British Defeat at Copenhagen, 1801

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Copenhagen_(1801)

Before I read this article, I had the impression that Copenhagen was a one-sided spanking of the Danes by the British, but going over the battle in more detail, there were moments where the British might have withdrawn.

(Nelson's eyepatch for one, as well as the note that some thought a ruse.)

So basically, what if the Danes were able to successfully repulse the British attackers?

I'm thinking the League of Armed Neutrality might survive, at least for awhile longer. The British could always try again, but the attack on Copenhagen was timed so that the Russian fleet was iced in its ports. A few weeks longer and the Russian fleet will join the rest and the British will face a much more formidable opponent.
 
Actually it wouldn't change much as the Tsar had been assasinated on night of 23.-24. March only the slow travel of communications made for the Danes having to fight... ;)

Regarding the battle:
The time of year was so early that the norwegian crews hadn't yet returned from leave in Norway thus the Danish-Norwegian navy was without trained crew.
To make up for this the Navy asked for volunteers and got enough to man the ships; however they only had time for a 2 week crash course in gun drill! Some of the volunteers were even runaway slaves from the West Indies.

Only the ruse of Nelson to burn ships he hadn't captured made for the Danish crown prince to accept a cease-fire! (so much for an autocratic army-centric being in charge of naval operations)

Also a mortarbattery on Amager did harass the British during the night before battle but nobody on the shore had any idea as to the effect it wasn't used except for a few shots!

So if the norwegian crew had had time to meet at base in Copenhagen all means available been used and the admiralty left in command of operations the outcome might have been quite different - but anyway it wouldn't matter!
 
Top