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Historical person

Pierre-Charles Villeneuve

1763–1806

Pierre-Charles Villeneuve was a French admiral who commanded the combined Franco-Spanish fleet during the Trafalgar campaign. After failing to draw British forces away from Europe as Napoleon intended, he took the fleet into Cádiz.

Ordered to make way for another commander, Villeneuve sailed and met Nelson off Cape Trafalgar in October 1805. Captured after defeat, he was later released and died in France in circumstances officially recorded as suicide. Pierre-Charles Villeneuve was born in Valensole and died in Rennes.

C. S. Forester’s unfinished Hornblower During the Crisis turns Villeneuve’s command of the Franco-Spanish fleet into the target of Hornblower’s intelligence operation, which is designed to manipulate the admiral’s movements before Trafalgar. Alexander Kent’s Honour This Day follows the naval campaign of 1805 from the British side as Bolitho’s squadron moves towards the confrontation with Villeneuve’s fleet, placing the French admiral within the chain of decisions and manoeuvres that ends off Cape Trafalgar.

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Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Pierre-Charles Villeneuve (2 series)

Richard Bolitho in Order

by Alexander Kent 28 books 4.5(44,733)

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Hornblower Saga in Order

by C. S. Forester 12 books 4.3(138,286)

The Horatio Hornblower novels follow a Royal Navy officer from his first service as a midshipman during the French Revolutionary Wars to senior command after the defeat of Napoleon. The books combine shipboard life, naval combat, intelligence work, diplomacy and the practical burdens of command with Hornblower’s private…

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