As the 214th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar looms, I'd like to open up discussion on the battle's importance. Whilst Trafalgar may have broken the back of the French navy, the commonly held perception that it prevented a French invasion of Britain is wrong - Napoleon had already moved his army from the English Channel to the River Rhine to start what would become the Austelitz campaign. Does this mean that we have exaggerated Trafalgar's importance? If so, is that mainly due to the death of Admiral Horatio Nelson in the moment of victory? How should we remember Trafalgar?
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Trafalgar did not 'break the back of the French navy.' The Toulon fleet was lost at Trafalgar, not the entire French navy. There were still fleets at both Brest and Cherbourg and Napoleon ordered a new fleet built at Antwerp. And the fleets at Brest and Cherbourg were strengthened. The Toulon fleet was also rebuilt. And when Trafalgar was fought, the Austrians had already surrendered at Ulm.
It is difficult, if not impossible, for a naval power to defeat a self-sufficient land power. And that is one of the reasons for Great Britain to finance the coalitions against France.