During the wars which followed in the wake of the French Revolution, France’s armies turned on Britain’s last ally in Italy, the kingdom of Naples. The French chased out King Ferdinand and Queen Maria Carolina and established a revolutionary republic. It lasted six months before an Army of the Holy Faith besieged them. In June 1799, the revolutionaries capitulated, after a promise of safe escape to France. Shortly afterwards Horatio Nelson's fleet sailed into the bay. At first, the admiral permitted the republicans and their families to troop down to the harbor. But then he struck, violating the treaty of surrender by seizing the would-be exiles in their transports. Hundreds of Neapolitans found themselves delivered up to a merciless enemy. In Italy the event became synonymous with betrayal, and Nelson's honor was even questioned in his native land. This book concludes that Nelson did indeed commit a war crime. Not only that, but Sir William and Lady Hamilton encouraged him. Nelson’s subsequent affair with Emma Hamilton in Naples then became a pointed contrast to the ongoing slaughter in the bay.

Jonathan North is the author of Napoleon's Army in Russia.