Seize the Fire: Heroism, Duty, and the Battle of Trafalgar

For anyone who loves 'Master and Commander' or 'Hornblower' with their tales of heroism on the high seas, this is a must buy. Unlike other naval history books, this one delves into the psychological makeup of the men who became heroes at Trafalgar. Revealing the strange, heady mixture of millennial, end of the world violence, love, humanity and duty, this book is full of the authentic voices of the time and reads like an adventure. If only all history was this enticing! Review by Alex Beecroft, author of Captain's Surrender

Real human history is not only stranger than fiction. It can also be made to read better than fiction. Writers of real history surround their readers with a sense of how people thought and acted in the era they write about, and how different that can be from modern ways of thinking. Real historians make history exciting. Adam Nicolson is a real historian. "Seize the Fire" is exciting and genuine history.

Adam Nicholson's "Seize The Fire: Heroism, Duty and the Battle of Trafalgar" is one of the finest books I have come across on the battle itself, and, I might add, one of the most novel with regards to the intentions of those who fought it. It is quite simply more a brilliant psychological and sociological study of the combatants - especially of the Royal Navy fleet commanded by Vice Admiral Lord Nelson - than a fine history of the battle itself, in which it too succeeds most admirably. Nicholson's central theme is explaining how a "nation of shopkeepers" so decisively defeated the combined fleets of Napoleonic France and Spain. It is Nicholson's contention that this success was due to the laissez-faire capitalism espoused by the burgeoning British middle class and the desire by the Royal Navy to obtain victory first, with honor and duty the necessity prerequisites to victory (In stark contrast, both the French and Spanish naval commanders regarded honor and duty as traits that were as important - if not more so - than obtaining victory.). Nicholson's chapters are succinct summaries of the psychology and sociology of the three navies which fought at Trafalgar. He compares and contrast, the British wanton desire for glory and financial success from the seizure of prizes with more medieval notions of honor and duty from the Spanish, and to a lesser extent, the French (They, in turn, were motivated more by the prospect of failing Napoleon Bonaparte than by any strong sense of honor and duty; a fear born of realism since Napoleon did not react well to failure by his military commanders and their subordinates.). Appropriately, he delves deeply into the thoughts of Horatio Nelson and his subordinates, observing that the Royal Navy operated more along the lines of a successful modern corporation than a classical military organization, especially with regards to the seizure of prizes - both commercial and military vessels - and career advancement. Nicholson also devotes much prose to the battle itself, hinting that it was as bloody and as chaotic as any of the great battles fought in modern times. The Royal Navy was an aggressive military machine which excelled at killing its opponents; at Trafalgar, the ratio of those killed and wounded aboard Royal Navy warships to those aboard the combined French and Spanish fleets was a remarkable 1:10; clearly with regards to casualties it was a decisive victory for the British. Nicholson also notes how much this battle affected British consciousness, describing the artistic tributes paid to Nelson and his comrades by artists ranging from the distinguished American painter Benjamin West to the lesser known Arthur William Devis (His depiction of the death of Nelson is probably the most accurate, much more so than West's mythological tribute.) and to, of course, the great JMW Turner. "Seize The Fire" should appeal to anyone who has any interest at all in the Battle of Trafalgar. However, I suspect that its most avi

That description of the U.S. Marines who fought at Iwo Jima in 1945 is an equally appropriate description of the British, French, and Spanish sailors who fought at the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21, 1805. Napoleon once referred to England as a nation of shopkeepers ("LAngleterre est une natione de boutiquiers"). This was a disparaging remark meant to signify that England was not capable of success in a war against his France. The heart of Adam Nicolson's "Seize the Fire: Heroism, Duty and the Battle of Trafalgar" is the suggestion that England bested the French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar in part because they were a nation of shopkeepers not despite that fact. Nicolson make a compelling argument that differences in the social and political conditions of the combatants played a significant role in determining the outcome of the battle before it began. Seize the Fire consists of three interwoven story lines: the battle itself; an overview of the social structures of the combatants; and a discussion of the officer class of the British navy. The book is structured as a chronological narrative of the preparations for and the battle itself on October 21, 1805. Chapters are set up to cover specific time periods during the day. The narrative of the battle is straightforward. Nicolson provides a description of the fleets and the morale of their crews. Nicolson provides a good general overview of vessel construction and operation in the age of sail. By the time battle is joined I had sufficient background information to follow the course of the battle itself. What I was not prepared for was the sheer carnage of Trafalgar. If you have seen the opening minutes of the movie Saving Private Ryan you will have a good idea of the word-picture painted by Nicolson. The early chapters contains Nicolson's discourse on the social structure of the combatants. Spain is seen as a society still struggling to emerge from the middle ages. It had an ossified social structure that was part monarchical and part theocratic. There was little economic growth, a very low birth rate, and no upward social mobility of any kind. There was no middle class to speak of and the country was effective divided between an effete aristocracy and a peasant class. Its navy was similarly constructed. Although many of its naval officers were brave, and some very capable sailors, advancement was not based on merit but through a complex aristocratic hierarchy. Post-revolutionary France also suffered from a very low birth rate and a stagnant economy. More importantly, the French Navy was not immune from the revolution's dramatic restructuring of French society. At the height of the Terror the Navy was radicalized along lines later made famous by the Soviet Union. Political commissars subverted the authority of the officer class. Experienced officers fell victim to the Terror in a manner starkly similar to the decimation of the Soviet officer class in the years rior to

How rare to read a work of non-fiction, especially one which focuses on some portion of 19th century military history, and dread reaching its conclusion. Too often, the phrase "page-turner" is applied irresponsibly but not so when describing Nicolson's Seize the Fire. I read it from start to finish and now plan to do so again after re-reading Garrett Mattingly's The Armada. (There are striking similarities between the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 and Nelson's victory 217 years later.) Also John Sugden's Nelson: A Dream of Glory, 1758-1797, Andrew Lambert's Nelson: Britannia's God of War, and Joel S. A. Hayward's For God and Glory: Lord Nelson and His Way of War. Briefly, here is some background information provided by Lambert. "During the engagement at Trafalgar, on 21 October 1805, the Royal Navy annihilated the greatest threat to British security for 200 years, but lost Britain's national hero in the process. Little wonder the battle transcended the mundane calculation of ships and men, victory and defeat. It guaranteed Britain's control of the oceans, the basis of her global power for over a century. "By 1805 Nelson was already a national hero, and considered the ultimate naval commander. His elevated conception of war ensured that every battle he fought was used to solve major strategic problems, and his many successes ensured he was the only contemporary to rival Bonaparte as ultimate exemplar of total war. Nor did Bonaparte disagree - he kept a bust of Nelson in his private quarters. Nelson developed the art of war at sea to the new, terrible form he characterised as 'annihilation' to counter the war effort of Napoleonic France. He did so by taking the command system of Admiral Sir John Jervis, the tough old officer who taught him how to keep a fleet efficient, and melding it with the genius for battle and strategy he developed while serving under Admiral Lord Hood." Credit Nicolson with skillfully examining, step-by-step, the process by which Nelson and his associates engaged in and then achieved one of the greatest naval victories in history. According to Nicolson, "Navies reflect the societies from which they come." In this instance, British meritocracy opposed by European aristocracy. Recalling Sun Tzu's observation in The Art of War that every battle is won or lost before it is fought, I soon realized that the outcome off Cape Trafalgar was inevitable. Napoleon's forces and those of his Spanish allies were no match for Nelson's "animal courage" as well as his leadership skills, in combination with his uncommonly loyal officers and men. For them, "Victory [was] neither a luxury nor an ornament, It [was] a compulsion and a necessity." Their decisive killing ratio (approximately 1-10) without losing a single ship suggests just how skilled and determined as well as violent the British were. Of course, they were aided by the fact that they could fire a cannon round every 90 seconds whereas their opponents required five minut