Gibraltar

The Greatest Siege in British History

By: Lesley Adkins, Roy Adkins

Narrated by: John Telfer

Length: 14 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

A rip-roaring account of the dramatic four-year siege of Britain’s Mediterranean garrison by Spain and France - an overlooked key to the British loss in the American Revolution

For more than three and a half years, from 1779 to 1783, the tiny territory of Gibraltar was besieged and blockaded, on land and at sea, by the overwhelming forces of Spain and France. It became the longest siege in British history, and the obsession with saving Gibraltar was blamed for the loss of the American colonies in the War of Independence.

Located between the Mediterranean and Atlantic, on the very edge of Europe, Gibraltar was a place of varied nationalities, languages, religions, and social classes. During the siege, thousands of soldiers, civilians, and their families withstood terrifying bombardments, starvation, and disease. Very ordinary people lived through extraordinary events, from shipwrecks and naval battles to an attempted invasion of England and a daring sortie out of Gibraltar into Spain. Deadly innovations included red-hot shot, shrapnel shells, and a barrage from immense floating batteries.

This is military and social history at its best, a story of soldiers, sailors, and civilians, with royalty and rank and file, workmen and engineers, priests, prisoners of war, spies, and surgeons all caught up in a struggle for a fortress located on little more than two square miles of awe-inspiring rock.

Gibraltar: The Greatest Siege in British History is an epic pause resistor, rich in dramatic human detail - a tale of courage, endurance, intrigue, desperation, greed, and humanity. The everyday experiences of all those involved are brought vividly to life with eyewitness accounts and expert research.

©2018 Roy Adkins, Lesley Adkins (P)2018 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“A page-turning tale of one of the era’s longest and most significant sieges . . . this well organized, fast-paced book is a worthwhile addition to the literature on a still-neglected subject.” (Publishers Weekly)

“The husband-and-wife historian team once again exhibit their talent for enlivening British history. . . . Many readers will wonder why this episode hasn't been made into a movie, with all the heroics of soldiers, civilians, and, especially, families. Thankfully, the authors had a vast trove of letters and diaries of those who lived through the siege, and they use them to great effect. . . . The story is as compelling as it is fantastic - page-turning history of one of the most important eras of Western civilization.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“One of those finely researched, richly detailed, seemingly narrow histories that opens surprising vistas in our understanding of great events . . . a true epic, and one that would make a terrific miniseries.” (David Walton, Dallas Morning News)