The Battle of Trafalgar was fought on the 21st of October 1805 off Cape Trafalgar on the Spanish coast, between the combined fleets of Spain and France and the Royal Navy. It was the last great sea action of the period and its significance to the outcome of the war in Europe is still debated by historians.
The battle itself was the culmination of a long campaign. After the Treaty of Amiens Europe was at peace for 14 months. Many ships in the Royal Navy were paid off and the British returned to their peace time activities. But across the Channel in France Napoleon was planning the next stage of his domination of Europe. He realised that if war broke out again then the Royal Navy would blockade French and continental ports as they had done before and French overseas trade would be crippled. So he planned to invade England and free the seas for French trade. He ordered the building of a fleet of invasion barges and the Grand Army was moved to the Pas de Calais area.
But to get the army across safely the French fleet would need to control the English Channel. To this end he tried to engineer a meeting of his fleets so they could control the sealanes, and protect his invasion barges. He gave orders for the fleets in Toulon, Brest and Ferrol to break out of their blockaded ports.
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