Naval French Wars 1793-1815

The of ships in the Combined fleet (Trafalgar)?

33

Number of men Villeneuve had (Trafalgar)?

30k

Number of ships in the British fleet?

27

Nelsons flagship in Trafalgar?

HMS Victory

Name of Collingwood’s flagship?

Royal Sovereign

Number of guns French had?

2568

Number of Villeneuve’s battleships taken?

18

How many minutes was Nelson’s flagships under fire for before she opened fire herself?

45 minutes

How many miles offshore did Nelson want to keep his ships?

50

How many men did the British have?

20k

A British crew could fire three shots every how many minutes?

5

How many of the Combined Fleet were French ships?

18

How many guns did the British have?

2148

How many ships of the Combined Fleet were Spanish ships?

15

How many British captains fought at Trafalgar?

29

How many British captains who fought at Trafalgar became admirals?

22/29

What was the aim of Trafalgar?

lure Villeneuve out of port

What was Nelson rewarded for Nile?

10k by East India Company

What was Nelson labelled as for Nile?

“Hero of the Nile“

Tactics at Trafalgar?

• Keep ships 50 miles offshore

• line of frigates to report any enemy movement

• inspire confidence in captains

• stressed the importance of battling quickly and not firing until yards away

When was Trafalgar?

21st October 1865

What were Nelsons dying words?

“thank god, I did my duty“

Who was Villeneuve? What were Napoleons orders?

Admiral of the Combined Fleet

supposed to go to Italy and keep Austrians busy

What was French strategy’s at Trafalgar?

close as possible to grapple them jump on board and have a hand to hand fights

Number of British ships lost?

0

Why was Trafalgar victory significant?

France would never attempt to invade Britain again or contest its military

What was the cause of the Battle of Nile?

• Napoleon plans to invade Egypt to destroy trading routes to India + shortest routes + backbone of finance

What was French weaknesses during the Battle of Nile?

• Thought B couldn’t get between them at Aboukir Bay

• Many crew getting supplies on shore

• Guns not prepared on bay side (furniture pushes against side)

Who was Nelson?

• Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson

• Captain at 20 joined at 12 (1771)

• Hit by French cannonball gravel lost almost all sight

What was Nelson famous for?

• Band of brothers: insane trust in captains, allowing flexibility in how to handle there ships

• “Hero of Nile“

What did Nelson say before Trafalgar?

“No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship that of alongside his enemy“

What was lacking in Franco-Spanish gunnery (Trafalgar)?

• less advanced then B

• Nelson knew he could get through danger zone of 600-700 yards in 12-15 minutes without crippling damage

• reloading sluggish

Why did the Combined Fleet have no chance to do anything serious(Trafalgar)?

• stuck in port due to blockade

• slower firing ships

What was wrong with French manpower (Trafalgar)?

• lack of experienced officers

• falling short of full complement

• unskilled, little experience

How long did the Great French Wars last?

1793-1815

What date did Prime Minister Pitt declare war against France? What did he call this war?

31st January 1793

“War of extermination“

What four reasons caused the war between France and Britain?

1. France supported the independence of USA

2. French executed their king and had a revolution (worried similar ideas would spread to Britain)

3. Wanted to colonies/ the creation of the British Empire

4. Trade - Napoleon had made it illegal to buy British products

What does Harvey describe the Great French Wars as?

“first global war“

When was the Peninsular War?

1808 - 1814

When was the Battle of Waterloo?

18th June 1815

What did Napoleon say about England in terms of destruction?

“Let us concentrate all our efforts on the navy to annihilate England. That done, Europe is at our feet.“

How many coalitions were there during the Revolutionary wars?

2

How many coalitions were there during the Napoleonic wars?

5

What country was apart of all coalition throughout the French Wars?

Britain

Which two members made peace with France thus withdrawing from coalition? And when?

Spain

Papal States - 1801

Which country did France defeat 5 times?

Austria

What did Napoleon say about France’s needs?

“France has more need of me than I have need of France”

What does Tousignant question about Napoleon as a Leader?

Was he…

• “power-hungry dictator whose wars left more than three million people dead”

• “military genius“

What does Zamoyski argue?

his identity as a “towering genius is flawed“

“What motivated Napoleon was his profound insecurity“

How did The Times summarise the death of Horatio Nelson? Anything else?

“The great and gallant Nelson is no more“

outpour of public grief that wouldn’t be matched until the death of Princess Diana 200 years later

When was the Battle of Trafalgar?

21st October 1805

How does Historian Dr Zack White describe the Duke of Wellington?

“He was only second to Napoleon in his military skill at the time“

“worst elitist prejudices“

“devoted servant of the nation and monarchy“

What did Wellington call the British army of numerous occasions?

“scum of the earth“

When and where did Wellington get sent during the Napoleonic Wars?

1808 takes on French in Portugal

What was the nature of Wellingtons most significant battle at Waterloo?

• Shattered Napoleons dream of European dominance

• It was not singlehandedly his victory it included Russia, Austria and the British around three quarters of a million men

How does Dr Zack White describe the the nature of Wellingtons most significant battle at Waterloo?

“lovely little narrative“

“ignores significance“ (of other troops)

How many years did Nelson serve in command?

8

How is the Duke of Wellington described?

leading military commander, politician, prime minister in 19th century Britain

When was the famous Battle of Waterloo?

18th June 1815

What was significant about Nelsons death at Trafalgar?

He was mourned by the entire world only replicated 200 years later with Lady Diaba

What does Harvey R. write about the French Wars?

“first of the modern great conflicts“

When were the French wars?

1793-1815

What years was Britain established as a major European power via her empire?

1714-1837

How many colonial losses had North America experiences during Britain’s colonization rise?

13 losses

When was the slave trade abolished?

1807

When had Britain becomes the worlds first industrial nation?

1760

What was a ship-of-the-line capable of?

Firing 1 + ½ tonnes of iron shots in a asingal broadside

What and When were the 7-Year-Wars?

1756 - 1763

• unfinished rivalries from the War of the Austrian Succession, Austria's quest to reclaim the region of Silesia from Prussia, and a fierce imperial struggle for global supremacy between Britain and France

What was the majority diet apart of a crew?

salt, mouldy biscuits, alcohol, beef, pork, oat meal

fresh food was rare

How many men were needed for a gun crew?

6 men/gun

What were conditions and pay like for the 1793 Royal Navy (B)?

• sailors better than like army

• better access to food/medicine

• doctors on ship better survival rates

What did the French lack in the beginning? What did this cause?

• trained officers

• couldnt leave harbour

Who commanded the British Mediterranean fleet and when?

Admiral Hood - Aug 1793

How many French warships surrendered at Toulon?

20

What was the result at Toulon 1793?

• abandoned at arrival of French troops in December

Where were the French based in the early wars? Thus, what did the British do?

Brest, Northwest France

Blockaded there

How long did it take to train a sailor? How did the French try to overcome this?

• 4 years

• Recruits came from: untrained or experienced taken from French merchant fleets

• stripped trading fleets to crew Ships of the Line → never found able ones

How many ships and sailors made up the British Navy?

• 135 ships

• 133 frigates

• 16,000 to 135,000 sailors

What were the French and Spanish doing the night before Trafalgar?

• fighting for their live in storm

• didn’t want to leave safety of harbour

• Napoleon commands them to

• Tired unready

How many shots per minute could the Spanish and French manage?

• one shot per 18 minutes for 36-pounder

• one shot every four minutes for an eight pounder

When was the Order of Assembly summoned and why?

• 1807 by George III

• Britain blockades trade with Napoleon and any country that tries to exclude Britain

What did British exports look like value wise?

doubled between 1790s to the end of the war

What is the period of financial “squeeze“?

• wages stagnated during 1796-1814

• low paid hit by inflation especially price of bread

How many of the male workers in the country were in the force?

1/6

How much did the French wars cost in comparison to the 7 Years War?

1,600 million

What was the war mainly funded by?

borrowing

funded by credit

How did the government respond to growing national debt?

• raised taxes

• imposition of the earrings tax (1798-1802 then again 1803-1816)

How many tonnes of grain were made in 1808 then what did it fall to in 1807?

114,000 → 14,000

Why was the timber shortage threatening and how had it started?

• War effort threatened

• farmers planting wheat instead of oak trees

• ancient royal oak forests left neglected

How did the wars impact the industrial revolutions momentum?

• 1818 337 cotton spinning mills

• stimulated growth

What was the seen as the worlds first mass production line?

1807s factories to make sailing blocks for royal navy

How is South Wales an example for Iron making boom?

1788: 500 tonnes made

1815: 10,000 tonnes made

What were the Martello Towers?

• building 1805-8

• guards coast against threat of invasion

• transmission of semaphore messages (borrowed from the French Chappe telegraph) set up links form London to Portsmouth completed in 1806

Who was Ned Ludd?

• broke 2 hand-knitting machines in Nottinghamshire in 1779

• 1811 Luddism flared to Yorkshire and Lancashire

• Gov response shows stress in reshaping industrial landscapes → troops to make peace whilst factories hire security guards

What happened to Luddites in 1812?

17 hung

What did the French Wars dwell too long on?

• Trafalgar and Nelsons victory to adapt to the new era of iron steamships

What was the economic growth looking like per year?

6%

In 1805 how many steam engines were there? What were they mainly used for?

• 112

• pumping water and power for manufacturing

When did the Grand Junctional Canal join London and what was it good for?

• 1793 operational 1803

• decreased the cost of bulk goods and transportation

Why was the East India Company so incredibly important to GB at this time?

• manages exports

• bought pack vital things like saltpetre for guns

• transported troops