In just five years, however, Nelson would be dead. Mortally wounded in one of the most ferocious sea battles the world had ever seen, Trafalgar would be his defining moment. It would also mark the decisive turning point for the rest of this maritime century. It is no overstatement to say that his victory, that fateful October day in 1805, shaped the future of nations across the globe. With supremacy of the seas secured, Britain took to the oceans as never before. Through an energetic century of overseas trade and travel, technological innovation and commercial opportunity, the face of the world was changed forever. Yet for Nelson, the passage of time has often been unkind. Though his status as England’s greatest modern hero was consecrated in that bittersweet triumph at sea, in recent years historians have looked to excavate the man from the myth, to lift the mask and discover his true character. For a great many people he is still a scandalous figure, an ‘arrogant philanderer’, the vii This rare cast of Admiral Nelson’s face was created in Vienna in 1800. It is, perhaps, as near to Nelson’s true appearance as we are likely to see. Courtesy the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth.
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