Customer Reviews

Gibraltar, 1779-1783: The Great Siege (Campaign, 172)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Osprey's latest addition deals with the great siege of Gibraltar that took place during the American Revolution between the years 1779-83. This is a pretty heavy subject and probably deserves a modern book of 400-500 pages. But I thought Rene Chartrand did a pretty good introductionary effort on this complex military operation.

The book lies with the usual Osprey Campaign format. There's an initial introduction area where background information was given, then it move on to the strategic situation and finally to the siege itself. The writing proves to be uncluttered and informative. Good details on the military efforts of both sides were described and while the tactical maps given in this book proves to be rather inadequate, area of operation was small enough that you didn't need all the details. The book gives a great deal of credit to the British garrison who held out with certain amount of skill, daring and determination. Their commander, General Eliott got the lion's share of glory here. The book also deal with a bit on the French captured of Minorca and how that affected the siege in the long run.

The French involvment brought upon the introduction of the floating batteries which proves to be an innovative military concept but their failure reflects the limitation of the technology of the period as well as determination of British's burning red shots that disabled them.

Overall, its a pretty good introduction to the siege. The previous reviewer was right about one thing though, there isn't much written about the fortification structures of the Fortress Gibraltar. That appears to be a major oversight and perhaps the space spent on the background material could have been better spent on that subject. Anyone reading this can regard my "four stars" as more like a 3.75 or something.

All in all, this book does a fine job of describing the great siege. The author, Rene Chartrand, provides an excellent chronological breakdown that is easy for the reader to follow. Significant events of the siege, such as the British sortie into the Spanish lines and the attack of the floating batteries are covered in just the right amount of detail. Mr. Chartrand also does an excellent job of discussing other significant elements of the battle such as the British use of red-hot shot in their cannons.

The author does a good job of describing the early history of Gibraltar. The story of how Britain acquired Gibraltar from the Spanish is essential to understanding the political dimension of this siege. This siege occurred during the American Revolution. Although references to the conflict in North America are scarce, Mr. Chartrand provides enough background information for the reader to fully understand the global dynamic involved in this siege. Chartrand fills out the story by telling of Spain's repeated attempts to acquire Gibraltar back from the British over the preceding years.

The chapter on the opposing commanders is well organized, with the names of the various individuals highlighted in bold print. Most importantly, the commanders in this chapter are actually discussed later in the book. Although this should be obvious, it is not always the case in other Osprey books. Regardless, the author chose well in selecting which individuals to highlight.

The illustrator, Patrice Courcelle did an excellent job of showing the disposition and movement of forces on the color maps. The maps are clear, uncluttered, and easy to read. The 3D maps are also very informative. On page 76, the 3D map includes a list of ships in the battle with the number of guns per ship. This statistical data is interesting and provided in a manner that does not clutter the book with an overabundance of useless information.

On the down side, the color and black & white plates that show various uniforms are weak. The images are a bit amateurish; although this may be an indication of the type of art used in the 18th Century. Nevertheless, these multiple plates showing only minor uniform variations are redundant and somewhat useless. Another shortcoming is the insertion of irrelevant data. The map on Page 87 shows the location of the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. This battle had nothing to do with the siege of Gibraltar and should not be cluttering up the maps.

The author ends the book by discussing the aftermath of the siege. Mr. Chartrand essentially brings the reader up to the 21st Century. He describes this history in a short, concise manner. All things considered, this is an excellent way to end the book. Bottom line: the book is an easy read. The author does an excellent job of covering the great siege. He focuses on the major events while still providing just the right amount of coverage to background history and other minor events.

As usual, veteran military historian René Chartrand delivers an incisive and well-written narrative in Gibraltar 1779-83, number 172 in Osprey's Campaign series. The strength of this work lies in its originality, good use of source material from all three sides involved and a staunchly objective perspective. Thanks to Mr. Chatrand's research and writing skills, the reader is presented with a coherent account that views the Great Siege of Gibraltar from both the Franco-Spanish and the British perspectives. There is also plenty of hard data in this volume, concerning orders of battle, casualties, reinforcements, etc. In sum, this is an excellent addition to the Campaign series and provides fresh insight into a campaign that is not generally well known.

In the opening section, the author outlines the British capture of Gibraltar in 1704 and its subsequent development as a fortified naval base, as well as the capture of Minorca in 1708. Throughout this volume, the author links events at Gibraltar with the fate of the British garrison in Minorca (which was recaptured in 1782). The section on opposing commanders is brief, but covers 10 individuals. The section on opposing armies is good, detailing aspects of the garrison and the besiegers. The campaign narrative proper is about 54 pages long, and the initial sections skim along over the first three years rather quickly, stopping to examine major events such as the Spanish fire ship attack, the fall of Minorca and the British sortie. Much of the narrative also focuses on the British relief convoys that sustained the besieged fortress. The main event, the `grand attack' of September 1782, is covered in about 20 pages and is clearly the centerpiece of this volume. In the aftermath section, the author details following the immediate end of the siege, as well as outlining continued Spanish claims upon Gibraltar stretching up to the present day.

Gibraltar 1779-83 contains five 2-D maps (naval movements in the Gibraltar area, 1704; western Mediterranean theater, 1780-82; Gibraltar 1779-83, British and Spanish positions; fleet movements January 1780; Western Mediterranean theater after the siege) and two 3-D maps (the sortie, November 1781; the attack of the floating batteries, September 1782), as well as two Battle scenes (the sortie, November 1781; the attack of the floating batteries, September 1782) by Patrice Courcelle. The second battle scene was rather disappointing and crudely-drawn, which was surprising given Mr. Courcelle's well-known reputation as a military history artist. Nevertheless, the overall graphic content of this volume is quite good.

Reading Chartrand's narrative, one comes away with the impression that the Spanish siege efforts of the first three years were pretty lame, lacking any drive or imagination. The main Spanish tactic appears to have been starvation, but this couldn't work because the Spanish fleet failed to enforce a tight blockade of Gibraltar. Based upon what the author writes, the siege does not appear to have begun in earnest until the French arrived in 1782. The French had both drive and imagination, as well as expertise in siege warfare, and they promptly organized a `grand attack' using floating batteries. As Chartrand describes it, the grand attack was a good idea but poorly executed due to failure of the Spanish fleet to support it as well as disharmony in the French command. The defending British are portrayed throughout the volume as the stolid, unflappable red coats who can take anything and still dish out worse to their enemies.

This volume could have been enhanced if it had been designed a bit more like a volume in the Fortress series, but it was a bit weak on describing some of the defenses of `the Rock.' For example, I was not really clear why the Spanish could not dominate the artillery duel over the `neutral ground' or even sure how many guns the British had covering this key area. The volume is also a bit vague about the general layout of British defenses, focusing only on the areas that were attacked. Minor point, but it's hard to evaluate if there were better alternatives. Overall, this is a very good volume.

The author begins with the early history of Gibraltar and its capture in 1704, which is interesting enough, but we must wait until page 18 of a 95 page book to get to the 1779-83 siege. Description of British fortifications is sparse, possibly so we'll buy the specialized book on Gibraltar in the Osprey fortress series. Unfortunately, there are few maps, and the art is not as good as that in many other books in the campaign series. The land approach was narrow, and the Spanish, and later the French, could not gain superiority over the British guns, although the reasons for this are not made entirely clear. Much of the attention given to the landward side of the siege is directed toward the famed British sortie in November 1781. The Spanish navy, with a convenient base at Cadiz, was key to the allied effort, but it failed to consistently block shipments of food and ammunition to the British garrison, which arrived in either individual ships or in massive relief fleets. This re-supply effort virtually guaranteed British success. Chartrand gives the most attention to the attack of the French floating batteries, the most dramatic event of the siege. Reinforced with additional wooden planking on one side, and protected with armored roofs, the floating batteries seemingly had a chance to gain superiority over the British guns, which would have allowed the allied army to assault the British lines. Hot shot, however, eventually destroyed the ships, which had been committed to battle before they were ready, dooming the allied siege. This book, although flawed in some ways, is a decent introduction to the siege.