The Fortifications Of Gibraltar 1068-1945 (fortress)
by Clive Finlayson /
2006 / English / PDF
22.8 MB Download
Gibraltar is not only an archetypal fortress, preserving in its
dominating topography and walls, bastions and emplacements a rich
testament to extended periods of human conflict, but it is also a
unique record of the evolution of the sciences of fortification and
associated defensive structures over a period of more than six
centuries. Gibraltar has a complex and varied military history,
lying as it does at the gateway to the Mediterranean and the
meeting points of the continents of Europe and Africa. Its history,
always shaped by its unique combination of strategic position and
topography, begins in ancient times with successive occupations by
Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Romans. It then passed through Arab,
Castilian and Spanish hands, and has been a British possession
since 1704. The Rock served as a base for Nelson's fleet in the
Napoleonic Wars and, in World War II, for the Royal Navy's Task
Force 'H' and as as a vital stopping place for supply convoys
plying to and from the East through the Suez Canal and supporting
the Allied effort in the Mediterranean Theater. An unprecedented
amount of tunnelling took place on Gibraltar, making it a veritable
warren that housed aircraft hangars, ammunition stores, hospitals
and even a secret chamber (the Stay-Behind Cave) that was to be
manned as an observation post in the event of a hostile takeover.
Gibraltar is not only an archetypal fortress, preserving in its
dominating topography and walls, bastions and emplacements a rich
testament to extended periods of human conflict, but it is also a
unique record of the evolution of the sciences of fortification and
associated defensive structures over a period of more than six
centuries. Gibraltar has a complex and varied military history,
lying as it does at the gateway to the Mediterranean and the
meeting points of the continents of Europe and Africa. Its history,
always shaped by its unique combination of strategic position and
topography, begins in ancient times with successive occupations by
Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Romans. It then passed through Arab,
Castilian and Spanish hands, and has been a British possession
since 1704. The Rock served as a base for Nelson's fleet in the
Napoleonic Wars and, in World War II, for the Royal Navy's Task
Force 'H' and as as a vital stopping place for supply convoys
plying to and from the East through the Suez Canal and supporting
the Allied effort in the Mediterranean Theater. An unprecedented
amount of tunnelling took place on Gibraltar, making it a veritable
warren that housed aircraft hangars, ammunition stores, hospitals
and even a secret chamber (the Stay-Behind Cave) that was to be
manned as an observation post in the event of a hostile takeover.