Gibraltar and Its Sieges, with a Description of Its Natural Features

Book excerpt: This book delves deep into the historical event known as the twelfth siege of Gibraltar, fought between September 1704 and May 1705 during the War of the Spanish Succession. The members of the Grand Alliance, including the Holy Roman Empire, England, the Netherlands, Pro-Habsburg Spain, Portugal, and Savoy, had joined forces to prevent the unification of the French and Spanish thrones by supporting the claim of the Habsburg pretender Archduke Charles VI of Austria as Charles III of Spain. They were opposed by the rival claimant, the Bourbon Philip, Duke of Anjou, who ruled as Philip V of Spain, and his patron and ally, Louis XIV of France. The war began in northern Europe and was largely contained there until 1703, when Portugal joined the confederate powers. From then on, the English navy focused on mounting a campaign in the Mediterranean to distract the French navy, disrupt French and Bourbon Spanish shipping, or capture a port for use as a naval base. The capture of Gibraltar was the outcome of that initial stage of the Mediterranean campaign.