Admiral Lord Nelson

Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson was a colourful and complex character, whose supremely successful naval career quickly attained legendary status. By 1803 he was Britain's paramount hero and already maimed with the loss of an arm and blind in one eye. He returned to war when called back in May and spent a further two years at sea before dying at the battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Today, two centuries after his death, the 'immortal memory' of Nelson endures. In this book, leading historians provide a radical reappraisal of his life and times.

What's behind the mythology that has been spun around Horatio Nelson? Rather than focus on Nelson's tactics, Admiral Callo has set sail in his wake, pursuing the elusive qualities of leadership that manifest themselves in combat. Few will dispute an assertion that Nelson spawned a personal legacy of success in battle. Nelson is a unique force that reaches across two centuries to inspire leaders of today in both battle and business. -- Gets beyond what Nelson did and takes an analytical look at the why and how of his successes

After two centuries of biographies and analyses, Admiral Lord Nelson speaks for himself in this collection of excerpts from his private letters and dispatches. Through Nelson's own words readers come to fully appreciate the admiral's insights and opinions. With chapters devoted to such subjects as duty, combat, politics, sea power, life and death, and Nelson's views of himself and his wife, Frances Nisbet, and mistress, Lady Hamilton, the book offers an array of memorable quotations. Each is placed in context to give contemporary dimension to the words. Engravings depicting events in Nelson's life accompany the text.

Why is Nelson a hero? Because he was a captain before he was 21, a man who shaped the course of history from the decks of his ships, hailed as a saviour of the nation, a hero killed in action at the moment of his greatest victory at the Battle of Trafalgar and immortalized ever since. What lies beneath the romantic legend of Horatio Nelson? What did he do before he became famous? Why did he fall from grace twice? Did he really put a telescope to his blind eye? Why did Victory's signal lieutenant change his 'England expects . . . .' signal at Trafalgar? What made his leadership special? This book traces Nelson's spectacular and often controversial career from a Norfolk parson's son who entered the Royal Navy at the age of twelve, through his youth as a difficult and ambitious naval subordinate, his rise to admiral and celebrity, his fighting career and his outstanding victories at the battles of the Nile, Copenhagen and ultimately Trafalgar.