Quotes About Strategy

By mid-afternoon, Villeneuve was forced to abandon any hope of getting his fleet out before dusk.

Shortly before 7 p.m., Captain Jean Lucas of the Redoutable caught his first glimpse of Nelson's fleet to starboard:

Villeneuve didn't hesitate. Gravina was right. The whole fleet must form line of battle at once,

Napoleon had been in the thick of it, leading from the front.

Turning hard aport, the Royal Sovereign quickly drew alongside the Santa Ana,

Napoleon had 60,000 troops in Italy, scattered in different locations.

He would be followed by Vice-Admiral Honoré Ganteaume with six frigates and twenty-one ships

A third possibility open to the duke was the flooding of Romney Marsh.

Captain Harvey held his fire until the Fougueux's yardarms were almost touching the Téméraire's

One was John Moore, who had introduced the Light Infantry to the British army,

By writing to George III, he could test the waters and find out how badly they wanted peace.

Sortez sans combat,' came Napoleon's reply.

There was nothing to be gained from fighting the British off Brest.

Nelson's fleet had been spotted off the Spanish coast, barring the way to the Atlantic.

Caesar had had trouble with the currents off the English coast. Napoleon would too.

But Napoleon saw everything in military terms.

Almost a mile to the north, the Victory was still short of the enemy line,

Villeneuve's flagship.

all firing at the Victory in unison. Their purpose was to dismast the British flagship

The French and Spanish ships were bigger and better armed, but the British were better sailors.

the French and Spanish should have closed their line,

In the sinking of the Dorothea, they had seen the future of naval warfare.

With hindsight, Napoleon might have done better to build steam ships

He could have built a bridge, or a series of floating forts.