He who loses his riches loses much; he who loses a friend loses more; but he who loses courage loses everything.
These words of the universal Miguel de Cervantes they should not have reached the ears of the Frenchman Pierre Charles Silvestre de Villeneuve or at least they did not make a dent in it, since the vice-admiral of the French fleet during the Napoleonic wars repeatedly fled from the British enemy. And in the end, when he decided to stand up to the English in the Mediterranean, everyone opposed him. If the poor thing was worth nothing to us...
Pierre Charles Silvestre de Villeneuve
Okay, now let's get down to business. At the end of the 18th century, after the Roussillon War , disputed between Spain and France, the Peace of Basel and the treaties of San Ildefonso and Aranjuez were signed by which the contenders would form an alliance to fight against Great Britain. In this way, Spain would try to recover Gibraltar (yes, we were already in those by then); France would distance her enemy from her Caribbean possessions and, incidentally, would take the opportunity to try to invade her. To do this,Napoléon Bonaparte he devised a strategic plan that seemed infallible to him:
You see, Villeneuve. You're going to leave Toulon for the Caribbean as bait to drag the British fleet there. Then you come back and we land in Scotland with our big army and take over the islands. On the way, don't forget to pick up the Spanish in Cartagena. When you arrive in Martinique, remember those Caribbean recaditos
Well, surely the message was not exactly like that. But the objective was clear:to mislead the British by going to the Caribbean to leave the English Channel free and land in Great Britain. However, Villeneuve, an insecure and “Nelsonphobic man ”Wherever there are, he did not fulfill his mission very well. Arriving at the height of the Spanish port of Cartagena, where they were to join the Allied ships, our dear Vice Admiral passed so quickly in an attempt to avoid the British fleet stationed in Gibraltar that the Spanish were not able to reach him until they reached the strait. Already in the Caribbean, more specifically in Martinique, Villeneuve put aside the commissions that Napoléon had given him and stayed on the island for two months. What was it that interrupted the paradisiacal stay of the French there? Indeed friends, the rumors that Admiral Horatio Nelson it was close.
Hartio Nelson
At this point, let's make a subsection. We have already pointed out the case of acute mieditis that Villeneuve had the British admiral; but breaking a spear in his favor, we must briefly tell why. And it is that back in 1793, in the midst of an attempt to conquer Egypt by the little Corsican, Nelson arrived and surprisingly defeated a large part of the French fleet in the well-known Battle of the Nile, of which Villeneuve was already commanding officer.
We then have the entire combined fleet back to Europe, more specifically to the port of Ferrol. Well, or so they intended. Because who really was already in Ferrol was an English flotilla that did not hesitate to present battle in that July 1805. The combat ended as soon as it began, since the poor visibility caused confusion to reign and, in the face of a more than possible loss of ships and men, the British Royal Navy postponed the battle until conditions improved. That they either put themselves with everything or did not fight. Missing more! The Frenchman did not hesitate, and as soon as he could, he set off on his way to Cádiz, a safe port where there are any. Napoleon was pulling his hair out at every movement of his vice admiral. He even said...
he doesn't have enough strength of character to command even a frigate. He lacks determination and has no moral courage.
And the truth is that he had not fulfilled a single one of the objectives that had been entrusted to him. The diversionary maneuver in the Caribbean came to nothing, the deployment of troops in Great Britain as well, the return to Vizcaya and from there to France after the battle of Finisterre, did not seem opportune to the French sailor either... So neither short nor lazy , Bonaparte issued the dismissal of his vice-admiral. Meanwhile in Cádiz, although the information was not completely certain, there were already many rumors that pointed to said change of powers. At that moment, Villeneuve had a brilliant idea:he would face the English in the Mediterranean in a last attempt to save his honor and his position. This is how he approached Federico Gravina , the Spanish command of the combined fleet, who very correctly told him that he was crazy. The weather conditions, the arrival of winter and the shelter of the port of Cadiz made the Spanish see it very clearly, something that the French attributed to a lack of honor.
"Don't you see that the barometer announces bad weather? Don't you see how it goes down?"
Then Villeneuve said dryly:"What goes down here is courage."
Hearing this insult, Gravina stood up blind with rage and threw his cowardly face at the Frenchman. behavior at Cape Finisterre. A little strong words were exchanged, and, finally, our admiral exclaimed:"To sea tomorrow!" that above all else is prudence, and even more so knowing, as he knew, that the combined squadron was not in a position to fight with England's” [Benito Pérez Galdós. National episodes. Trafalgar]
“The Battle of Trafalgar” (1836) – Clarkson Stanfield
And to the sea they went. The 33 ships of the combined fleet took two days to leave the port of Cadiz and line up, waiting for the British to do the same and calmly shell each other. But the British fleet was perpendicular to them, something that totally unsettled Villeneuve and made him quickly make another of his unfortunate decisions:to turn and return to Cádiz. If victory was already impossible, with this they signed little less than death. In addition, the Frenchman, to make matters worse, saw how Nelson was going directly to attack the defenseless ends of the Bucentaure, his ship. Fortunately for him, the French managed to board and fatally shoot the English.
The rest we already know. Lots of death. Good shipwrecks. A naval disgrace for Spain. A heroic pig. A myth made man for Great Britain. And a "pardoned" French Vice Admiral who appeared stabbed six times, gossips say, by order of Napoléon.
Who knows what would have happened to history if Villeneuve had continued to Biscay instead of heading south...
Collaboration of Marta Rodríguez Cuervo by Martonimos
Sources:Trafalgar – Benito Pérez Galdós, Holy Trinity , the massacre in the Spanish colossus that faced seven English ships in Trafalgar – Manuel P. Villatoro (ABC Historia article), Trafalgar – José Carlos G. and Crisanto L. Podcast Memories of a Drum