The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval battle fought off the southwest coast of Spain between the British Royal Navy, commanded by Admiral Horatio Nelson, and the combined fleets of France and Spain under Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve. Nelson attacked in two columns that cut through the enemy line, instead of the traditional parallel lines, and British gunnery and seamanship decided the contest. The allies lost about twenty ships without a single British vessel being lost. Nelson was shot by a French sharpshooter on the deck of HMS Victory and died as the battle was won. Trafalgar confirmed British command of the seas for the rest of the Napoleonic Wars, and ended any prospect of a French invasion of Britain.
Before and after
- 9 May 1805Death of Friedrich Schiller
- 22 June 1805Birth of Giuseppe Mazzini
- 29 July 1805Birth of Alexis de Tocqueville
- 4 August 1805Birth of William Rowan Hamilton
- 21 October 1805Battle of Trafalgar
- 30 October 1805Battle of Caldiero
- 2 December 1805Battle of Austerlitz
- 23 December 1805Birth of Joseph Smith
- from 1 January 1806 to 9 November 1918Kingdom of Bavaria
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- from 8 October 1912 to 18 July 1913Balkan Wars
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.