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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 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.

全文翻譯：

英法戰(zhàn)爭
在 18 世紀后期，戰(zhàn)爭爆發(fā)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，在這一時期只有一場主要的戰(zhàn)爭，那就是英法之間的 戰(zhàn)爭。 所有其他戰(zhàn)爭都服從于這一更大的爭端，至少是與這兩個對手的目標(biāo)和戰(zhàn)略有某些 關(guān)聯(lián)。

法國力圖統(tǒng)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侖的種種 努力都是法國實現(xiàn)這一目標(biāo)的障礙。英國通過條約建立了聯(lián)盟(和今天北約的概念沒有什么 不同)以保證英國插手所有歐洲的主要爭端。

這兩個對頭并不是一對好對手，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(guān)閉。 于是，法國將其軍事占領(lǐng)從莫斯科延伸到里斯本，從尤特蘭延伸到卡拉布里亞，企圖以此來制服英國。 所 有這些行動包含著巨大的風(fēng)險，因為法國并不具備足夠的軍事資源，來控制這么多地盤，同 時又能保護自己，維持國內(nèi)的秩序。法國戰(zhàn)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(yōu)勢。 這種優(yōu)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(shù)，并且打的是一場防御戰(zhàn)爭，使它能以 少勝多。

拿破侖從未忘卻他的目標(biāo)，因為英國是他統(tǒng)治全歐的最后一個重大的障礙。 隨著 他的力量越來越靠近這個目標(biāo)，拿破侖變得越來越不耐煩起來，開始策劃立即攻擊。