Finished the terrific Nicolson book on Nelson and Trafalgar.

Nelson, of course, though victorious in the battle, was also killed, struck by a musket shot. He took a couple of hours to die, so he was able to hear the cheering of the English sailors as the French and Spanish ships struck their colors. He knew that the battle had been won.

See this painting by Arthur William Devis. Notice how there are a couple of lamps shedding some dim light on the scene, but mostly the light seems to emanate from Nelson himself. Notice also the Christ-like imagery, the obvious similarity to any number of depictions of Christ being taken down from the cross and laid in the tomb.

And but so Nelson’s death, his sacrifice, only heightened his greatness, only added to his legend. Only added to the romance of his legend. And that’s where Nicolson quickly takes us through the rest of the war, to Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo, and through the rest of the nineteenth century.

The romantic notion of war continued into the twentieth century, only to be wiped away by the First World War. And so then, again being a man after my own heart, Nicolson ends with Owen’s Dulce Et Decorum Est.