Battle of Trafalgar facts for kids

The Battle of Trafalgar, painted by J.M.W. Turner in 1806-1808

The Battle of Trafalgar was a sea battle fought on 21 October 1805 between the navies of France and Spain on one side, and Great Britain on the other. The battle took place near Cape Trafalgar (a cape is a piece of land sticking out into the sea), which is in southwest Spain. The battle ended with a clear victory for the British forces. This allowed Britain to become the world's largest sea power for 100 years. The Battle of Trafalgar was the most important sea battle of the 19th century.

Before the battle

France and Britain had been at war for some time. France had built the strongest army in Europe, and controlled much of the land. Because it was an island, Britain had built a strong navy, and had used this to try to prevent French ships from leaving their ports. (This is called a blockade.) Because the French leader Napoleon Bonaparte wanted to invade (capture) Britain, he knew that he would have to sink the British navy first, otherwise it would be able to prevent his army from landing.

The British knew that France might try to attack them, and had placed ships outside the important French ports, like Toulon. The admiral (chief sailor) in charge of the British fleet was Lord Horatio Nelson. He had become famous in Britain for his victories over the French, such as at the Battle of the Nile in 1798.

But the French navy managed to avoid Nelson's fleet and leave Toulon during a storm and met up with a group of Spanish ships. Spain at the time was an ally (partner) of France. This small fleet first sailed to the West Indies, then returned across the Atlantic Ocean to the Spanish port of Cadiz. They wanted to join up with more French ships to make a stronger fleet. The British had chased them both ways across the ocean.

The battle

The French then learned that some British ships had been seen in Gibraltar, and thought this meant that the British fleet was not as strong as it had been before. So they decided that this was the best time to leave Cadiz.

The next day, the 33 ships of the French and Spanish fleet were met by the 27 ships of the British. Nelson had put his ships into two lines. Before the battle started, he sent a message which was to become famous: England expects that every man will do his duty.

The two British lines sailed through the French and Spanish line, splitting it, and was able to cause great damage to its ships.

However, Admiral Nelson, on board his ship, HMS Victory, was hit by a musket bullet fired by a sniper from the French ship Redoutable. The bullet entered via his shoulder, went into his lung and lodged in his spine. He was taken below the deck and died later, shortly before 4.30pm, as the battle died down. The French and Spanish had lost 22 ships, the British lost none.

After the battle

Because France was unable to invade Britain, British soldiers were able to fight on the European continent together with the armies of other countries against the armies of Napoleon. In the end, Napoleon was finally defeated, in 1815, at the Battle of Waterloo. With control of the seas, Britain was able to build up a large empire during the years that followed and its navy was the world's largest for over a hundred years.

Nelson's body was brought back to Great Britain and he was given a hero's funeral. In 1843, the famous Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column were built in London to honour him.

Images for kids

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  Vice Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson, by Lemuel Francis Abbott

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  Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, the French Admiral

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  Federico Gravina, the Spanish Admiral

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  Battle of Trafalgar By William Lionel Wyllie, Juno Tower, CFB Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

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  Painter Denis Dighton's imagining of Nelson being shot on the quarterdeck of Victory

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  The gale after Trafalgar, depicted by Thomas Buttersworth. In Cádiz harbour; the ships that the Franco-Spanish squadron recaptured from the British can be seen. In the centre of the image the dismasted Spanish First Rate Santa Ana, flying Spanish colours, is visible. In the distance other ships of the combined fleet can be seen in various degrees of distress, with some sinking.

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  Nelson's overwhelming triumph over the combined Franco-Spanish fleet ensured Britain's protection from invasion for the remainder of the Napoleonic Wars

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  Nelson on top of his column in Trafalgar Square in London

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  The Battle of Trafalgar by Clarkson Stanfield

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  Nelson's famous signal, "England expects that every man will do his duty", flying from Victory on the bicentenary of the Battle of Trafalgar

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  Artist's conception of HMS Sandwich fighting the French flagship Bucentaure (completely dismasted) at Trafalgar. Bucentaure is also fighting HMS Temeraire (on the left) and being fired into by HMS Victory (behind her). In fact, this is a mistake by Auguste Mayer, the painter; HMS Sandwich never fought at Trafalgar.

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  Painter Nicholas Pocock's conception of the situation at 1300h

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  Painter Nicholas Pocock's conception of the situation at 1700h

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  Battle of Trafalgar (1805) French and Spanish casualty rates by ship in sailing order, up to 84% for Fougueux

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  Battle of Trafalgar British casualty rates by ship, with 19% for Victory leading the weather column and greatest rate 35% for Colossus amidst the lee column

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  Painting depicting the French frigate Thémis towing the re-taken Spanish first-rate ship of the line Santa Ana into Cádiz. Auguste Mayer, 19th century.

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  A broadside from the 1850s recounts the story

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  Detail from a modern reproduction of an 1805 poster commemorating the battle

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  The Battle of Trafalgar by J. M. W. Turner (oil on canvas, 1822–1824) combines events from several moments during the battle