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 antagonists" 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 to 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, and also because britain would be fighting a defensive war, allowing it to win with fewer forces. napoleon never lost sight of his goal, because britain represented the last substantial impediment to his control of europe. as his force neared that goal, napoleon grew increasingly impatient and began planning an immediate attack.
英法戰爭
在18世紀後期，戰爭爆發于歐洲大陸的幾乎每一個角落，在中東、南非、西印度群島、拉丁美洲亦都是如此。 然而實際上，在這一時期隻有一場主要的戰爭，那就是英法之間的戰爭。 所有其他戰爭都服從于這一更大的爭端，至少是與這兩個對手的目標和戰略有某些關聯。 法國力圖統治整個歐洲，而英國的自主及其力圖在整個歐洲大陸挫敗拿破崙的種種努力都是法國實現這一目標的障礙。英國通過條約建立了聯盟(和今天北約的概念沒有什麽不同)以保證英國插手所有歐洲的主要爭端。 這兩個對頭並不是一對好對手，因為他們的力量極不均衡：法蘭西在陸地上稱王，英格蘭則在海上稱霸。 法國人明白，如果不能擊敗英國海軍，他們勝利的唯一希望就是讓歐洲的所有港口都對英國艦船關閉。
于是，法國將其軍事佔領從莫斯科延伸到裏斯本，從尤特蘭延伸到卡拉布裏亞，企圖以此來製服英國。 所有這些行動包含著巨大的風險，因為法國並不具備足夠的軍事資源，來控製這麽多地盤，同時又能保護自己，維持國內的秩序。
法國戰略家們的算盤是，其海軍若擁有150艘軍艦，則將足以擊跨英國海軍。 這樣的武力將使法國對英國具有3比2的優勢。 這種優勢被認為是必不可少的，因為英國人具有超群的海上技能和技術，並且打的是一場防御戰爭，使它能以少勝多。 拿破崙從未忘卻他的目標，因為英國是他統治全歐的最後一個重大的障礙。 隨著他的力量越來越靠近這個目標，拿破崙變得越來越不耐煩起來，開始策劃立即攻擊。