In 1934, Jawaharlal Nehru looked back over the first ten years of Napoleon Bonaparte’s spectacular career as Emperor of France. He counted off his military victories, and catalogued the nations that had fallen before him, culminating in the dissolution of Holy Roman Empire after a thousand years. No one, Nehru said, had ever lorded it over Europe so completely.

Of all the countries of Europe, Nehru observed, only the United Kingdom withstood the onslaught, thanks to her Navy and in particular to Admiral Nelson. Though he lost his life at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, he had masterminded a victory that ensured Britain’s safety, and the Nelson Monument in Trafalgar Square keeps his memory alive to this day.

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