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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Copenhagen
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(2 Apr. 1801) Naval engagement in the *Napoleonic Wars, a pre-emptive strike by Britain after a league with France had been formed by various Baltic states including Denmark. *Nelson was second in command of a fleet sent to the Baltic. He boldly took a group of relatively small ships into shallow and heavily defended waters close to Copenhagen, and proceeded to bombard the shore defences and the ships in the harbour. After heavy fighting his commander in chief, Sir Hyde Parker, flew a signal ordering retreat; this was the famous occasion on which Nelson put the telescope to his blind eye and thus pretended he had not see the signal. His action, successfully completed, was followed by an armistice with the Danes.
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