Discovery Channel - Bloody Britain (2004) Part 10 The Battle of Trafalgar

When History Was Really Horrible! Rory McGrath presents an entertaining history series that uses animation to shed light on some of the goriest events in Britain's past. Fresh, innovative, entertaining and revelatory, Bloody Britain combines strong historical research and storytelling with hands-on historical experiments (such as building and firing a trebuchet), an entertaining but extremely passionate presenter and atmospheric and innovative animation. Bloody Britain examines key historical events from ground level – looking at the lives and perspectives of all those involved in these events – king and commoner alike. Action and information-packed, each show is a fascinating and at times squeamish journey through some of Britain's most gruesome and awful, but momentous, historical events. In each episode of Bloody Britain Rory McGrath examines a key event from British history. Whether it's battles, rebellions, wars, plagues, social unrest, betrayal, executions, injustice or mass insanity, we'll concentrate on the mad, sad and bad moments from our past. In short, we'll zoom in on when the past was truly horrible and ask why, when and how these events came to be part of our history. From learning the tactics of the siege, through to troop formations and allegiances of the people, Bloody Britain demonstrates that history is always more interesting when it was horrible.

Part 10 The Battle of Trafalgar

Rory McGrath looks back at one of Britain's most famous military victories, the gory and glorious Battle of Trafalgar. Imagine being crammed into a ship, with dozens of other sailors that you have lived and worked with cheek by jowl for months, even years. The decks have been cleared, the cannons are prepared and the surgeon’s tools laid out below. There is a feeling of excitement and anticipation. Ships of the British navy surround you, with all eyes on the horizon. There is barely a breeze to fill the sails, so you are slowly floating towards the enemy fleet at walking pace. This is the scene for the decisive battle of the Napoleonic Wars, the Battle of Trafalgar, fought off the coast of Spain on 21 October 1805.

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