Used this Tuesday, January 4 on CNEWS by the Minister Delegate for Citizenship, Marlène Schiappa, to describe the suspension of debates around the vaccination pass by opposition MPs, what does the expression mean “to do a“ Trafalgar coup ”?
“There was a coup of Trafalgar of the opposition with an unnatural union between LR and LFI and the RN who decide to suspend by simple spirit of contradiction vis-à-vis the government”, declared the minister on our antenna by referring to the surprise stop of the examination of the draft law on the vaccination pass.
Today denoting an unexpected, and often decisive, maneuver, the expression “Trafalgar coup” refers to a military strategy applied in the naval battle that took place in 1805 off Cape Trafalgar, near the Strait of Gibraltar .
This opposed the Royal Navy to a Franco-Spanish armada. The alliance was in clear numerical superiority, but Admiral Nelson used a daring tactic, rushing right through the center of the enemy fleet, splitting them in two. In the midst of the melee, the very experienced guns and crews of the English then wreaked havoc. The French and the Spaniards thus lost twenty-three ships and more than 4000 men. For their part, the English mourned the death of Admiral Nelson, but “only” 400 sailors.
This battle was so disastrous for Napoleon and his plans to invade England, that the expression has remained in everyday language. It is comparable to “the Bérézina”, which refers to a battle in present-day Belarus in 1812. If it was won on a strictly military level by the French imperial army, the crossing of the frozen river then the difficult retreat that s he followed also marked the spirits.