Nelson the Admiral

by Colin White

Horatio Nelson was one of the most successful leaders Britain has ever produced. A legend in his own lifetime, he has inspired many hundreds of books. But few of these have concentrated on him as a naval commander - indeed the last major such study was published over thirty years ago. Since then much new material has emerged, both as a result of the Nelson Letters Project and in a series of international conferences on Nelson's battles involving French, Spanish and Danish historians. In particular, the discovery of Nelson's personal order books and battle plans have transformed our understanding of his command methods. Colin White has been at the forefront of all these developments and has made many of the most exciting new discoveries himself. He is therefore ideally placed to offer a fresh analysis of Nelson's tactics and leadership style. White presents new narratives of all three of Nelson's great battles, the Nile (1798), Copenhagen (1801) and Trafalgar (1805). He shows how the British triumph at Trafalgar was the culmination of years of thought and experimentation on Nelson's part, and by his contemporaries and predecessors. He also uses the new material to demonstrate Nelson's remarkable administrative skills, and his abilities as a diplomat and intelligence officer - aspects of his leadership that have not been fully highlighted before. The result is a different portrait of Nelson as an admiral - more rounded and more insightful than any yet achieved. Officially endorsed by the Royal Navy and the Royal Naval Museum, the book is illustrated in colour and black and white with over seventy images drawn from the collections of the Royal Naval Museum and National Maritime Museum, and with specially drawn diagrams illustrating Nelson's battles and campaigns.

Genres: History, Biography

Hardcover

First published August 12, 2010

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Realising I knew very little about Nelson and deciding I wanted to change that, I asked my boat loving buddy for a recommendation for a novice friendly book about him. You guessed it. This was that book.

Well. I have learnt that one book is not enough to cover the entirety of Nelson’s rich legacy. This book focuses on three of his major battles, ending with Trafalgar. No doubt, many of his defining moments and point of interest in his personal history are mentioned within its pages, but I will say that it’s clear not everything is covered and that, as a novice, I needed help. There was an amount of assumed knowledge, and here I would like to offer my thanks to Google for factual context about Nelson and thanks to Rob (aka boat loving buddy) for helpful context about naval protocols, tactics and, um, boats. It is clear a naval novice needs more than what is covered in these pages alone (when I next see boaty-Rob, he will be berated with questions about just how surprising those Trafalgar tactics were…). However. Do not let my ignorance take away from the fact this book got across that Nelson was outstanding and remarkable - not just at a tactician, sailor, statesman, diplomat etc and so on, but also simply as an absolutely inspirational leader worthy of recognition more than 200 years after his death. What. A. Man.

I still have questions about him and things I want to Google, but I think it’s reasonable to say this ongoing curiosity is a good thing only helped by the book, and not a detrimental assessment of it of it by any means. By the time I got to the battle of Trafalgar, I told my lovely husband to “leave me be, I’m not going to bed until this is done; things are getting tense and I’m not happy that he’s going to die”. Not long after, tears were shed for Horatio Nelson as he “gave up [his] ghost”. No reference to trite stories about the origin of the phrase “stiff drink”, or elaboration on what happened to his loved ones after he died, this book focuses on well researched analysis of Nelson and his influential time as a admiral. I cannot wait now to go back to Portsmouth and look around HMS Victory with a new found appreciation of what took place onboard that historic vessel and seek out chances to understand more about this celebrated naval legend.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic look at the evolution of Nelson's command philosophy and techniques from 1797-1805.