The war between Britain and France

   In the late eighteenth century, battles raged in almost every corner of Europe, as well as in the Middle East, south Africa ,the West Indies, and Latin America. In reality, however, there was only one major war during this time, the war between Britain and France. All other battles were ancillary to this larger conflict, and were often at least partially related to its antagonist’ goals and strategies. France sought total domination of Europe . this goal was obstructed by British independence and Britain’s efforts throughout the continent to thwart Napoleon; through treaties. Britain built coalitions (not dissimilar in concept to today’s NATO) guaranteeing British participation in all major European conflicts. These two antagonists were poorly matched, insofar as they had very unequal strengths; France was predominant on land, Britain at sea. The French knew that, short of defeating the British navy, their only hope of victory was to close all the ports of Europe to British ships. Accordingly, France set out to overcome Britain by extending its military domination from Moscow t Lisbon, from Jutland to Calabria. All of this entailed tremendous risk, because France did not have the military resources to control this much territory and still protect itself and maintain order at home.

   French strategists calculated that a navy of 150 ships would provide the force necessary to defeat the British navy. Such a force would give France a three-to-two advantage over Britain. This advantage was deemed necessary because of Britain’s superior sea skills and technology because of Britain’s superior sea skills and technology, and also because Britain would be fighting a defensive war, allowing it to win with fewer forces. Napoleon never lost substantial impediment to his control of Europe. As his force neared that goal, Napoleon grew increasingly impatient and began planning an immediate attack.

 

不列顛與法國(guó)之間的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)

 

   十八世紀(jì)底，歐洲、南非、西印度群島和拉丁美洲的幾乎每一個(gè)角落都爆發(fā)了戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)，中東和美國(guó)。事實(shí)上，在這期間只有一場(chǎng)主要的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)，英國(guó)和法國(guó)之間的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)。所有其他的戰(zhàn)斗都是這場(chǎng)更大沖突的輔助，通常至少與對(duì)手的目標(biāo)和戰(zhàn)略有一定關(guān)系。法國(guó)謀求完全控制歐洲。這一目標(biāo)被英國(guó)獨(dú)立和英國(guó)在整個(gè)大陸挫敗拿破侖的努力所阻撓；通過(guò)條約。英國(guó)建立聯(lián)盟（與今天北約的概念沒(méi)有什么不同）保證英國(guó)參與所有主要的歐洲沖突。這兩個(gè)對(duì)手實(shí)力懸殊，實(shí)力懸殊，法國(guó)在陸地上占優(yōu)勢(shì)，英國(guó)在海上。法國(guó)人知道，除了擊敗英國(guó)海軍，他們唯一獲勝的希望是關(guān)閉歐洲所有港口到英國(guó)船只。因此，法國(guó)出發(fā)去克服英國(guó)擴(kuò)展其軍事占領(lǐng)從莫斯科到里斯本，從日德蘭半島到卡拉布里亞。所有這些都帶來(lái)巨大的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，因?yàn)榉▏?guó)沒(méi)有軍事資源來(lái)控制這一大片領(lǐng)土，仍然保護(hù)自己，維持國(guó)內(nèi)秩序。

 

   法國(guó)戰(zhàn)略家們計(jì)算出，一艘由150艘軍艦組成的海軍將為打敗英國(guó)海軍提供必要的力量。這樣的力量將使法國(guó)比英國(guó)有三比2的優(yōu)勢(shì)。這種優(yōu)勢(shì)被認(rèn)為是必要的，因?yàn)橛��?guó)高超的海上技能和技術(shù)是因?yàn)橛��?guó)高超的海上技能和技術(shù)，也因?yàn)橛��?guó)將進(jìn)行防御戰(zhàn)，使其能夠以較少的兵力取勝。拿破侖在控制歐洲方面從未失去過(guò)實(shí)質(zhì)性的障礙。當(dāng)他的部隊(duì)接近這個(gè)目標(biāo)時(shí)，拿破侖變得越來(lái)越急躁，開始計(jì)劃立即進(jìn)攻。