Sasha today in its history.
Author: Sasha
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Why did Spain not take back Gibraltar for 300 years? October 25, 1980: Seymour plans to connect the Strait of Gibraltar.
Why didn't Spain retake Gibraltar?
Everyone knows that the Strait of Gibraltar is the throat of the Mediterranean Sea. Any ship entering or leaving the Mediterranean Must pass through the Strait of Gibraltar.
The narrowest point of the strait is only 13 kilometers, and the stationing of a navy in the port of Gibraltar at the northern end of the strait is equivalent to controlling the import and export of the entire Mediterranean Sea.
The port of Gibraltar is undoubtedly Spanish territory, at the southernmost tip of Spanish territory and one hundred and eighteen thousand miles from England.
However, in 1704 the British defeated Spain, seized control of the port of Gibraltar, and established a fortress here.
At that time, the Heirs of the Habsburg Dynasty in Spain, the Bourbon Royal Family of the Kingdom of France and the Habsburg Royal Family of Austria, for the throne of the Spanish Empire, triggered a fierce war.
On one side, France formed an alliance with Spain, Bavaria, Cologne and several German states, Savoy, and Portugal;
On the other side, the Holy Roman Empire (then controlled by the Austrian Habsburg monarchy) formed a new anti-French "Grand Alliance" with Britain, the Netherlands, Brandenburg, Hanover, and several small German states and most of the Italian city-states (in 1703 Savoy and Portugal defected to the Anti-French Alliance).
The two sides fought fiercely for many years, ending in an all-round victory of the anti-French "Grand Alliance".
During the war, the Spanish army was severely damaged by the British, and at one time even the capital Madrid was occupied by the enemy, where the port of Gibraltar could be taken care of. In 1713, The British forced Spain to sign the Treaty of Utrecht, declaring that Gibraltar would be ceded to Britain forever, to this day.
The ensuing British grew stronger and weaker, and it was impossible to retake the port of Gibraltar by force.
In the 18th and 19th centuries during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, Spain was once occupied by the French army, and the French became king of Spain.
Spain weakened to such an extent that the overseas colonies became independent, and eventually there was almost no one left.
Once a first-class power in Europe and even in the world, it eventually degenerated into a third-rate european country.
In 2017, gdp per capita in Spain was $28,000, in the Netherlands it was $48,000, austria was 47,000, Germany was 445,000, France and the United Kingdom were 40,000, and Italy was 31,000. Among the traditional NATO powers, only Portugal and Greece are lower than Spain, with Portugal at 21,000 and Greece at 18,000.
Britain controlled the port of Gibraltar, that is, the Straits, and thus the Mediterranean Sea.
With the development of modern weapons, Britain could rely on long-range artillery, mines, and missiles to completely block the strait and prevent the enemy from entering and leaving the Mediterranean.
In World War II, the Italian Navy was trapped in the Mediterranean, and it was difficult and dangerous for German submarines to try to enter the Mediterranean.
Gibraltar's position was so important that Britain would never give it up, and Spain would retake it at any cost.
From 1779 to 1782, France and Spain took advantage of the outbreak of the War of Independence in North America to launch a great siege of Gibraltar against the British.
The siege lasted for 3 years and 7 months, with more than 6,000 Spanish casualties and 1,000 British casualties. Since Spain was unable to cut off the sea supply line for the port of Gibraltar, the siege was declared a failure.
Due to the difficulty of using the means of war, Spain has used peaceful means mainly in modern times and modern times.
In 1959, Spain asked the United Nations to urge Britain to return its sovereignty to Gibraltar.
The British considered Gibraltar not a colony but a non-self-governing territory and refused to return it.
Crucially, the inhabitants of Gibraltar were reluctant to return to the poor and chaotic Spain, preferring to be administered by the British.
The Port of Gibraltar is a small city with a population of only 30,000, but the majority of People of Spanish descent. Historically, Spain had a military siege of the city, and the British drove all the Spanish descendants out of the city. In addition to some of their Spanish descent, today's inhabitants have a large number of British, Italian and North African descent. So the inhabitants of Gibraltar do not have a sense of affinity for Spain.
In 1967, the United Kingdom held a referendum on the question of ownership in Gibraltar, and the majority of the local population was in favour of Gibraltar's continued ownership of the United Kingdom.
In 1969, the Parliament of Gibraltar adopted a new constitution declaring that Gibraltar was "part of the United Kingdom". In 1981, the United Kingdom granted full British citizenship to the residents of Gibraltar.
Because of the actions of the British, Spain closed its border with Gibraltar in the 1960s and did not allow British airliners from Gibraltar to enter Spanish airspace.
In 1991, the British withdrew their forces from Gibraltar and made the city autonomous, ending the 280-year history of British troops stationed here. In fact, for today's Britain, it no longer needs to control Gibraltar, and it is no longer the superpower of the past. Moreover, with the development of science and technology, Spain deployed a large number of anti-ship missiles on the southern tip of the peninsula, which could easily block the import and export of the Mediterranean Sea.
Moreover, with the existence of the Suez Canal, even if the Strait of Gibraltar is blocked, the Mediterranean Sea is still open.
Spain's greatest enemy, however, was the inhabitants of Gibraltar. These inhabitants strongly disagreed with returning to Spain, most immediately because the welfare of England was much better than that of Spain.
In a referendum in 2002, more than 99 per cent of Gibraltar's residents opposed Britain's plan to share Gibraltar's sovereignty with Spain.
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