Gibraltar: The Greatest Siege in British History

While the War of Independence raged in America, an equally fierce conflict occurred on a tiny British territory south of the Iberian Peninsula: Gibraltar. Seizing the chance to regain lost territory in Europe and disrupt Britain's control of the Mediterranean Sea, allied French and Spanish forces blockaded Gibraltar's sea routes and gathered an army for an attack on the island's British garrison. Cut off from easy sources of relief, the garrison's residents endured starvation, scurvy, and outbreaks of disease during a siege that lasted from June 1779 to February 1783. Coauthors Roy and Lesley Adkins (Jane Austen's England) have centered their focus on the British side, drawing heavily on primary sources and providing a meticulous look at the military and civilian experiences of what became known as the Great Siege of Gibraltar—the longest siege ever endured by British forces.