THE DYING NELSON and the haughty Wellington loom large in the British perception of the Napoleonic Wars. The mastery achieved by the Royal Navy, the grinding victory in the Peninsular War and the bloody denouement of Waterloo dominate our view of the struggle against Napoleon. Yet there was another important theatre of operations: the Mediterranean. Far from home, it was often far from the forefront of politicians’ and the public’s minds, and, moreover, far from decisive. Consequently, the spoor it has left on the paths of our history is barely discernible.

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