Why do people want a Trafalgar day?

What links these pictures

Napoleon

Nelson

HMS Victory

Trafalgar Square
Who was Napoleon?
 What did Napoleon want?
• Napoleon wanted to control all of Europe
– he even wanted all of Europe to have
the same laws and money.

• In 1797 Napoleon said that France ‘must

destroy the English monarchy, or expect
itself to be destroyed by these intriguing
and enterprising islanders.....Let us
concentrate our efforts and annihilate
England. That done Europe is at our feet’
 Why would Britain be worried
about what Napoleon was doing?
Horatio Nelson
 Before the battle
Before the battle began Nelson sent
a message to the other ships in the
fleet using a system of messaging by
flags. Using this alphabet decode
Nelson’s message on the next slide.
Nelson’s battle plan
 Importance of Trafalgar
As the years past, people began to see
Nelson’s victory over Napoleon’s navies as
being more and more important.

Not only had it removed the threat from

French invasion, it also helped make
Britain richer and more powerful.

Having control of the seas meant Britain

could trade with countries like India and
China safely and without competition and
this paved the way for the British Empire
 Nelson remembered
In 1839, nearly 35 years after the battle,
Parliament decided to commemorate Nelson’s
victory over the French. A huge square was cleared
in the centre of London and a column almost 60m
tall was placed in the middle of it.

The square was name Trafalgar Square and a

statue of Nelson was put on top of the column.
Four enormous bronze lions were also made from
captured French cannons and placed at the base of
the column!

Trafalgar square – and its pigeons- is

now a world famous landmark and
visited by millions of tourists every
year