The Terror Before Trafalgar: Nelson, Napoleon, and the Secret War

Rating:
Summary: Excellent and informative.
Review: I respectfully suggest that the previous reviewer may be a little hard on Tom Pocock, who is anything but a "lazy" scholar. He is prolific, industrious and original.
Not all books have to be totally original in every paragraph of every page. A book that contains SOME new interpretations, insights and information is still a great accomplishment. Pocock's book falls into this category. It does contain a lot of material already in the "public domain" (a strange phrase for knowledge, anyway), but it also contains some gently presented but nonetheless invaluable insights and information. I learned much from this book, and I'm a scholar!
The book is meticulously researched, carefully arranged, sensibly and persuasively argued and Pocock-ishly written (in other words, elegantly). It is broad in its sweep of topics, but not in the least disjointed. All topics relate and flow together to form a colourful and richly helpful portrayal of a perilous period. I congratulate Mr Pocock, who has inspired me during my own academic journey. With this book he continues to do so.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting History, Muddled
Review: I was very excited when I heard of this books publication, as I felt it would give attention to a historical period that I think is sadly ignored. Noted historian Tom Pocock, in his new book, paints the picture of the "peaceful" years, the time period between about 1801-1804 when Great Britain and Napoleonic France suffered through an uneasy peace, separated by the channel. This time period is a very interesting few years, as it shares a lot of similar aspects with the US-USSR Cold War. Two very powerful nations, unable to grapple directly with each other, use every underhanded and dirty trick in the book to degrade the others influence, while still preparing for later all out war. It was a time of espionage, rebellion, intrigue, and new weapon designs. These factors make for great history, but I felt Pocock fails in regard to a truly monumental work.

By late 1801, it was clear to most that France and her emperor were firmly entrenched as masters of the continent. French armies dominated Italy, Austria, and most of Eastern Europe, while the old empires such as the Austria-Hungarian, pledged loyalty and peace to the Corsican general. England, with its small army, had no chance of dislodging the power of France. Many at home, interestingly, pushed for peace, both in admiration of Napoleon and his "Republican" ideals and their own deteriorating financial straits. The declared peace brought little relief however, as both sides stepped up their covert activities. Alliances were proposed, economic warfare often ensued, and the British secret service sought several ways to degrade the Emperor's regime.

At the same time, one of the few military figures to emerge heroically from the war, lived a relatively peaceful (but scandalous) life as a hero of the nation. Horatio Nelson was a wily naval hero who had badly beaten Napoleon at Egypt and knew how to make full use of Britain's superior position upon the sea. His days were spent usually on personal matters, but his date with destiny was rapidly approaching, and he did stay involved in the matters of state and the admiralty. His nemesis across the waves was also preparing for destiny, desperately trying to prepare a valid invasion fleet. Bonaparte knew that if he could get his troops across the 26 mile wide straight, he would easily crush the British. The hard part, of course, was getting there.

While I had initial excitement for this story, it was soon degraded by Pocock's style of writing it. Some parts that I feel had little actual impact on the historical record, or in anyone's interest, are harped on incessantly, to the detriment of the really fascinating events taking place. I want to hear of spies, of diplomatic trickery, not constant looks at Nelson's private life or which house his mistress should by. If I wanted that, I would turn to the thousands of Nelson biographies. Too often throughout his book, Pocock gets hung up on the wide range of knowledge he's decided to include, some of which are just annoying accessories to the main story. Still, the book was fairly entertaining and educational, it is just some of the writing is tepid and uninteresting. In the hands of a better writer, I felt this story could have been something really special.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting History, Muddled
Review: I was very excited when I heard of this books publication, as I felt it would give attention to a historical period that I think is sadly ignored. Noted historian Tom Pocock, in his new book, paints the picture of the "peaceful" years, the time period between about 1801-1804 when Great Britain and Napoleonic France suffered through an uneasy peace, separated by the channel. This time period is a very interesting few years, as it shares a lot of similar aspects with the US-USSR Cold War. Two very powerful nations, unable to grapple directly with each other, use every underhanded and dirty trick in the book to degrade the others influence, while still preparing for later all out war. It was a time of espionage, rebellion, intrigue, and new weapon designs. These factors make for great history, but I felt Pocock fails in regard to a truly monumental work.

By late 1801, it was clear to most that France and her emperor were firmly entrenched as masters of the continent. French armies dominated Italy, Austria, and most of Eastern Europe, while the old empires such as the Austria-Hungarian, pledged loyalty and peace to the Corsican general. England, with its small army, had no chance of dislodging the power of France. Many at home, interestingly, pushed for peace, both in admiration of Napoleon and his "Republican" ideals and their own deteriorating financial straits. The declared peace brought little relief however, as both sides stepped up their covert activities. Alliances were proposed, economic warfare often ensued, and the British secret service sought several ways to degrade the Emperor's regime.

At the same time, one of the few military figures to emerge heroically from the war, lived a relatively peaceful (but scandalous) life as a hero of the nation. Horatio Nelson was a wily naval hero who had badly beaten Napoleon at Egypt and knew how to make full use of Britain's superior position upon the sea. His days were spent usually on personal matters, but his date with destiny was rapidly approaching, and he did stay involved in the matters of state and the admiralty. His nemesis across the waves was also preparing for destiny, desperately trying to prepare a valid invasion fleet. Bonaparte knew that if he could get his troops across the 26 mile wide straight, he would easily crush the British. The hard part, of course, was getting there.

While I had initial excitement for this story, it was soon degraded by Pocock's style of writing it. Some parts that I feel had little actual impact on the historical record, or in anyone's interest, are harped on incessantly, to the detriment of the really fascinating events taking place. I want to hear of spies, of diplomatic trickery, not constant looks at Nelson's private life or which house his mistress should by. If I wanted that, I would turn to the thousands of Nelson biographies. Too often throughout his book, Pocock gets hung up on the wide range of knowledge he's decided to include, some of which are just annoying accessories to the main story. Still, the book was fairly entertaining and educational, it is just some of the writing is tepid and uninteresting. In the hands of a better writer, I felt this story could have been something really special.

Rating:
Summary: Terror Before Trafalgar
Review: Terror Before Trafalgar is a very interesting book. The author, Tom Pocock, is an expert on the Nelson Era, with more than twelve other books to his credit. This one is about the situations in England and France before the pivotal naval battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Much description is given to Nelson and Napoleon, but a host of other characters are described, and the conditions in both countries and of their military forces on land and sea are vividly described. Towards the end, before the great battle, the reader actually wonders if the French will successfully invade England. The build up and the writing are that good. Sometimes it tends to wander, but it basically stays on course. This is a great book about the Nelson Era.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing secret here, my Lord!
Review: The subtitle to this book by a recognised author on Admiral Lord Nelson is: "Nelson, Napoleon and the Secret War" and the cover is a less well-known painting of the famous naval commander. It is however really a typical example of the main publishing genre at the moment - authors who write a little bit of new material against a background of well-known information, supposedly so that a wider public can understand the subject. As a result, all kinds of claims are made by publishers, but the reality is rather different. This book is well-written, but contains very little that is not widely known - Nelson launched a failed attack on Boulogne in 1801, spent the next four years at home or on blockade off Toulon before the brief Trafalgar campaign in the autumn of 1805. Napoleon we see at Boulogne with the Grande Armee, selling Louisiana and having the Duc d'Enghien murdered. The "Secret War" is barely visible - it comprises the various schemes of Robert Foulton, (inventor of the torpedo and submarine) and the 1804 Cadoudal plot against Napoleon, alongside various references to the activities of Sidney Smith, victor over Napoleon at Acre and a key player in British clandestine operations, against a background of British fear of an invasion during the 1801-5 `phoney war'.
In an attempt to cover this quiet period, Pocock throws in everything he can think of indiscriminately - there is no framework to the book and nothing is examined in any detail. Looking through the footnotes, Pocock has taken large lumps out of secondary works or official publications of the time, such as the Naval Chronicle, plus a few well-known memoirs. The list of characters is fairly familiar, resorting even to Jane Austen as her brothers were in the Royal Navy, but only Captain Wright, working on the 1804 plot, is a new face. It could have been so much better in focusing on British preparations to face invasion and whatever countermeasures could be run on the Continent plus the subsidy arrangements to involve the European Allies in war to draw Napoleon and his army from Boulogne. Instead, it is a lazy work, which is well-written and fills in this period as nothing more than an initial reference. There is nothing `secret' to all this - it is already in the public domain.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good and worth the money.
Review: This is not as good as Mr Pocock's excellent biography of Lord Nelson, which may well be among the top two or three ever written. But it is still illuminating and interesting. I can't see how other rewiewers found it muddled, but they are naturally welcome to their view. I found this easy to follow and quite clear throughout.

Rating:
Summary: A GREAT BOOK
Review: We have been blessed by great books lately. This book is an important contribution to knowledge and a pleasure to read. It stands alongside Joel Hayward's "FOR GOD AND GLORY" book on Admrial Nelson as the best work on Napoloeonic-era naval studies to be published in some time.

We have come to expect excellence from Tom Pocock, one of the great naval history writers and this book is true to form.