The Battle of Copenhagen, 2 April 1801, fought to force Denmark out of the hostile ‘Armed Neutrality’ of the Northern Powers – Russia, Sweden, Denmark and Prussia – was the second of Nelson's great battles and, like the Battle of the Nile, also against an enemy at anchor. Nelson's intention was to concentrate on parts of the Danish defence and defeat it in detail but despite careful preparations the issue remained in doubt. Nelson ignored his superior's signal of recall: ‘Leave off action!... Now damn me if I do. You know, Foley, I have only one eye – I have a right to be blind sometimes... I really do not see the signal.’ Eventually he offered a truce to save the Danish wounded in sinking and burning ships. As against this show of humanity, he used diplomacy, threat and bluff to engineer an armistice. With arrival of the news of the assassination the Tsar Paul I of Russia, which in fact preceded the battle, the Armed Neutrality collapsed.