What if Admiral Villeneuve obeyed his orders/what if he was replaced?

ReenX

Banned
Reading up about him it seems the man was nothing but a disobedient lazy good for nothing, that seemingly single handedly caused the greatest harm for the French cause possible trough his disobedience of orders, all of it culminating in Trafalgar. The man seemingly knew and correctly guessed Nelsons tactic for the battle but couldn't be bothered countering it, using low skill of Spanish and French soldiers as an excuse.

What if he, on the other hand, simply obeyed his commands?

Or put in more effort?

Alternatively, what if Napoleon sent someone to replace him alongside the letter in Spain? Which other naval commanders did France have, that could have done a better job leading French and Spanish naval forces?
 
The man seemingly knew and correctly guessed Nelsons tactic for the battle but couldn't be bothered countering it

Where are you getting this from? He did counter Nelson's tactics, by double-stacking his line and thereby kettling the leading British ships. There were several reasons it didn't work - 1) Dumanoir did fuck-all, 2) Nelson had stacked his heaviest ships, best able to take a pounding, at the head of the line, 3) the columns provided a drip-feed of reinforcements that Villeneuve couldn't counter, and 4) Nelson's fleet was a lot better trained than it's opponents.
 
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