Trafalgar: The Biography of a Battle

Roy Adkins

4 Reviews

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Europe, Prose: non-fiction, History, Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700, Military history, Napoleonic Wars

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Abacus
- Paperback Aug 8, 2005 | 9780349116327 | RRP $26.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Oct 22, 2020 | 9780349144597 | RRP $35.99 Buy Now
- e-Book Oct 21, 2011 | 9781405513449 | RRP $16.99 Buy Now
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Little, Brown Audio
- Paperback Aug 8, 2005 | 9780349116327 | RRP $26.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Oct 22, 2020 | 9780349144597 | RRP $35.99 Buy Now
- e-Book Oct 21, 2011 | 9781405513449 | RRP $16.99 Buy Now
Play Sample
0:00
Imprint

Abacus
- Paperback Aug 8, 2005 | 9780349116327 | RRP $26.99 Buy Now
- Audiobook Oct 22, 2020 | 9780349144597 | RRP $35.99 Buy Now
- e-Book Oct 21, 2011 | 9781405513449 | RRP $16.99 Buy Now
Play Sample
0:00

* A superbly researched, gripping account of the most important naval battle in British history, which thwarted Napoleon at sea and created a national hero in Nelson.

A superbly researched, gripping account of the most important naval battle in British history, which thwarted Napoleon at sea and created a national hero in Nelson.

This is the true story of the Battle of Trafalgar, as seen through the smoke-hazed gunports of the fighting ships. In an atmosphere of choking fumes from cannon and musket fire, amid noise so intense it was almost tangible, the crews of the British, French and Spanish ships did their best to carry out their allotted tasks. For over five hours they were in constant danger from a terrifying array of iron and lead missiles fired from enemy guns, as well as the deadly wooden splinters smashed from the ships' hulls by the cannon-balls. While the men manoeuvred the ships and kept the cannons firing, the women helped the surgeons tend the sick or helped the boys - the 'powder monkeys' - in the hazardous job of carrying gunpowder cartridges from the central magazine to the gun decks. Trafalgar set the seal on British naval supremacy, which became the mainspring for the growth of the British Empire.

Praise for Trafalgar: The Biography of a Battle

The blazing TRAFALGAR is at least the equal of STALINGRAD in blood, pace and detail, but it also boasts a welcome twist to the genre with a lacing of black humour - INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
Masterful in explaining why Nelson's men were so much more efficient ... Adkins has written a compelling account - MAIL ON SUNDAY
Well-written and makes good use of first-hand accounts - LITERARY REVIEW
[Adkins's] painstaking digging, sifting, arranging and questioning take him everywhere on Nelson's fleet ... His account of the battle is a gripping album of snapshots from the quarterdecks and gun decks of the ships themselves ... A most eclectic but engagi - SPECTATOR

Roy Adkins

Roy and Lesley Adkins are husband-and-wife authors of widely acclaimed books on naval history, archaeology and social history, which have been translated into seventeen languages. They include Jack Tar, Trafalgar, Gibraltar, The War for All the Oceans, The Keys of Egypt, The Handbook of British Archaeology, Empires of the Plain, Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece, Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome, Dictionary of Roman Religion, and Eavesdropping on Jane Austen's England. They are Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London, Fellows of the Royal Historical Society and Members of the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists. They live in Devon.