The recent letters about Lord Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar (most recently, from RW Carden, Letters, July 27), clearly show many people still see Nelson as a great Briton.

Napoleon knew he would have severe problems defeating the British Navy with his own combined French and Spanish fleet, which was poorly led. Nelson had the upper hand on the tactical operational level.

Mr Carden mentioned the great battle of Austerlitz, which took place in December 1805.

Austerliz far outshines Trafalgar in the annals of warfare. The French empire grew a thousandfold, thanks to Napoleon's strategy, which more than compensated for defeat at Trafalgar.

Austerlitz stands out as one of the great campaigns of military history and Napoleon's influence in this victory was an inspiration for generals into the last century.

Napoleon inherited the art of war from Captain Marlborough and Frederick the Great but refined and re-invented it.

It was not for nothing that two of his senior generals, Clausewitz and Jomini, published books which are still studied as bibles of warfare at West Point, Sandhurst and other military colleges.

At Austerlitz, his cunning control of the strategic Pretzen Heights, with only 66,000 men, soundly defeated the combined 85,000-man Russian and Austrian armies.

It was not until the retreat from Moscow, in 1812, that the grand armee began to face problems from which it never really recovered.

And it was not until Waterloo, in 1815, that Napoleon faced an opponent worthy of his stature: Wellington.

But as recent scholarship is beginning to show, it is more likely that Von Blucher's Prussians saved the day for Wellington at Waterloo in their timely arrival on the French flank.

In later life, Wellington tried to play down the Prussian role in this victory but he met with Prussian staff officers on the day of Waterloo and fully expected - and needed - Von Blucher's crucial forces. Napoleon was ahead of his time in his warfare, as well as in his vision. He made major reforms and even had ideas which resemble the modern United Nations.

-Anthony Arundell, Hove