After pasport control you follow Winston Churchill Avenue and cross the famous airstrip into the North District of Gibraltar city.
The first suburb you walk into is “Ocean Village” a Dubai like development with high risers, waterfront bars and restaurants around a small marina. We enjoyed many sun-downers in this cozy area.
Gibraltar has a long and interesting history. We will limit this post to the main events.
Gorham’s cave is considered one of the last habitations of Neanderthals that got extinct around 50,000 BC.
Modern humans arrived about 40,000 years ago spreading from East to West across Europe, coming from the Middle East. There is little evidence of habitation during the bronze age, (2000BC) since people stopped living in caves.
There are many caves on the peninsula and one of them is big enough to house a permanent theater.
Pre-history ends when written history starts during the Punic Empire. See https://www.twobatsea.com/history-of-iberian-peninsula/
In 1160 the Moors built a permanent settlement, including a castle, with the name of Medinat al-Fath (City of the Victory). The Tower of Homage of the Moorish Castle remains standing today.
The Spanish (re)captured Gibraltar in 1492 from the Moors.
In 1704, during the War of the Spanish Succession, which was all about the balance of power in Europe, a combined Anglo-Dutch fleet, representing the Anti-France Alliance (Britain, Netherlands and the Austrian Habsburgs), captured Gibraltar on behalf of Charles of Austria in his campaign to become King of Spain and to prevent Spain from being absorbed by the powerful French. In 1713 the Treaty of Utrecht was negotiated, which ceded control of Gibraltar to Britain to secure Britain’s withdrawal from the war.
Spain realised the strain on the British military during the American War of Independence (1775 to 1783; American Revolution). During this period the Spanish, now aided by the French, attempted to regain control over Gibraltar with the Great Siege of Gibraltar (1779 to 1783) the last of 13 sieges.
The Spanish and the French had joined forces during the American Revolution and were funding the American rebels. The French fleet blocked British acces into Yorktown and provided soldiers as well. https://www.twobatsea.com/brest-france/. The British therefore expected an attack on Gibraltar and the cities defences were expanded and improved under the leadership of George Eliott. The most prominent fortification was Kings Bastion on the West side facing the bay to protect against attacks from the sea.
To the North, the British lines blocked access to the City and the western side of the Rock, while the eastern side of the Rock was inaccessible because of its steep terrain.
Gun batteries were placed in a series of galleries on the north face of the Rock, so that infantry attacks would come under fire throughout their advance from La Linea.
However to the North-East was a blind spot that could not be covered by gunfire. It was decided to place guns on a rocky outcrop (the Notch) on the cliff face to cover that area. The only way to get there was to dig a tunnel since the cliffs are to steep to construct a road. Construction of the tunnels started May 1782.
After 6 weeks of toil the miners were almost suffocated by the fumes of blasting, so a hole was opened for ventilation. At once it was realised what a fine location it woud be for a gun. Henceforth the men kept adding gun locations whilst slowly moving towards “the Notch”.
A major step forward in gun design was the Lt. Koehler’s gun carriage. Firstly it enabled the gun to be pointed downward. Secondly the gun was able to recoil up the carriage instead of moving the whole carriage, speeding up reloading and re-aiming.
The great siege lasted 3 years 7 months but the naval blockades had been a complete failure, with the British supply fleets managing to slip thru time and time again. An attack by land would be impossible. The French commander of the allies, The Duc de Crillon, decided to bombard the British positions from the sea and to pound them into submission by shear force. Thereafter troops would be put ashore by the waiting Spanish fleet.
The main thrust was the Grand Attack on Sept 13, 1782. The attacking force had 65,000 men (soldiers and sailors) 114 land guns and 104 warships. The defenders had 7,500 men, 96 land guns and 12 warships. The attackers had even constructed 10 purposely designed floating batteries, with guns and heavy armour to one side only.
An ‘army’ of over 80,000 spectators thronged the adjacent hills on the Spanish side, expecting to see the fortress beaten to powder and ‘the British flag trailed in the dust’.
The floating batteries moved into position with guns firing. However, the alignment was not correct. The two lead ships had moved too far ahead. Initially the British cannonballs bounced of their hulls. However the Spanish warships were to spread out to cause significant damage.
By noon the British had heated up “red-hot shot”. These were cannonballs heated up in a furnace that, once embedded in the enemies wooden hull, would set it on fire.
The British managed to set the closest two floating batteries on fire. Others ran aground and/or had their rigging damaged and could no longer manoeuvre. The Spanish ships of the line failed to move in to support. Meanwhile the Spanish land guns stopped firing since they had run out of gun-powder. The Duc de Crillon, the French commander of the floating batteries admitted defeat and decided to scuttle the remaining ships. The British, realising the disaster that was unfolding, sent out their boat to rescue the enemies crew. The fire on the two burning batteries ran out of control and reached the magazine. The explosions were horrendous with burning debris landing on the, now abandoned, other floating batteries, setting them on fire and sealing their fate. All 10 floating batteries got destroyed.
The Grand Attack ended for the allies in brutal defeat, however the siege continued, with daily bombardments by the Spanish land based guns. In October that year the British again managed to bring a convoy of 31 supply ships into Gibraltar. The failed attempt by the Spanish to intersept the supply fleet was the final action of the siege and showed again the dismal failure of the allied navy to stop the relief for the third time. Thereafter the Allies basically “gave up” knowing that piece negotiations were ongoing.
The Spanish fleet’s performance under the Spanish Admiral Luis de Córdova was the greatest factor in the siege’s failure.
It shall be noted that Cordova managed to capture 79 British ships between 1780 and 1782. However in the later years the hulls of the British ships were copper sheeted and therefor faster.
Gibraltar got quickly rebuild en the tunnel network expanded. It is said the total length of tunnels within the rock exceed the total length of roads in the city. The rock materials from the tunnels was used to construct the airstrip.
After the siege ended, The Duc de Crillon and his staff were invited to dine with General Eliott on 31 March 1784 and were shown the tunnel. Warfare that time was a bit different, with spectators on grandstands and commanders dining afterwards!!
During the Napoleonic Wars (1803 – 1815) Gibraltar became a key base for the Royal Navy and played an important role leading up to the Battle of Trafalgar off the Spanish coast (21 October 1805) where the British under the command of Lord Nelson defeated the combined French – Spanish fleet.
The rock saw surprising little action during WWII. The Nazi’s had a plan “Operation Felix” to capture Gibraltar but never executed it.
In 1950 the Spanish dictator General Franco renewed claims to sovereignty over Gibraltar and closed the borders that only reopened after Spain’s admission to the European Community in 1985
Britains military superiority over the other European powers since the Treaty of Utrecht is one of the reasons for the resentment of European politicians against the British. The British were never fully accepted when they joined the EU in 1973. The UK was the largest net contributor to the EU budget yet got the least benefit. The Growth of British GDP declined ever since the year of joining.
The UK has not won a single case before EU court. Were the seeds for BREXIT sown with the Treaty of Utrecht?
Anyway, we deserved a refreshment after so much information and what better place to go to than Main Street.
To be continued.