Module # 1 -- Place

 

During the War of Spanish Succession, Britain seized Gibraltar from Spain in 1704; they officially added the area to their empire with the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht.[1]  In 1779, Spain joined forces with France to fight against Great Britain in the American Revolution. From 1779 to 1783, Spanish and French forces laid siege by sea and land to the area, eventually being defeated by the British.[2] In that sense, Gibraltar was an involved part of the landscape of the American Revolution. Though not connected with any direct American involvement in the war, Gibraltar was an important battleground. Using a map from 1764 and an account of the siege from 1781, one sees the presence of the military strongly represented in the area. Both the map and the siege account strikingly stress the presence of the military in the area, perhaps overemphasizing its presence.

 Visually, this strikingly demonstrates the militaristic side of the city. Although the map itself does not indicate this in its title or description, the map visually illustrates the extent of the military presence in the settlement. It displays the geographical features, city buildings, and military installations of the area, but dedicates a proportionally large amount of ink to military matters. In listing the key features of the city—its natural features, walls, and houses—the map individually names the batteries, powder magazines, and other military installations in the city, but does not do the same for the city buildings, labeling these generally as “La Ville.” Generally, the map’s key is heavily weighted towards military landmarks.

 As a relatively recent addition to the British Empire that had been taken during a war, Gibraltar probably was a point of contention. The visible military component of the island can be seen as a reflection of this contention. The batteries on the 1764 map bear the names of British royals--Princesses Anne, Amelia and Caroline, for example—indicating that they were a British response to possible Spanish threat. Judging from Spain’s eagerness to reclaim Gibraltar during the American Revolution, it is clear that the area was still a point of contention.

 The account of the siege is a 1781 feature in The Scots magazine, featuring two accounts from ladies who were present in Gibraltar during the siege in 1781. Like the map, these accounts also stress the presence of the military in the city. Both accounts do hint to the pre-existing integration of the military into life in the area. The second account, a diary extract of an officer's wife, more directly points to this connection between Gibraltar and the military. She describes the measures undertaken by the British military in the city to cut back on food and save city-wide supplies, referring to commanding officers restricting the rations of soldiers. This shows that the military was at this point so involved in daily life in Gibraltar that even the soliders shared in the empty stomachs and scanty cupboards of the residents. This potently demonstrates the connectedness of Gibraltar's everyday life with that of its military life.

 The diary-writer was the wife of an officer of a regiment stationed on the island, proof of the military presence in the area.[3] The soldier and he his regiment had presumably been stationed there before the siege had begun--during the diary entry, reinforcements of British ships and troops had not yet arrived by the time the husband was already mentioned, so he could not have an arrival to the island during siege-time. She and her soldier husband have children and a life in the city, which points to there being an integral connection between everyday life in the city and the military, at least for some. Beyond that, she references Gibraltar’s British batteries firing on the Spanish and French siege-layers and describes her family’s flight to the nearest bastion.[4] These siege accounts, though biased because they do portray Gibraltar during a time of direct warfare, do demonstrate that the area was an object of military interest and activity.

 However, though both the map and the magazine article paint a picture of the military side of Gibraltar, the two sources should not be directly compared. The map shows Gibraltar at peacetime, with Britain recently come out of the Seven Year’s War. In contrast, the magazine accounts depict a struggling, war-ravaged city. Still, the two sources give fascinating insight into the relationship between city life and military preparations. After all, Gibraltar had been an object of competing international interest and attention for years even before the beginning of the American Revolution. Therefore it is not surprising that military matters should be so rooted in the public and personal perceptions of Gibraltar.

Word Count: 776

Bibliography

"Account of the Siege of Gibraltar”. The Scots Magazine 43, (September 1781): 478-481. http://search.proquest.com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/docview/6263412?accountid=11311.

Taylor, Alan. American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2016.

Veenendaal, A. J. “The war of the Spanish succession in Europe”. In The New Cambridge Modern History, edited by J.S. Bromley, 410-445. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970, https://doi-org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/10.1017/CHOL9780521075244.015.