Louis de Crillon Martín Sotomayor[2] Luis de Córdova Antonio Barceló[1]
Strength
7,500[3][4][5] 12 gunboats[6]
65,000[7][8][9][10] 47 ships of the line[11] 10 floating batteries 7 xebecs 40 gunboats[7]
Casualties and losses
333 killed[12][13] 1,010 wounded[13] 536[14]–1,034[13] sick and dead from disease
6,000 killed, wounded, captured and missing[15] Unknown sick and dead from disease[13] 1 ship of the line captured 10 floating batteries destroyed[16]
196 civilians killed 800 civilians dead from disease[13]
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Battles involving Spain in the American Revolutionary War 1779–1783
Europe and Atlantic
English Channel
Plymouth
Gibraltar
Azores
Lisbon
20 November
Cape Finisterre
St. Vincent
Cape St. Maria
25 February
Málaga
1 May
Minorca
Strait of Gibraltar
Cape Spartel
Gulf Coast
Fort Bute
Lake Pontchartrain
Baton Rouge
1st Mobile
The Village
Pensacola
Louisiana and Northwest Territory
St. Louis
Fort St. Joseph
Arkansas Post
Central America
Río Hondo
Cayo Cocina
San Fernando
12 December
Fort San Juan
Roatán
Black River
West Indies
15 January
1st Nassau
17 February
2nd Nassau
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Battles of the American Revolutionary War Involving France 1778–1783
Europe and Mediterranean
17 June 1778
1st Ushant
20 October 1778
11 September 1778
1st Jersey
13 May 1779
English Channel
Plymouth
Gibraltar
Flamborough Head
6 October 1779
15 June 1780
Cape Santa Maria
10 August 1780
13 August 1780
Brest
2nd Jersey
Minorca
2nd Ushant
3rd Ushant
Île-de-Batz
Cape Spartel
Ferrol
Atlantic
Madeira
Bermuda
Porto Praya
Caribbean
Dominica
1st St. Lucia
2nd St. Lucia
Saint Vincent
1st Grenada
2nd Grenada
1st Martinique
Guadeloupe
2nd Martinique
Fort Royal
Tobago
Brimstone Hill
Frigate Bay
Demerara & Essequibo
Montserrat
The Saintes
Mona Passage
18 October 1782
6 December 1782
15 February 1783
Grand Turk
North America
Rhode Island
Charles Town
Savannah
1st Long Island
Cape Henry
Cape Breton
Cape Ann
Yorktown
Chesapeake
Yorktown
Hudson Bay
2nd Long Island
Delaware Bay
2nd Chesapeake
East Indies
Pondicherry
Sadras
Providien
Negapatam
Batticaloa
Pisang
Trincomalee
1st Cuddalore
2nd Cuddalore
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Umayyad conquest of Hispania
Al-Andalus
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First Siege of Gibraltar
Second Siege of Gibraltar
Third Siege of Gibraltar
Fourth Siege of Gibraltar
Fifth Siege of Gibraltar
Sixth Siege of Gibraltar
Seventh Siege of Gibraltar
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Eighth Siege of Gibraltar
Ninth Siege of Gibraltar
Tenth Siege of Gibraltar
Catholic Monarchs
Marquisate of Gibraltar
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Capture of Gibraltar
Twelfth Siege of Gibraltar
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Thirteenth Siege of Gibraltar
Great Siege of Gibraltar
19th century
Royal Calpe Hunt
20th century
Military history of Gibraltar during World War II
Evacuation of the Gibraltarian civilian population during World War II
Operation Felix
First sovereignty referendum
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Border closure
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Cordoba Agreement, 2006
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See also
History of nationality in Gibraltar
Political development in modern Gibraltar
Fortifications of Gibraltar
Timeline
Gibraltar portal
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The Great Siege of Gibraltar was an unsuccessful attempt by Spain and France to capture Gibraltar from the British during the American Revolutionary War.[17] It was the largest battle in the war by number of combatants.[18]
On 16 June 1779, Spain entered the war on the side of France and as co-belligerents of the revolutionary United Colonies—the British base at Gibraltar was Spain's primary war aim.[19] The vulnerable Gibraltar garrison under George Augustus Eliott was blockaded from June 1779 to February 1783,[20] initially by the Spanish alone, led by Martín Álvarez de Sotomayor. The blockade proved to be a failure because two relief convoys entered unmolested—the first under Admiral George Rodney in 1780 and the second under Admiral George Darby in 1781—despite the presence of the Spanish fleets. The same year, a major assault was planned by the Spanish, but the Gibraltar garrison sortied in November and destroyed much of the forward batteries.
After the Spanish consistently failed to either defeat the garrison or prevent the arrival of relief efforts, the besiegers were reinforced by French forces under de Crillon, who took over command in early 1782. After a lull in the siege, during which the Franco-Spanish besiegers gathered more guns, ships and troops, a "Grand Assault" was launched on 13 September 1782. This involved huge numbers—60,000 men, 49 ships of the line and 10 specially designed, newly invented floating batteries—against the 5,000 defenders. The assault proved to be a disastrous and humiliating failure, resulting in heavy losses for the Bourbon attackers. This was the largest action fought during the war in terms of numbers.
The final sign of defeat for the allies came when a crucial British relief convoy under Admiral Richard Howe slipped through the blockading fleet and arrived at the garrison in October 1782. The siege was finally lifted on 7 February 1783 and resulted in a decisive victory for the British. The siege was a factor in ending the American Revolutionary War[21][22][23][24]—the Peace of Paris negotiations were reliant on news from the siege, particularly at its climax.[25][26]
At three years, seven months and twelve days, it is the longest siege endured by the British Armed Forces.[27][28]
^ abChartrand & Courcelle 2006, pp. 18–22.
^Norwich 2006, p. 394.
^Montero 1860, p. 339.
^Chartrand & Courcelle 2006, p. 63: 'Of 7,500 men in the Gibraltar garrison in September (including 400 in hospital), some 3,430 were always on duty'
^Monti 1852, p. 133.
^Falkner 2009, p. 156.
^ abMontero 1860, p. 338.
^Montero 1860, p. 356.
^Chartrand & Courcelle 2006, p. 79 'some 30,000 sailors in the combined fleet'.
^Chartrand & Courcelle 2006, p. 49.
^Chartrand & Courcelle 2006, p. 79.
^Chartrand & Courcelle 2006, p. 89.
^ abcdeClodfelter 2017, p. 132.
^Drinkwater 1905, p. 169.
^Montero 1860, p. 373.
^Chartrand & Courcelle 2006, pp. 81–81.
^Eggenberger 2012, p. 172.
^Adkins, Lesley and Roy (2017). Gibraltar: The Greatest Siege in British History. Viking. ISBN 978-1408708675.
^Stockley 2001, p. 19.
^Drinkwater 1905, p. 161.
^Allison & Ferreiro 2018, p. 220: critical event in the war outside America was a contemporaneous European siege that was bigger, lasted longer, and ultimately was as critical to establishing peace as the Yorktown victory
^Botta, Charles (1850). History of the United States of America: War of independence, Volume 2. National Library of the Netherlands: Fullarton & Company. p. 552.
^Bemis 2012, p. 77: That tremendous citadel thus became a vital factor in the diplomacy of the American Revolution
^Mackesy 1992, pp. 506–507.
^Falkner 2009, p. xix.
^Chartrand & Courcelle 2006.
^Adkins & Adkins 2017, p. 21.
^Dupuy, Hammerman & Hayes 1977, p. 130.
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