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In Nelson's Wake: The Navy and the Napoleonic Wars Kindle Edition

by James Davey (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 out of 5 stars 138 ratings
Battles, blockades, convoys, raids: An “impressive” account of how the indefatigable British Royal Navy ensured Napoleon’s ultimate defeat (International Journal of Military History).

Horatio Nelson’s celebrated victory over the French at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 presented Britain with an unprecedented command of the seas. Yet the Royal Navy’s role in the struggle against Napoleonic France was far from over. This groundbreaking book asserts that, contrary to the accepted notion that the Battle of Trafalgar essentially completed the Navy’s task, the war at sea actually intensified over the next decade, ceasing only with Napoleon’s final surrender.

In this dramatic account of naval contributions between 1803 and 1815, James Davey offers original and exciting insights into the Napoleonic wars and Britain’s maritime history. Encompassing Trafalgar, the Peninsular War, the War of 1812, the final campaign against Napoleon, and many lesser known but likewise crucial moments, the book sheds light on the experiences of individuals high and low, from admiral and captain to sailor and cabin boy. The cast of characters also includes others from across Britain—dockyard workers, politicians, civilians—who made fundamental contributions to the war effort, and in so doing, both saved the nation and shaped Britain’s history.
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  1. Print length
    710 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Yale University Press
  4. Publication date
    March 17, 2016
  5. File size
    16.2 MB
  6. Page Flip
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  7. Word Wise
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Students of maritime will surely profit from reading this impressive book. For those coming fresh to the period, a timeline summarizes important events… Davey’s deep knowledge of the secondary literature, and great familiarity with a wide range of primary sources, both printed and in manuscript, is put to good use. His arguments open up new perspectives on the navy and its role as an offensive force in a war fought mainly on land.“—Stephen Conway, International Journal of Military History

“Davey must be commended for his work, which will hopefully encourage further academic study into the conduct of naval warfare after 1805.”—J. Ross Dancy, H-Net Reviews

"For all the tragic glory of Trafalgar it would take another ten years before Napoleon was finally defeated, years in which Nelson's successors waged a world wide war against France, Spain, the Ottoman Empire, Russia and the United States. James Davey's elegant analysis demonstrates the importance of the Royal Navy's last great war under sail, the skill with which it was fought, and the quintessential character that made the British sailor into a national hero."—Andrew Lambert, author of The Challenge: Britain Against America in the Naval War of 1812



"This important book fills a deep void. For well over a hundred years no-one has written a comprehensive naval history of Britain in the ten years after Trafalgar. In Nelson's Wake, however, is much more than an operational narrative, for it is set in a rich context of British strategy and politics, resources and organisation, revealed through mature and thorough scholarship. It is essential reading for all who wish to understand the hard-fought victory over Napoleonic France."—Roger Knight, author of Britain Again Napoleon: The Organisation of Victory, 1793–1815 


"For all the tragic glory of Trafalgar it would take another ten years before Napoleon was finally defeated. James Davey's elegant analysis demonstrates the importance of the Royal Navy's last great war under sail, the skill with which it was fought, and the quintessential character that made the British sailor into a national hero."—Andrew Lambert, author of The Challenge: Britain Against America in the Naval War of 1812

About the Author

James Davey is curator of naval history at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. He lives in Greenwich, London.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B018SMRZA4
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Yale University Press; 1st edition (March 17, 2016)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 17, 2016
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 16.2 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 710 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 138 ratings

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4.4 out of 5 stars
138 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Paul Dickson
    5.0 out of 5 stars meticulous detail
    Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2024
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    Every theater on the naval conflict from ocean, ocean and sea, the sea is covered with personalities explained, as well as rivalries. Sometimes the detail concerning food supplies for the royal navy gets a little heavy, but all in all a very good history.
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  • Tdearing
    4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Royal Navy Review
    Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2023
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    This book picked up prior to Trafalgar and followed the British Royal Navy through the Napoleonic and, much less extensively, the War of 1812. It does well to outline the day to day role and duties of the service. Whilst there were no more great Trafalgars to be fought, there was a whole lot of war covering vast distances left to be fought, and this book does well to cover it. I do recommend this book.
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  • sully
    5.0 out of 5 stars This book is an excellent overview of many aspects of the Royal Navy during ...
    Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2018
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    I recently started reading Patrick O'Brian's historical novels set during the Napoleonic Wars at sea and then I found this book about the actual history. This book is an excellent overview of many aspects of the Royal Navy during the period, from life on board ships to strategy and tactics of the naval war. It was interesting to learn about the real events behind Patrick O'Brian's fictional accounts and indeed there was an actual British Captain who was a model for the character of Jack Aubrey.
    This book was a very good overview of a relatively obscure time of history and it is perfect for those who are unacquainted with the naval history of the period. It has good maps and it leaves you with a good working knowledge of the naval war.
    12 people found this helpful
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  • J. William H. Hudgins
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read!
    Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2021
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    An very important time in Anglo European history: 1803 - 1815!
    One person found this helpful
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  • Manuel Nino
    3.0 out of 5 stars Read almost like a graduate students' thesis.
    Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2024
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    In a pleading manner the author begs the reader to consider the importance of the navy to Britain after the victory of Trafalgar. In disjointed and unconnected chapters he details Britain's, obvious, reliance on the Navy. If you are an avid reader of history you can skip this book, won't have any new insightful revelations.
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  • Don W. Alexander
    4.0 out of 5 stars The naval war did not end with Trafalgar
    Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2021
    The exercise of sea power is not just defined by great naval victories, and Davey does a good job of setting the maritime stage between Napoleon and the British government before and after Nelson's great victory. Fifty years ago I began researching the origins of Napoleon's intervention into Iberian affairs, and at the time was surprised that Napoleon had not accepted the verdict of Trafalgar. Instead, he pursued a policy of naval construction with attempts to add foreign navies to his balance sheet. So, I was not surprised to find Davey contending that the British navy remained fully committed to the naval war against Britain. Of course, the British were very successful, both with preventing Napoleon from adding to his maritime strength using allied vessels (the British attacked Copenhagen in 1807 to remove the Danish fleet, managed to get the Portuguese fleet out of Lisbon before French ground forces could occupy the capital (December 1807), exploited the opportunity of Spanish resistance in 1808 to secure their fleet by and obtain Spanish bases, and managed to keep the Russian fleets in the Mediterranean and Baltic neutralized during the two plus years that Alexander I allied Russia to Napoleon. French efforts to contest the British inevitably met with defeat, and in no engagement did the French manage to sink a single British battle ship, while frequently losing their own. Davey attributes this success to superior British seamanship and greatly superior gunnery. However, French deficiencies in seamanship and gunnery were equally contributing factors. No matter what difficulties the British endured maintaining their blockade, the pay-off in overall experience at just being at sea was significant.
    I do have a few quibbles with Davey's scholarship He frequently attributes motivation to French actions using British observations at the time. The most egregious example that I found was his statement on page 294 that the British landing of a 10,000 man force at Alicante, Spain in June 1812, prevented the French general (he was actually a marshal) Suchet of sending reinforcements to marshal Marmont in his efforts to oppose Wellington. This narrative is false, and reflects many British historians’ efforts to craft the entire French effort in Spain as a battle against Wellington. Suchet had seized Valencia in January 1812 and captured most of the Valencia army when the city surrendered. At this point, Napoleon began to dismantle Suchet's army, with no effort to use these troops to reinforce Marmont. Instead, Napoleon directed Suchet to return the three legions of the Vistula (actual regiments each with two over-sized battalions) to France, where they would join Napoleon's marshaling of forces for his projected invasion of Russia. Two additional divisions (with four French and three Kingdom of Italy regiments) were directed north toward the Ebro River to suppress the Spanish guerrillas which had badly undermined French authority here when Suchet had stripped his garrisons to reinforce his campaign in Valencia. These divisions remained committed to their occupation mission; although some of the French forces were redeployed closer to Valencia after Suchet fought the battle of Castalla. Finally, all of Suchet's regiments were required to return to France elite contingents for Napoleon's imperial guard, and many also had to dissolve their third or fourth battalions in Spain, and then take veteran cadre from these dissolved battalions back to France to provide a nucleus for new units. The bottom line was that Suchet's forces in Valencia were emasculated once the capital was seized, but the British landing in Alicante (six months later) had no impact on the deployment of Suchet's army.
    I also find his account of the War of 1812 a bit amusing. He describes the war as a result of the United States turning hostile and declaring war (page 296) on Great Britain. For years, Britain had pursued a policy of state licensed piracy by seizing American merchant ships that did not meet British Orders in Council stipulations, and had conducted international kidnapping by stopping American ships and seizing crew (ostensibly British nationals, but the early nineteenth century was little lax on nationality documentation). Davey does not mention the role of British aid to the American native Indians, an additional source of irritation. I also think Davey mistakes the relative sizes of the American ground forces and naval forces as measures of preparation. American administrations believed their militia forces could walk over Canada, but very little national resources before the outbreak of the war were committed to the army. The United States navy was small, but the national government had provided the resources to build a limited number of very capable frigates. Of course, the size of the navy in no way prepared the United States to undertake a naval war against Britain, and was only force to do so owing to the gross ineptitude and execution of its invasions of Canada. Davey could have used a little editing help when he described the battle between the Constitution and the Guerriere, attributing the British ship to having only 18 guns, when in fact this was a 38 gun ship armed with 18-pound cannon.
    I don't think these blemishes mar a very good account of Britain's maritime effort that is built upon British archival research, almost exclusively primary published research (Napoleon's correspondence is a glaring omission that could have been effortlessly obtained), and an extensive bibliography of secondary sources. This book is worth reading.
    15 people found this helpful
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  • Mike M.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent overview of the naval side of the Napoleonic Wars
    Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2023
    Most histories of the maritime side of the Napoleonic Wars focus on individual commanders, such as Nelson; or specific battles, such as Copenhagen. This book presents a comprehensive overview of the entire conflict. And while the popular histories tend to treat the naval conflict as ended by the Battle of Tralfalgar, the French kept building ships, seeking an opportunity to defeat the Royal Navy and take Britain out of the war. It's a part of Napoleonic history that has gone long neglected...until this book. Which delves into the struggle from the ascent of Napoleon to power until his ultimate defeat - and yes, the War of 1812 is touched on as well. Highly recommended.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • helmer seger
    5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing!!! Excelent Book!!!
    Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2022
    one of the best books i have read about an imporant episode of England History!! superb!!!!
    One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Bing0719
    5.0 out of 5 stars Learnt a lot more
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 17, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    Well written and gives an interesting explanation of the fact that Trafalgar was not the end
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent and readable survey of the Royal Navy's role in ...
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 6, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    An excellent and readable survey of the Royal Navy's role in the Napoleonic Wars. Drawing on recent research, it also emphasises the scale and significance of the Navy's operations following Trafalgar.
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  • J. William H. Hudgins
    5.0 out of 5 stars Royal Navy at its Best
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 1, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    A great part of the Royal Navy’s history,
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  • Mrs. B. Daly
    4.0 out of 5 stars Welcome gift
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 7, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    This was a gift for an amateur naval historian. He rated it highyly.
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  • Mrs. Jane Hayes
    5.0 out of 5 stars Pleasing a good expert friend is always satisfying.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 14, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Gave as birthday present to retired Naval Commander /historian. Was delighted.
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