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The Battle of Trafalgar: what 2005 means to the Spanish

If you live in Britain you'll hardly have failed to notice that we are in the midst of some fairly major celebrations of an event which took place 200 years ago off the coast of southern Spain – just off Cape Trafalgar to be precise. The commemoration of the Battle of Trafalgar, and with it Lord Admiral Nelson's heroic death, will culminate in the 'Trafalgar Weekend' (21–23 October), with bonfires, parades, dinners, church bells and the media's attention. Jonathan Lord, of Granada-based All Ways Spain, asks what the reaction will be to the bicentenary in Spain, the country which suffered the reverse of Britain's fortunes in 1805?

The forgotten heros
Rather unjustly, outside of Spain the Battle of Trafalgar has often been regarded as an Anglo-French affair. In Spain itself, a collective amnesia has prevailed – until now, that is, and the opportunity provided by the bicentenary to both remember the 'disaster' of Trafalgar and put it in some perspective. Although it would be unrealistic to expect the Spanish to match the levels of enthusiasm shown in Britain, the Spanish are proud of their seafaring traditions, and indeed there was much credit in the Spanish navy's actions at Trafalgar, even in defeat. Spain is also aware that in the current age its coastline attracts not British warships and pirates but British tourists, and that the story of Trafalgar, dramatic and palpably human, is one worth telling.

But it is a bitter story to tell. The destruction wrought upon the Spanish fleet at Trafalgar directly triggered a series of consequences which led to the loss of the colonies in the Americas, and Spain's slump from the status of world superpower. The aftershocks of the battle also shook to the core the fabric of domestic affairs, heralding the break of the uneasy alliance with Napoleon and the ensuing turmoil of the War of Independence, when together the Duke of Wellington's armies and the Spanish guerrillas evicted the French invaders.

The Spanish point of view
The brief mentions of Trafalgar in Spanish school textbooks mostly blame the French admiral, Villeneuve, whose bungled command of the French-Spanish fleet not only overlooked the talents of the Spanish admirals and the potency of their fleet, but even scorned the valour of their sailors. The misery that inept and arrogant monarchs and politicians heaped upon the Spanish people, used as ill-prepared cannon fodder, is the focus of renowned author, Arturo Perez Reverte. His best-selling 'Cabo Trafalgar' has provoked much debate in Spain about Trafalgar. Denying the myth that it was a 'glorious defeat', Perez Reverte claims: 'Trafalgar demonstrates all that is wrong about this country, then and now. The people (widows, orphans, wounded) were sunk in misery: left to fend for themselves, without pay. What a disgraceful state for a country to be in É and things haven't changed a bit'.

Given such rancour, it is hardly surprising to find that, apart from the seemingly curious anomaly of a district in Madrid named 'Trafalgar', the Spanish have to date preferred to forget the momentous events which took place off their southern shores in 1805.

Into the light
But, in a modest way, the bicentenary is changing this attitude. At Cape Trafalgar itself - where up till now the only reminder of the battle has been the name of a local beach, 'The Beach of the Dead', in gruesome reference to the sailors' bodies washed ashore – there is to be built a monument to 'Peace and Harmony'. Then on the bicentenary weekend the waters off the Cape will host a flotilla of local yachts lined up in the battle formation of the two navies to hold a simple act of commemoration of the some 4,500 men who perished. The nearby port of Barbate is to open an Information Centre about the battle, and has declared 21st October a day of fiesta. In Cadiz – whose people heroically rescued many sailors from the storm which followed the battle – a series of seminars, exhibitions and cultural events throughout this year has successfully given shape and form to the rich historical legacy of Trafalgar.

These local events, together with Spain's participation in the International Fleet Review at Portsmouth earlier this summer, sending the aircraft carrier Principe de Asturias, demonstrate a change in the Spanish view of one of the major sea battles of all time. Forgetting is turning to an understanding of what Trafalgar means, the heroism and suffering of the people involved, and its place in local, Spanish and European history.

And it is this history that makes the Cape a particularly poignant and special place to visit. Today it is a quiet spot, one of many sandy bays along the Costa de la Luz, a beautiful stretch of coastline, all dunes and quiet seaside towns, vastly different from the high-rise clamour of the neighbouring Costa del Sol. The name, 'the Coast of Light', is attributed to the bright, azure qualities of the light, but with the Trafalgar anniversary shaping a more open attitude towards a key event in local history it also seems rather timely and appropriate.

Text © travel-quest and All Ways Spain 2005