Hannah Feldman -- Gibraltar

During the American Revolution, Gibraltar suffered, struggled, and endured under the weight of Siege. From 1779 to 1783, combined French and Spanish forces blockaded Gibraltar, with the British navy periodically relieving the city. Gibraltar had a long military history stretching back long before the American Revolution; however, the Siege of 1779-1783 was rooted in the War of Spanish Succession at the turn of the 18th century. Britain had captured Gibraltar from the Spanish in 1704, and since then it had been a coveted and contentious piece of land. The American Revolution provided Spain with the opportunity to right the wrong of 1704, and quickly moved to reclaim Gibraltar through Siege after joining the war on France’s side. Maps made of Gibraltar from shortly before the Siege reflect this emphasis placed on the military side of Gibraltar.

For the inhabitants of Gibraltar, the Great Siege was a combination of monotonous, agonized inaction and waiting and sudden bursts of military action. Catharine Upton, an officer’s wife in Gibraltar, recorded and published her observations of the Siege in 1781; she records the horror of Spanish bombardment and the bittersweet joy of British relief. For the Britons back home during the Siege, the Siege was a part of the news and a point of fascination; after the Siege, its moments of glory were the subject of paintings and publications.