![]() ![]() However, after Trafalgar, the French navy ceased to be an effective fighting force. It continued to pose a threat to England for at least 50 more years. However, after 1588, the Spanish rebuilt their fleet larger and better than it had been. I think that Napoleon's Grand Army represented a much greater threat to England than the Spanish Armada. ![]() If all had gone according to plan, it's very likely that Napoleon could have gotten his army across without British naval interference. However, the timing got screwed up and Napoleon abandoned his plan. The combined force of French and Spanish ships would have seriously outnumbered any British naval force in the channel and could have provided cover for Napoleon's army to invade England. Prior to this, he had planned for Villeneuve's fleet to sail for British possessions in the West Indies to draw off Nelson, then sail for the channel and meet up with Gantaume's fleet. The same religious and commercial factors behind the rebellion in the Netherlands would, in all likelihood, have been obtained in England also.īy the time of Trafalgar, Napoleon had already decided not to proceed with the invasion of England, and had moved his army into Germany to defeat the armies of Austria and Russia, culminating in his victory at Austerlitz. ![]() Spain had proven woefully incapable of suppressing the Dutch rebels why would they have been able to take, or perhaps more importantly keep, England also. But even there I have my doubts in the grand scheme of things. That would appear to suggest that the victory over the Armada is the more important of the two. IIRC, Nelson only had 1/3 to 1/2 the Navy's first rate ships at Trafalgar. Whatever the outcome at Trafalger, the balance of the Royal Navy stood between the French and any cross-channel operation. One reason why he could indulge in somewhat risky tactics (other than technical superiority of his crews and confidence, thereby, in prevailing) was that it was impossible, to use the remark made of Jellicoe in a later war, that Nelson could 'lose the war in an afternoon'. The point is well made that Nelson commanded a fleet at Trafalger, not the fleet. ![]()
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