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Fire over the Rock: The Great Siege of Gibraltar, 1779-1783
The great siege of Gibraltar was the longest recorded in the annals of the British army. Between 1779 and 1783 a small British force defended the Rock against the Spanish and the French who were determined take this strategically vital point guarding the entrance to the Mediterranean. The tenacity and endurance shown by the attackers and defenders alike, and the sheer ingenuity of the siege operations mounted by both sides, make the episode an epic of military history, and the story gives us a fascinating insight into the realities of siege warfare. In this, the first full study of the siege for over 40 years, James Falkner draws on a wide range of contemporary sources to tell the exciting tale of a huge and complex operation.REVIEWS ..".the first full study of the siege in over 40 years, drawing on accounts written by British soldiers who took an active part in the operations and on later studies."Book News does a wonderful job in describing a portion of that history during the Napoleonic Wars uses a number of contemporary sources to tell the story of the Rock, including not only military and naval but civilian as well; they suffered as much, if not more, than the soldiers and performed their part in its defense an important addition to the literature of the Napoleonic Era Past in Review Weekly"
192 pages, Hardcover
First published May 21, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 11, 2022
“Great Britain, at open war with France, Spain and Holland and many of her American colonists, had not often been so devoid of close friends.”
A tedious history of a tedious siege. For three years and seven months the British garrison held out against a Spanish-French-Moroccan blockade and siege. This book includes every detail.
“George III commented rather wistfully, ‘I should have liked Minorca, and the two Floridas [East and West] and Guadeloupe better than that proud fortress [Gibraltar], and in my opinion source of another war, or at least of a constant lurking enmity.’”
Paradoxically, from King George III down, most English were indifferent to retaining the Rock. They’d rather have traded it for Minorca or Florida. The Spanish didn’t want it that badly.
“No less than for Spain and France, the major British naval efforts to sustain Eliott’s garrison in Gibraltar proved to be a serious distraction from the troubled task of winning the war for the North American colonies.”
Why would Americans care? Because the siege—specifically, the drain on British naval assets to resupply Gibraltar—directly contributed to the naval loss to the French off the Chesapeake Bay on September 5, 1780, which doomed Lord Cornwall to surrender at Yorktown the next month.
‘I think peace in every way necessary to this country,’ George III wrote, ‘and I shall not think it complete if we do not get rid of Gibraltar.’
Nevertheless, Britain still occupies Gibraltar.
A tedious history of a tedious siege. For three years and seven months the British garrison held out against a Spanish-French-Moroccan blockade and siege. This book includes every detail.
“George III commented rather wistfully, ‘I should have liked Minorca, and the two Floridas [East and West] and Guadeloupe better than that proud fortress [Gibraltar], and in my opinion source of another war, or at least of a constant lurking enmity.’”
Paradoxically, from King George III down, most English were indifferent to retaining the Rock. They’d rather have traded it for Minorca or Florida. The Spanish didn’t want it that badly.
“No less than for Spain and France, the major British naval efforts to sustain Eliott’s garrison in Gibraltar proved to be a serious distraction from the troubled task of winning the war for the North American colonies.”
Why would Americans care? Because the siege—specifically, the drain on British naval assets to resupply Gibraltar—directly contributed to the naval loss to the French off the Chesapeake Bay on September 5, 1780, which doomed Lord Cornwall to surrender at Yorktown the next month.
‘I think peace in every way necessary to this country,’ George III wrote, ‘and I shall not think it complete if we do not get rid of Gibraltar.’
Nevertheless, Britain still occupies Gibraltar.
September 20, 2022
An engaging and well-researched study of history’s longest continuous formal siege.
Falkner doesn’t provide an overly detailed account of this epic operation, and instead concentrates on important events. He does a good job setting the siege in the context of the war. He does a good job contrasting the experiences of the Spanish, French, British and Hanoverian forces, showing how tedious or terrifying they could be. He also does a fine job explaining the importance of artillery during the siege (apparently almost half a million rounds were expended during it)
The narrative is lively and rounded, and Falkner covers military operations, the politics of the war, the naval battles, and the garrison’s attempts to run or break the blockade. The maps are good.
A balanced and insightful work.
Falkner doesn’t provide an overly detailed account of this epic operation, and instead concentrates on important events. He does a good job setting the siege in the context of the war. He does a good job contrasting the experiences of the Spanish, French, British and Hanoverian forces, showing how tedious or terrifying they could be. He also does a fine job explaining the importance of artillery during the siege (apparently almost half a million rounds were expended during it)
The narrative is lively and rounded, and Falkner covers military operations, the politics of the war, the naval battles, and the garrison’s attempts to run or break the blockade. The maps are good.
A balanced and insightful work.
March 18, 2024
It's an ok book. A little slow to read but quite interesting still. Since there wasn't much that happened in the siege it is a short book as well.
October 25, 2012
Britain captured Gibraltar from Spain in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1713/14). The Peace of Utrecht (1713) confirmed Britain’s control of Gibraltar. Britain defended and kept Gibraltar during the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718-1720), Anglo-Spanish War of 1727-1729, War of Jenkins’ Ear (1739-1748) and the Anglo-Spanish conflict during the latter part of the Seven Years War (1756-1763). Then, in the midst of the American War of Independence (1775-1783), Spain allied with France against Britain in the Convention of Aranjuez (April 1779). Spain, under King Carlos III, subsequently declared war against Britain in June 1779, and the Franco-Spanish alliance planned to take Gibraltar, and then launch an invasion of Britain. Gibraltar (along with Minorca) was vital to Britain’s control of the Mediterranean. So began the Spanish quest to capture the Rock in the Great Siege of Gibraltar on 21 June 1779. In 1782, French forces would join Spanish troops and naval forces besieging Gibraltar. During the siege, British resources were stretched thin. Britain was at war with the American rebels in North America, France, Spain, and soon the Dutch Republic (Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, 1780-1784). Britain lacked an ally, and was also opposed by the League of Armed Neutrality (1780-1783). Even so, the British army and navy successfully defended the Rock until the Peace of Versailles (1783).
Falkner provides a valuable narrative study of the Great Siege of Gibraltar. He discusses Spain’s efforts to at first blockade, then attack the British garrison on the Rock while Britain was fully engaged at war elsewhere. But, Spanish naval and military commanders soon discovered that Britain would fight with determination to keep its hold on Gibraltar. The Rock, located about eleven hundred miles from the British Isles, was staunchly defended and resupplied by the British Royal Navy. As Falkner writes: “Whatever the cost, the retention of Gibraltar, and also Port Mahon in Minorca if that could be achieved, was undoubtedly seen as a legitimate use of otherwise scarce resources” (p.xvii). The author relates failed Franco-Spanish attempts to blockade Gibraltar. The Spanish Navy, and later the French, were incapable of preventing the resupply of the British garrison. Eliott, the commander of the Anglo-Hanoverian garrison, fought off a considerable effort by the Spanish and French forces to take the Rock.
In Fire over the Rock, Falkner presents the diplomatic and military background to the Great Siege. As for the siege itself, the author explains the British, Spanish, and French naval and military resources available and employed during the Franco-Spanish attempt to take the Rock. His narrative depicts the attacks on Gibraltar, the defence of the Rock, and the impact on military troops and civilians being bombarded during the siege. He notes that despite the blockade and siege there was not constant action. “Long months of siege . . . passed,” so writes Falkner, “with brief spurts of danger and excitement, but the chances to display valour and gain advancement were few” (p.70). Nevertheless, the major Franco-Spanish artillery attack, using battering gun ships and land-based guns, against Gibraltar in September 1782 was a failure. The author blames this on poor coordination between Spanish and French forces. Soon British Admiral Sir Richard Howe resupplied the garrison at Gibraltar, and, “it was plain to most commanders — British, Hanoverian, Spanish and French — that the siege was now all but over, with no real prospect of success for Madrid and Paris” (p.126). Peace preliminaries were signed in January, and the blockade/siege was lifted on 5 February 1783. Falkner provides some interesting statistics, stating that the opposing sides fired nearly half a million rounds of shot during the Great Siege (p.133). He also notes that Eliott’s defense of the Rock tied down large numbers of Spanish and French naval and military resources that could have been valuable in other theaters of operations.
Falkner's study is a valuable recent depictions of the Great Siege of Gibraltar. He provides a full narrative account with the insight of a military mind.
Falkner provides a valuable narrative study of the Great Siege of Gibraltar. He discusses Spain’s efforts to at first blockade, then attack the British garrison on the Rock while Britain was fully engaged at war elsewhere. But, Spanish naval and military commanders soon discovered that Britain would fight with determination to keep its hold on Gibraltar. The Rock, located about eleven hundred miles from the British Isles, was staunchly defended and resupplied by the British Royal Navy. As Falkner writes: “Whatever the cost, the retention of Gibraltar, and also Port Mahon in Minorca if that could be achieved, was undoubtedly seen as a legitimate use of otherwise scarce resources” (p.xvii). The author relates failed Franco-Spanish attempts to blockade Gibraltar. The Spanish Navy, and later the French, were incapable of preventing the resupply of the British garrison. Eliott, the commander of the Anglo-Hanoverian garrison, fought off a considerable effort by the Spanish and French forces to take the Rock.
In Fire over the Rock, Falkner presents the diplomatic and military background to the Great Siege. As for the siege itself, the author explains the British, Spanish, and French naval and military resources available and employed during the Franco-Spanish attempt to take the Rock. His narrative depicts the attacks on Gibraltar, the defence of the Rock, and the impact on military troops and civilians being bombarded during the siege. He notes that despite the blockade and siege there was not constant action. “Long months of siege . . . passed,” so writes Falkner, “with brief spurts of danger and excitement, but the chances to display valour and gain advancement were few” (p.70). Nevertheless, the major Franco-Spanish artillery attack, using battering gun ships and land-based guns, against Gibraltar in September 1782 was a failure. The author blames this on poor coordination between Spanish and French forces. Soon British Admiral Sir Richard Howe resupplied the garrison at Gibraltar, and, “it was plain to most commanders — British, Hanoverian, Spanish and French — that the siege was now all but over, with no real prospect of success for Madrid and Paris” (p.126). Peace preliminaries were signed in January, and the blockade/siege was lifted on 5 February 1783. Falkner provides some interesting statistics, stating that the opposing sides fired nearly half a million rounds of shot during the Great Siege (p.133). He also notes that Eliott’s defense of the Rock tied down large numbers of Spanish and French naval and military resources that could have been valuable in other theaters of operations.
Falkner's study is a valuable recent depictions of the Great Siege of Gibraltar. He provides a full narrative account with the insight of a military mind.
April 5, 2014
An interesting, if short, history of an interesting, if long siege. At times the book does seem a little xenophobic towards what I think the author considers the inferior enemy in all but numbers, but perhaps that's just me, I suppose we did win, after all:)
June 8, 2013
An interesting, if short, history of an interesting, if long siege. At times the book does seem a little xenophobic towards what I think the author considers the inferior enemy in all but numbers, but perhaps that's just me, I suppose we did win, after all:)
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews