Basic HTML Version
GIBRALTAR IN HIS1ORY
R
ecorded possession of
!he Rock extends far
back into history. The
ancient Phoenicians once
held it. The early Greeks
occupied it nexl , followed by
the Phoenicians of Carthage
and then the Romans.
Threatened by barbarian
invasions al home, the
Romans left !he Rock in !he
early fifth century A.D. Three
centuries later. in 71 1,
Tarik-ibn-Zaid's invasion
from North Africa began a
long Moorish domination of
much of Spain.
Then in 1309 the Rock
was taken by the Spaniards
only to be retaken by the
Moors in 1333.
11
became
Spanish once more in 1462.
Gibraltar was formally
incorporated within the
domains of the Spanish
Crown by Queen lsabella in
1502.
!he War of Spanish
Succession. A combined
British-Dutch naval force
under Admira! Sir George
Rooke seized Gibraltar after
three days ' siege. Finally in
1713 Spain ceded the Rock
lo Britain in Article X of the
Treaty of Utrecht.
regain Gibraltar by force
carne in June. 1779. This
"Great Siege"-one of the
most memorable in
history-lasted more than
3V .. years as a combined
Spanish-French army of
60,000 blockaded, bu! never
quite conquered, the
small British garrison of
6,000 under General George
Elliot , the governor of
Gibraltar.
Two centuries later in
July, 1704, Spain in turn lost
control of !he Rock duri ng
Various Spanish
expedilions were undertaken
in subsequent years lo
recapture !he Rock-all
ending in failure. The last
great attempt by Spain to
In 1783, Britain's
possession of the Rock was
once more confirmed by !he
Treaty of Versailles. This
ended Spanish hopes in a
military sense.
effectively reenter modern Europe.
Spain wants to join, fi nally, both
NATO and the European Econom–
ic Community (EEC).
NATO's 15 members all appear
to favor the S panish application.
And Spain hopes to formally enter
t he Common Market on New
Year's Day, 1984.
Spain's basic decision to discard
its t raditi ona l isolati on ism by
becoming an integral part of the
Western fami ly of nations is a fun–
damental t urni ng point in her mod–
ern h istory.
lt
would be incongruous
for Gibraltar to cont inue to be a
bone of conten tion between two
treaty par tners in both a major eco–
nomic and an impor tant mil itary
alliance. Besides that, Spain desper–
ately needs British support if her
application to the EEC is to succeed
at a time when wealthier communi–
ty members are beleaguered wit h all
sorts of interna! economic prob–
lems.
In return for agreeing to open her
borders to Gibraltar April 20, Spain
received a British promise to hold
mo r e t al ks on "all d i ffer–
ences over Gibraltar." T here are
sorne surprising elements in
The
Economist 's
comment on these pro–
ceedings. England's 1eading news
magazine stated: " Br itain has no
objection in principie to handi ng
Gibraltar over to Spain- providing
this is accepta ble to the majority of
the Rock's inhabitants" (J an uary
16, 1982).
40
It
may surprise one to learn that
even conservative thinkers have no
objection to giving Gibraltar away.
The fact that the majori ty of all
Gibraltarians want the U nion J ack
to fl y over the Rock
may not a/ways
guarantee Brit ish control, however.
One provision hammered out d ur–
ing the recent talks between Span–
ish Prime Minister Calvo Sotelo
and Mrs. T hatcher was to allow
Spanish workers to take jobs in
Gibraltar after Apri l 20. That par–
ticular proviso may prove to be the
thin end of the wedge. For ins tance,
if and when Spain is allowed to
enter the EEC, these S panish work–
ers will automatically receive more
favored status. T his in turn opens up
the possibility of a new scenar io.
The Christian Science Monitor
expressed it very succinctly: "What
Gibraltarians fear is that Spain will
encourage e nough [workers] to
establish themselves in G ibraltar
to
swing the vote in Spain's favour
in
any future referendum to decide
the colony's eventual status" (Janu–
ary 18, 1982).
Gibraltar in Prophec y?
It looks as if Gibraltar is going the
way of the Panama Canal. Bri tons
seem determined to negotiate the
Rock away in the same basic man–
ner that Americans turned the
Canal over to ult imate Panamanian
sovereignty.
In sorne ways the Spanish atti t ude
puts Britain to shame. In the words
of a contemporary book, "Gibraltar
is not a necessity to Spain-strate–
gic, economic or polí t ica!. ...
It
goads Spain 's pride" (Benjamí n
Wells,
Spain: The Gentle Anarchy,
page 234). Without a doubt that is
an overstatement, but it serves to
help make this basic point: Span–
iards are divided on many important
pol itical and economic issues, but
they all agree on one point.
Prlde In a Spanlsh Gibra l tar
Lackadaisical Br itons with little
pride in their power or in their inher–
itance are ready to negotiate the
Rock away. In the ringing prophetic
words of a long previous issue of
The
P/ain Truth:
"Gibraltar is destined
to fall- not in glorious and heroic
defense after a famous siege-but in
utter ignominy. In useless and help–
less sacrifice-in disgr ace a nd
shame" (June, 1965).
Few understand why we could say
this in
The Plain Truth
17 years ago.
Fewer still understand what Gibral–
tar real ly represents to Britain. Lit–
t le do the Brit ish realize who gave
them the Rock, why it was given and
why it will be taken away.
If
you
have not before heard of the answers
to these quest ions, then you should
request our free book entit led
The
United States and Bt itain in Proph–
ecy.
[t will give you a new under–
standing of the Gibraltar contro–
versy that you never had before. And
a new look into the surprising fut ure
of Eu rope in the 1980s. o
The PLAIN TRUTH