send ships to Gibraltar to pick up supplies.
The British gun crews achieved twice the rate of fire than their enemies did. They were the best. "England expects every man to do his duty"! Nelson. Thanks for the video. I enjoyed it.
Just read of this battle in "Age of Nelson" by G.J. Marcus, and this animation matches that account and is a big help in understanding the action, thank you. One useful addition would be some indication of the wind direction and strength which was so important in that era.
If Nelson had seen the Battle of Jutland, I think he would have been amazed at the advances in naval technology. And I think he would have been appaled at the way the British admirals handled their ships. They were using tactics that predated Trafalgar. The whole point of Trafalgar was to avoid having to do it that way.
@@fredferd965 The tactics used in the battle of Trafalgar were used in the Battle of Jutland then the Grand Fleet would Have been destroyed. Jellicoe did alright, Beatty not so much.
@@georgea.567 This is true. I believe that, for the British, Trafalgar was both a blessing and a curse. It gave the Royal Navy a magnificent tradition, but it ended the last great sea battles. The enemy teaches you your trade, and from that time until the First World War the Royal Navy had no great opponents to fight. They were basically a peace-keeping show-the-flag force. Admiral Nelson's Band-of-Brothers was perhaps the best trained naval force the world has ever seen.
@@fredferd965 At Jutland, despite the invention of the radio, the British ships still communicated with each other during the battle by signal flags, as in Nelson's time.
@@legalvampire8136 Yes, I agree. However, they did it poorly. Admiral Beaty supposedly signaled his few Queen Elizabeth Class battleships to follow his cruisers, but they didn't get the signal, and he didn't wait for them. Poor workmanship.
The French and Spanish fleets used a slow burning fuse to fire their guns. Their average rate of fire was 3 to 5 minutes per volley. The British ships used a flintlock firing mechanism to fire their guns. Average rate of fire was 90 sec per volley. Even though the combined Franco-Spanish fleet had an extra six ships they could not make up for the rate of fire disparity. Combined with the inexperience of the combined fleet the battle was over before it even started.
Completely agree!
Napoleon's army invaded all of Europe. A month after Trafalgar, they defeated two empires at Austerlitz. Spain defeated the British redcoats in Argentina and Uruguay a year later, capturing the generals. The British won the Battle of Trafalgar because they live on an island. Otherwise everything would have ended in the 300 years before.
@@Gloriaimperial1 😂😂You still butthurt Spanish boy? we kicked both you and the French arses at Trafalgar to stop you from invading my country, then Napoleon betrayed you and you come crying for help from us to save your ass, pathetic.
Interesting. So while sailing straight into the teeth of the enemy battle line was not pleasant, they probably only suffered 1 or 2 volleys from a pair of enemy ships at a range where the cannon were very dangerous. A risk. But once the line is cut the British close range firepower is actually greater.
@@Gloriaimperial1lol Argentina not spain
I am very impressed! Well done!
Thank you.
This is the first time I see such an accurate depiction of a naval battle. I didn’t even know this was possible since formations are hard to grasp on the sea.
How did you Menage to get that?
Just build a time machine go back 200 years and ask Nelson himself, be careful to not get shot though as he died during the battle so be quick
The seas are the same each season, the shape of the area remains the same. Hundreds or thousands of eyewitness accounts from all sides.
have you ever heard of the ship's log? it's a near sacred book which is constantly updated and is even safeguarded when the ship or uboat sinks. Seagoing is a much more techinical undertaking than moving armies on land. Political generals and other officers are common in the armies, but on the sea, such hacks are few.
I have visited Victory in Portsmouth, and as you walk through the internals of the ship, you have an audio tour of how different parts of the ship prepared for & engaged in the battle. It is immersive and awe inspiring at the same time. For example, there is a 32 pound cannon below decks near the bow. It was loaded with anything & everything (grapeshot ) and Victory rammed into an enemy boat where it was fired killing scores !
Victory carried, 30x32pounder guns on her lower gundeck.
So Nelson basically flipped the script on "crossing the T" and turned it into a defeat in detail strategy. Neat.
Great battle! I'm just glad no one got hurt.
Nelson:
Britain: Look at me.
France: Yeah.
Britain: *Look at me.*
France: Sure!
Britain: I rule the waves now.
True
Also France: *And I’m unbeatable On Land*
Yesh ik the 6 and 7 coalition but it took them more than 10 years to beat him so yeah
One thing missing (sorry to be negative) is the wind direction. This was crucial to the success of Nelson's tactics as it made it impossible for the French / Spanish van to turn back in time to impact the battle.
The Royal Navy had the advantage of what little wind there was, men on the RN ships reported that they were advancing at no more than walking pace.
The pub the British sailors drank at in Gibraltar, before and after the battle is still there, and is still a pub. Many souvenirs from the fleet adorn the walls. Many British casualties from the battle are buried in the Gibraltar cemetary.
Its weird that, in at least the popular view, during the iconic British victories of the Napoleonic wars the British broke the famous French column formation by firing in lines at waterloo and the British broke the French naval line at Trafalgar by forming a column.
It's strange in the French schools they only teach us the 100 battles Napoleon won and here only Trafalgar and Waterloo? Matter of taste I suppose?
@@GGdeTOURS37 Yes, but they were battles that ended the war in victory for the British and their allies and put an end to Napoleon, first at sea, then on land.
@GGdeTOURS37 how many of those "100 victories" were against the British?
It seems like Villeneuve had advantages in numbers and starting position and yet the British managed to win anyway without losing a single ship. What a great victory.
In a battle between sailing ships, wind direction is crucial.
As is positioning.
yep the British may have been defeated by the Spanish Armada if a wind change didn't go in their favour .
Ultimate Admiral: Age of Sail has this as one of the set battles and the initial set up is exactly the way the forces were set up for the original battle, plus whatever upgrades you've made to your ships... But if you want to win that battle, this tactic is pretty much the only way to do it as the French firepower is immense. The Spanish and French First Rates are very scary so cutting them out early is essential.
this was terrific. thanks for posting it.
El del vídeo no tiene ni idea
La estrategia franco-española fue diseñada por Escaño y era formar 2 líneas paralelas para envolver a los buques ingleses que pasaran la primera línea.
Escaño sabía que Nelson emplearía la táctica del envolverlos, pero salió mal porque había barcos fuera de su zona asignada
What everyone always forgets about the Battle of Trafalgar is that within hours of the battle ending, a hurricane hit the area and the crews had to,fight for their lives throughput the night. Many captured ships foundered.
I had no idea. The Royal Navy had such a Victory. I knew Trafalgar was a big deal but this was TOTAL domination. Bravo.
A Victory hehe ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Trafalgar is extremely important for more reasons as well:
Firstly, while Nelson's plan worked spectacularly, he was killed in the action while leading the column in his flagship HMS Victory. Nelson was a spectacularly brave man and was already missing his arm and an eye from previous battles, so this is in honor of his sacrifice.
Secondly, it and other battles broke the French and Spanish fleets, leaving the French to play catch up and the Spanish to fall behind for the next 200 years. This is important because permanently remove the threat of Napoleon's invasion of Britain and the other victorious powers of the Napoleonic wars: Prussia, Austria and Russia were not navel powers. All this meant that Britannia really did rule the waves for the next 100 years, giving it the power to enforce its ban of the Atlantic slave and build a global empire.
The best video one TH-cam that explains this battle in very short duration
Clever. Although we couldn't fire until fairly late, our ships presented a narrow profile on the approach. The British, as this plan illustrates, divide the Franco/Spanish. Once at close quarters our superior rate of fire would do the rest - at a terrible cost it must be said. Apart from Lord Nelson's death, the outcome couldn't have been better; which only makes the lamentable way in which Nelson's immediate family were treated all the more inexcusable.
Thanks for the animation. For the first time I understand why Nelson divided his fleet.
Alot of work went into this well done
Into both the animation and battle
Now this needs a proper movie on the level of Master and Commander in terms of character, historical accuracy, and heart
I never knew animation was this good in 1805
They used Windows 05 back then.
I hope to see soon a video of the frustrated attack of the largest English fleet in Cartagena de Indias. where they were repelled by an infinitely smaller force under the command of Blas de Lezo.
Jaja, no esperes tal cosa. No suelen querer recordar sus humillantes derrotas ante la Amada.
So, why dont you post one then?.
@@daneelolivaw602 por tu nombre entiendo que entiendes el idioma español, te mando un enlace de uno de los muchos videos que hay sobre el tema, curiosamente en inglés no he encontrado ninguno. Entre el desastre de Cartagena y el de la contraarmada inglesa en 1589 tienen los ingleses un gran vacío en su historia que borraron por vergüenza
th-cam.com/video/Xm1BKh2F804/w-d-xo.html
@@manolos9524
very interesting, but give me Trafalgar any day, It stopped the Spanish and French from EVER challenging Britain at sea again.
@@daneelolivaw602 th-cam.com/video/CL5ujfgF5N8/w-d-xo.html
the fact you put redcoat ships in blue and Tiddy-Doll ships in red troubles me to the highest level
Actually the navy of the British where using blue in their uniforms
@@andmos1001 true, but so did the french. What's funny is the Royal Marines still wore red.
Those two Spanish ships at the top be like: "Ight Imma head out"
Thanks for this!
This was perfect, thank you.
The French lucky is, Nelson died at the end of the battle.
He wanted to die as he knew it'd be the last proper naval warfare engagement
He could die in Tenerife where he lost his arm
The Spanish as usual didn't kill their captives
@@rataxv20 spanish were honest
My ancestor, Richard Lale, was at the Battle of Trafalgar. He was on the Royal Sovereign. He died about a year after the battle when he fell overboard from the ship HMS Formidable.
And that's it, the end of Napoleon's new world ambitions.
Sadly
@@thessop9439 Luckily you mean, glad we stopped that man, i know you are a Napoleon fan boy though.
Why not make the French blue and the English red?
If the combined ship hadn’t been commanded by the French incompetent villeneuve things would have gone different. The Spanish captains urged not to attack as the conditions were disadvantageous for the fleet, but the French having known that napoleon was about to “”fire”” him (I don’t know the word sorry haha), he decided to go for it and compromised the fleet, ultimately losing the battle. Also to point out that the French were the only ones to flee, the Spanish fought to the last man (Santa Ana, Santísima Trinidad, San Juan Nepomuceno, …); even the British recognised their bravery
French have a rich history of surrendering
Can’t believe the entire Battle of Trafalgar only took four minutes. I thought it would’ve been longer than that
El Trinidad, ES, el que en la primera descarga de Trafalgar, desarbolo al Victory de Nelson: 👉 Véase, la serie con el nombre *Batalla de Trafalgar: las mentiras de los ingleses, los pecios.* Son unos 4 episodios.
th-cam.com/video/r-hBY0Mx7PQ/w-d-xo.html
*DATOS DE LA BATTALLA* th-cam.com/video/8-s1z5wgzUk/w-d-xo.html
*LA BATALLA*
th-cam.com/video/S8E211EewfI/w-d-xo.html
*VA POR ELLOS*
No veo a nadie decir que la flota española llegó echa pedazos por el temporal XD
@@Hornetmelli Quedaron todos, menos los que se largaron, tocados. Esta batalla no cambio nada: los Rothschilds ya estaban instalados en inglaterra, y lo "bueno" para españa estaba por llegar; como llego i.
@@Hornetmelli Eso fue la Armada, no. Véase, la Contra Armada Inglesa: menudo polizón se llevaron: terminaron pidiendo y firmando la PAZ: ahí fue el punto de.... En fin, no a las Guerras i.
@@concienciaymasconciencia2759 La contra armada fue española y la paliza se la llevaron ellos no se que has visto tu.
@@Hornetmelli No.. La mal llamada invencible fue la española, y la Contra Armada Inglesa: que vino al año siguiente fue, el nombre lo dice todo. No me digas que no sabes nada de ella. No pasa na. A te mando el enclace. th-cam.com/video/zykvObEMIqM/w-d-xo.html Salud2
Simple yet excellent video, thanks.
"England expects that every man will do his duty"
~Nelson
What a great supporter of the slave trade he was too... Shame a french cannonball didn't serve him justice
I like to use the two line formation to cut into the enemy fleet in empire total war...... without knowing it's an actual strategy, it was just because it's easier to control and I have the chance to fire on both sides. But that's pretty coo that it's actually legit.
Elementary but unique and effective. Thanks.
A little odd that you make the French red and the British blue though, the mutually opposite of their natural colours.
Another thing I noticed is the animations are awful
If a Spaniard had been in command of the Spanish-French fleet, the outcome of the battle would have been totally different.
Very true look what happened to the Spanish Armada they didn't do too well. Really got a kicking off Drake
@@michaelcampin1464 A storm scattered the armada. Otherwise, now you would be eating paella and tortilla every other day.
@@gamma505 a storm scattered the Armada after it was savaged by the English Fleet off Plymouth. The storm happened in the North Sea a bit further up the coast that's why a lot of Scots have Spanish bloodlines
@@michaelcampin1464 Esto es lo real, no lo que te cuentan en los colegios britanicos.....Top 10 myths and muddles about the Spanish Armada
@@michaelcampin1464 If a Spaniard had led the fleet, maybe the battle would have been different.
-1372 Battle of La Rochelle: 48 English ships sunk or captured. 0 Spanish ships sunk
-Invasion of the English coast in 1377, 1380-81 and 1411, reaching up the Thames almost to London
-1554. The Spanish fleet, led by the Duke of Alba, arrives in England with 4,000 Spanish soldiers and nobles. Philip II becomes King of England and Ireland
-1571. Battle of Lepanto. 200 Turkish ships sunk
-1582. Spain destroys the combined fleet of Portugal and France
-1585. Spain sinks 100 Dutch ships in one night
-1589. Defeat of Drake's invincible fleet. 80 English ships sunk or captured
-1591. 3 Spanish ships defeat 23 English ships in the Bay of Biscay
-1596. Second Spanish fleet to invade England. More than 130 boats. The Royal Navy is lost in the Atlantic. The Spanish fleet is stopped by storms. A sunny day and...
-1597. Third Spanish fleet to invade England. More than 130 boats. 12,000 elite soldiers. The Royal Navy is lost in the Atlantic. The Spanish fleet is stopped by storms. Although 400 soldiers disembark. A sunny day and...
-1597. Defeat of the English Essex Fleet in the Atlantic
-1625. Battle of Cadiz. 62 English and Dutch ships captured
-1625. Battle of Brazil. Spain sinks 23 ships of the Dutch fleet.
-1629. Battle of San Cristobal, Caribbean. 14 English and French ships of the combined fleet are sunk or captured by the Spanish.
-1726. War in the Atlantic and Caribbean. Spain captures dozens of British ships
-1741. Battle of Cartagena de Indias. Destruction of 50 British ships. Blas de Lezo
-1779-80. Spanish blockade of England. Capture of two British fleets of 24 and 55 ships. London stock market crash
-1797. 3 defeats for Nelson in Tenerife, Central America and Cádiz. Another British fleet loses in Puerto Rico.
Spain only lost 11 ships at Trafalgar. And we won in Argentina and Uruguay 1806-1807, capturing the redcoats and General Beresford. I mean that wars were also fought on land.
I also know that the British defeated Spain at Cape St. Vincent and Cape Pesaro. You cannot isolate a single battle.
Álvaro de Bazán was the best sailor of the 16th century. He never lost a battle. He was in charge of directing the fleet of 1588, but died 1 years before.
Hello i wanna ask how you get this detailed informations about battles
When the British used their tactic they can reduce the amount of damage or the enemy.
Can i take this vídeo in my channel to explain the battle?
2:16 looool wut ? Africa respect😶
she was late and only wanted to get into line quickly, the long range fire did little damage.
"I hear the cannon echoing tonight..."
Great animation, nicely researched.
Africa endured the fire of half the combined fleet, didn't sink, and even managed to score a kill afterwards, fucking legend.
This was a battle of fighting sail. It would be helpful to show the wind conditions, upon which all battle strategy depended.
There was very little wind, which played into the British strategy, it meant a longer approach under bombardment but once they were in close quarters the Spanish/french couldn’t escape
The wind direction in that area is normally ither east to west or west to east directly depending on time of year or unique weather conditions as the Gibraltar straits act as a funnel
Only a little complaint: lacks n. of losses, ships sunk/captured & so on.
3 years later this became a map for a game
Wow, has to be one of if not the most decisive battle in history.
Umm. First thing I think of is the battle of Actium. Second would be battle of Tsushima.
Bangley. Tsushima was noteworthy. But hardly decisive in the same way as Trafalgar. This victory dictated naval thinking and history for over 140 years.
@@bazd884 I agree, I originally was going to say OP should be more clear. 'Battle' is vague and so is the use 'decisive'.
It was a decisive victory, but I think you mean it was one of the most far impacting battles of it's time. Pretty much granting Britain naval dominance for the next 100 years.
@@bazd884
Tsushima heralded the end of the European empires. The world saw Europeans defeated by non-Europeans on a much grander scale than had ever been seen before. It wasn't like Isandlwana where the Zulus won a battle and lost the war. Tsushima was a blow the Russian Empire never recovered from, leading to its collapse and the rise of the Soviet Union while the Japanese would go on to humiliate Britain, France and the Netherlands with their later conquests while landing a blow on the USA that Americans still haven't gotten over psychologically.
It told all the subjects of European empires that their masters weren't superior. That white folk could be beaten. Within fifty years, the European empires were collapsing as peaceful and violent independence movements rose up everywhere. The Vietnamese knew they could beat the French because they had been forced to give up Indochina to the Japanese during the Second World War, just as they knew the Americans weren't invincible because of Pearl Harbour.
Tsushima also made the Japanese think they could conquer China and take on the European empires and the USA in the first place. They decided the victory wasn't because of the terrible state of the Russian fleet but destiny. Destiny for Japan to rise and defeat all comers, regardless of her lack of resources and manpower. Without Tsushima, Japanese imperial ambitions would have been far more restrained.
Ok I have 2 questions.
1. Why was the French vanguard unable to turn around and engage in battle?
2. Why did close quaters combat overwhelmingly favor the British?
British had better guns, more trained crew, so could fire faster into the Franco-Spanish fleet, basically. Came down to the fact that France didn't invest as much in their navy. France's last line of defence was their army, whilst Britain's was essentially the navy, with the army mainly being a colonial police force. It showed pretty heavily on this occasion.
One of Spain most tragic defeats
The French commander doomed the fleet
Fue una gran victoria británica, hay que reconcoerlo, y tenemos que lamentar la derrota. Pero creo que los británicos hablan de esto como si fuera la única victoria naval de la historia. Seguro que sacan hasta películas. En Trafalgar España perdió sólo 11 barcos. También tuvimos derrotas en Cabo San Vicente y Cabo Pessaro, 23 barcos. Pero España capturó y hundió flotas británicas más grandes.
-1372. Batalla de La Rochelle. 48 barcos ingleses hundidos y capturados. 0 barcos españoles perdidos.
-1589. Invencible flota de Drake. 80 barcos ingleses hundidos
-1625. Batalla de Cádiz. 62 barcos ingleses y holandeses hundidos.
-1629. Batalla de San Cristóbal, Caribe. 14 barcos de la flota combinada de Inglaterra y Francia, hundidos
-1726. Cientos de barcos británicos capturados en el Atlántico
-1741. Batalla de Cartagena de Indias. 50 barcos británicos hundidos. Blas de Lezo
-1779-80. Luis de Córdova captura dos flotas británicas de 24 y 55 barcos, durante el bloqueo naval de Inglaterra, hundiendo la bolsa de Londres.
-1797. 3 derrotas de Nelson en Cádiz, Centro América y Tenerife. Derrota de otra flota británica en Puerto Rico
Un año después de Trafalgar 1805, España captura al general Beresford y a los casacas rojas en Buenos Aires y Uruguay
También hundimos flotas portuguesas, francesas, holandesas, alemanas, turcas, de 20, 40, 50, 100 y 200 barcos.
Pero ellos tienden a olvidar esto para magnificar sus victorias.
What a bloodbath... the animation captured really great the horror of war
Have been on the Victory when I was a kid, wonderfully preserved and well worth a visit
He had his T crossed deliberately and still won. Incredible!
Muy buena animación, sí señor, en Trafalgar de Benito Perez Galdós lo describe muy vagamente desde la perspectiva del Santísima Trinidad y del Santa Ana, pero aquí hay un gran trabajo. Mis dieces!!
También está la perspectiva del San Juan Nepomuceno
@@eduardogallego7691 después cuando se hunde el Santísima Trinidad
How do you know this were you there? My buddy Kevin told me this isn’t how it went down
Crossing the T would of spelled doom in WW1 and onwards
Jutlandia.. they us teh same idea again germans
just like how Russian suffered huge loss against the Japanese
Jellicoe crossed the T at Jutland which spelled the end of the German High Seas Fleet as a force and made sure they stayed in port for the duration
Amazingly the vid doesn't show the wind gauge. I guess the Brits had the wind behind them but it would be nice to know that.
They did have what little wind there was, men on Royal Navy ships said they were moving at little more than walking pace.
Admiral Nelson loss the arm in my island all the people know the history of that battle
I kind of wish Nelson won there. Imagine Tenerife as a British island how cool would that be.
@@trut52 no sorry we are spanish england is far away and we have a great honor Nelson say kill all the people we defeat Nelson and Nelson writhe after this thanks for be human .. if they win they kill all the canarian people so where is the honor in that Man the spanish people belived in god black leyends talk so bad about of this country spain one day was a empire
@@brolyaliabagua9226thanks for your reply. I hope I haven't offended you in any way, that was not my goal. As you know the saying 'history is written by the victorious' The winning side will always be gracious saviors while the losing side will be always be de-humanized animals. It's always like that.
@@trut52 no problem im not offended But this is spanish land you know the awnser black leyends talk bad about spain my english is too bad mr for try to make a good reply But the truth is on the history spanish land be free years later in América But english colonias are english yet
@@trut52 Exactly. The ignorance of these commenters not realizing that nelson supported the slave trade whilst napoleon was fighting for the liberty of Europe and the emancipation of slaves
Why on earth would you colour the British ships blue?
British=red
French=blue
Spanish=yellow or gold
Italian=light green
Russian=dark green
German or Prussian=black or dark grey
Dutch=orange
Austrian=white
Like how hard is this? They pretty much used these colours themselves for most of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Wow what a sight that must’ve been
Lots of work went into this animation and the result is very good quality.
What were the French and Spanish ships doing when the British was approaching? Wasn't the whole idea of lining up like they did on the right hand side of the screen, they'd have all their cannons directed at oncoming ships and they'd hit those ships with their entire broadsides. The F&S appear to have allowed the British sail so close to them that the British broke up their line. Why weren't the F&S able to hit the British in the front of the British ships?
Because they could only fire from the side.
They did fire, but Conqueror, Victory, Royal Sovereign and Temeraire (the ships leading the british lines) are very tough and can take a lot of punishment (which they did). One or two broadsides were just not enough to disable them. And there's another big factor that isn't explained in the video: the wind. The british were sailing with the wind, allowing them to rapidly close the gap while the F&S could not retreat due to being boxed in between Nelson, Collingwood and the spanish coast.
They did! Victory had her helm shot away for example. It was definitely a risky plan but Nelson gambled his ships, flying with the wind behind them with every scrap of sail manageable (hence why paintings of the battle show the British ships cracking on with studdingsails, a rare sight in battle), would close the gap quickly enough to avoid serious damage. He was also very much aware his opponents had poorly manned and poorly trained gun crews, made up of inexperienced sailors or infantry not used to operating naval artillery at sea, which seriously reduced their effective ranged fire. TL;DR: Damage was dealt, but the Brits were fast enough, and the Franco-Spanish were too inaccurate.
@@mauricedesaxe1745 Thank you Jay! Still seems curious that 30+ Spanish/French ships with 100 cannon apiece were unable to position themselves to broadside the daylights out of the British fleet before it could approach to cut the line. It's not like sail ships could travel quickly (what? 20 km/h?) and you'd think that each Spanish/French gun could get off a few rounds within range of the British ships. And yet not a single British ship was lost. Miraculous, but I guess that's why the battle has a special place in the heart of the British.
@@tadhgocaoimh1077 if you read testimonies from nelsons ship and in general the frist ships to cut the line you will know that they were smashed to hell. Fatalities on these ships were very high.
Many thanks! Providing this reconstruction is somewhat accurate, it is always interesting to learn the details)
Nelson essentially crossed his own "T" but didn't care. He was willing to take the initial damage in order to grind the enemy into bits. At the famous battle of Jutland, in my opinion, both sides, the British and the Germans, reverted to pre-Nelson tactics. If Admiral Nelson had seen the
Battle of Jutland, he would have shaken his head twice, once in amazement at the advances in naval ships and weaponry, and another time for t he stupidity of the admirals on both sides.
Beaty Yes... not Jelly. Had it been Jelly at the head from the start Jutland would have been a formality.
This is such a typical armchair admiral comment it makes my eyes roll to the back of my head
@@stevshaboba7476 I will have you know that I am not an armchair admiral. I am, however, a confirmed armchair seaman third class and, if I may boast, the prowd owner of a pair of leaky swim fins, one oar (with holes in it) and a six pack of Corona Lite (the beer, not the virus)., Indeed, I have managed (only once) to actually cross the local swimming pool, which was exhausting. Where IS that beer? Cheers!
Outstanding masterpiece Thank you
Add some commentary, my dude. You'll get more likes and subs.
Just play Rule Britannia on iTunes while watching : )
How do we have enough information to make sure this is accurate?
After action reports. There are a number of very good books that go through what each ship did during the engagement.
in the beginning it looks a lot like Blitzkrieg in the beginning
In the end you repeated what you said in the beginning
@@vitorgas1 what do u know a genius
@@vitorgas1 You made my day.
Wow, dunno why teacher wasnt showing videos like this for us in history class... Maybe then I would not sleep thru all of them...
Terrific video man! Could you do the Battle of the Saintes next please?
It's a good British victory. As the United Kingdom is an island, it was able to stop Napoleon's invasion with only 1000 dead in a sea battle, Trafalgar. Spain, Russia, Austria, Italy, Germany, were not islands, and they were invaded, and they all had more than 100,000 deaths and a lot of destruction, and France. The British took advantage of that factor (island) and had a very effective fleet in that battle. Spain lost 11 ships in that battle. But Trafalgar is one more battle in a long story. Spain had much more important naval victories.
-1372. La Rochelle. 48 English ships sunk or captured. 0 Spanish ships sunk. Spanish invasion of all of southern England.
-1419. La Rochelle. 40 German ships captured.
-1543. Battle of Muros. 24 French ships captured.
-1571. Battle of Lepanto. 200 Turkish ships destroyed. Italy is saved.
-1573. Battle of Haarlemmermeer. 21 Dutch ships captured.
-1583. Battle of Azores. Spain defeats the combined Portuguese and French fleet. 12 ships sunk or captured. Annexation of the Portuguese empire.
-1585. Miracle of Empel. 100 Dutch ships destroyed. Catholic Belgium and Luxembourg.
-1589. Drake's English Invincible Armada. 40 ships destroyed (without storms). Spain retains the Portuguese empire.
-1625. Naval battle of Brazil. 18 Dutch ships sunk or captured.
-1625. Cadiz. Spain destroys 62 ships of the combined English and Dutch fleet.
-1629. Saint Kitts, Caribbean. Spain defeats the combined English and French fleet. 13 ships destroyed or captured.
-1741. Battle of Cartagena de Indias. 37 English ships destroyed. 17 severely damaged.
-1780. Capture of a British fleet of 24 ships at Brest.
-1780. Capture of a British fleet of 55 ships. Spanish blockade of England.
-1797. Nelson's attack on Cadiz. 6 English ships sunk or captured.
-1797. Attack and defeat of Nelson in Tenerife.
-1805. British victory at Trafalgar. 11 Spanish ships sunk or captured
-1806-07. Spain defeats the British in Buenos Aires and Montevideo.
Umm the British suffered 300,000 casualties during the napoleonic wars, the second most after Austria, so yes Britain did suffer the same amount of deaths as any other mainland European country, and I’m sorry but no Britain has more impressive victories.
Battle of sluys
Battle of of quibecron bay
Battle of gravelines
Battle of cape st Vincent
Battle of trafalgar
Battle of Copenhagen
Battle of Jutland
Battle of the Nile
Battle of Barbary coast
Battle of Bermuda
Battle of western Cuba
Capture of Cadiz
Battle of the narrow seas
Battle of the straits of Gibraltar
Action of may 1st 1781
Battle of the Falkland Islands
Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife 1657
@@mranonymous2830 Spain had 500,000 dead in that war. The only reason London wasn't invaded is because Britain is an island. In that war against Napoleon, the Spanish economy sank by 80%, with the destruction of cities, industry, roads, agricultural fields, livestock, herds, fleet. Half a million injured and 1 million emigrants to America in the following decades. It took us a century to recover. If England were not an island, the English royal family would have had to escape to Canada, and London, Liverpool, Birminham or Manchester would have been destroyed (like Valencia, Lleida, Zaragoza, Gerona...), with a large part of the cultural heritage taken to Paris. Some works of art were recovered in 1940, when Germany invaded Paris.
The Spanish military victories that I have put on that list mean 330 million Spanish speakers in the Caribbean area (battle of Cartagena de Indias 1741), 150 million Spanish speakers in southern Latin America (victory against the British in Argentina and Uruguay 1806-07) the independence of the United States (naval blockade of England 1779-80 and victories in the southern United States) and the Balearic and Canary Islands within Spain. But we all have defeats and victories, British and Spanish.
@@Gloriaimperial1 okay but 300,000 is still a lot though, yeah I know that, okay that’s rough, England isn’t a island, Great Britain is, England is a country that’s part of the island of Great Britain. There is no “English royal family” there hasn’t been since 1707, but if your talking about the British royal family then yes I know about that, there was a plan in ww2 to evacuate the royal family to Vancouver canada, I doubt Napoleon would have destroyed any of those cities except for maybe London, true probably. Britain not England for the American Revolutionary War, and yes that is true both countries have lost and won major battles.
@@Gloriaimperial1 like the battle of cape st Vincent which mostly ended Spanish involvement in the mostly ended Spanish naval action during the war.
Yep
That what happens when a French commander commands the fleet.....
When the Spaniards command as in Cartagena de Indias there was another end...
It would have been nice to have a clearly marked wind direction.
Blas de Lezo.
Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson.
I guess im wierd, im not a sailing but love simple battle animations like this, to see exactly what happened. The only thing i wished it had was the wind direction blowing. very cool, shit ton of research had to be done for 4 mins where every ship was etc.. Nice an thank you, !!!
Creo la batalla de Cartagena de índias ha sido mas grandiosa. Viva Blas de Lezo!
Viva Nelson, over two hundred years ago the Spanish got their arses torn to shreds, and some of them STILL haven't got over the embarrassment, your jealousy will eat into your guts and drive you mad, so the royal navy lost a battle to the spanish, mostly fought on land, calm down mate, chill out, relax, have some sangria, go to a bull fight, go and laugh at bankrupt Real Madrid and Barcelona, we couldn't give a shit, IT'S HISTORY, understand? HISTORY.
VIVA HORATIO NELSON, VIVA HMS VICTORY, VIVA ROYAL NAVY.
@@daneelolivaw602 jaja, y a cerca de 300 años, cinco naves españolas y un Almirante torto conocido como "medio hombre" puso derrota en el culo de casi 200 naves Inglesas y casi 30000 soldados... derrota humillante de Los britânicos que hasta hoy tembran las canillas y su culo cuando escuchan el nombre de Blas de Lezo.
@@andrenavarro771
The Spanish humiliation at Trafalgar was so bad you still feel the shame today.
We won't mention the Armada.
VIVA HORATIO NELSON, VIVA HMS VICTORY, VIVA ROYAL NAVY.
@@daneelolivaw602 , ninguna humillacion ha sido mas grande que la de Blas de Lezo puso para Veron y su Rey Jorge... Toda la arrogancia Britanica, cayo por tierra en manos de un genio valiente que hasta Napoleon Bonaparte tendria respeto. Las medallas de victoria que el Rey Jorge havia solicitado producion para felicitar la "Victoria cierta" de la Armada Inglesa em Cartagena, hoy es un símbolo de bofetada en la cara de la arrogância Britanica... la misma arrogancia que covardemente financiava Piratas para atacar otros paises.
Y sobre la Armada... solo tengo que decir que fue muy peor la contra armada... jaja
@@andrenavarro771
British Arrogance? No mate, you are confused, you meant to say Spanish arrogance.
Total humiliation for Spain and humiliation for king Philip, when the Armada couldn't invade England.
Trafalgar was a total and absolute humiliation, the Spanish knew they shouldn't side with france, but as a weak nation, scared of Napoleon, they took the wrong decision, which led to the annihilation of the once great and powerful Spanish navy, at least after Trafalgar neither country was ever a threat to Britain again. Arrogant Spain.
i love the ships in this era so much... the first rates i cant believe the architecture on those ships... 4decks with large poles...