Great Siege of Gibraltar

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The Great Siege of Gibraltar was an unsuccessful attempt by Spain and France to capture Gibraltar from Britain during the American Revolutionary War. It was the largest battle in the war by number of combatants. On 16 June 1779, Spain entered the war on the side of France with the primary war aim of capturing Gibraltar from the British. The vulnerable garrison of Gibraltar, commanded by George Eliott, was besieged from June 1779 to February 1783. Initially, the siege was carried out solely by Spanish forces under Martín Álvarez de Sotomayor. The siege proved to be a failure because two British relief convoys entered unmolested, the first under Admiral of the White George Rodney in 1780 and the second under Admiral George Darby in 1781, despite the presence of the Spanish Navy. A major assault was planned by the Spanish in late 1781, but the British garrison sortied in November of that year and destroyed many of the forward batteries. Following the Spanish failure to defeat the garrison...

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