The Fortifications of Gibraltar 1068–1945

Uproot the mountains of the world
Save this. This one retain,
But free from fear and misery;
Here let peace reign.
Abu Abd’al-Ath Muhammad Ibn Galib, 13th-century Islamic chronicler

The Rock of Gibraltar has commanded a strategic vantage point at the meeting place of the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea and at the bridgehead between the continents of Europe and Africa since the earliest times. Over the years, this accident of geography has led to this small rocky promontory assuming an importance in world history that is totally disproportionate to its size.

The unique combination of strategic geographical position and dominating topography has attracted people to this site for millennia, from Neanderthals through Phoenician sailors to the British in the 18th century. Formed from a microplate of Jurassic Limestone, the Calpe of the ancients was the northern Pillar of Hercules and had a symbolic significance that has persisted until today. The history of Gibraltar has, since then, involved a close relationship between the human inhabitants and the physical characteristics of the Rock.

Moreover, in defensive terms Gibraltar seemed designed for the purpose of being a fortress. The Gibraltar peninsula (36° 07’ N 5° 21’ W) is 6km long by 1km wide and rises abruptly to a height of 426m above sea level. The flat sandy isthmus linking it to the mainland of Spain did not allow an enemy to approach under cover. A swampy area in front of the northern approaches to the town (later dug out and flooded as an inundation) further complicated access. The Rock itself rose sharply, providing an imposing barrier to troops along its northern and eastern sides. The town nestled in its shallower western slopes whilst to the south there were sea cliffs and beaches, all defendable against seaborne attack. It is therefore no surprise that this promontory has been fought over throughout recorded history, its natural features becoming steadily incorporated into an increasingly complex series of fortifications.

By the start of the 8th century AD, the armies of Islam had reached the southern end of the Strait of Gibraltar – a point from which the Islamic invasion of the Iberian Peninsula was launched in 711. Landing at Gibraltar, the leader of the attacking forces, a Berber named Tarik b. Ziyad, used it as the bridgehead for the conquest. It was from its original title, Jebel Tarik (Tarik’s Mountain), that we get the name for Gibraltar.

However, it was not until 1068 that the ruling Spanish Muslims built a large fort, initially to protect themselves from an attack across the Strait by expanding Berber tribes. The Almohad Emir of Morocco, Abd al-Mumin, ordered a city to be built in 1160 with all the necessary fortifications. This small walled citadel laid the foundations for the future City of Gibraltar. The clashes between succeeding rivals led to further improvement of the fortifications. A good number of these elements now form part of fortifications that have evolved over time to incorporate the succeeding developments of both Spanish and British engineers.

After the Spanish capture of Gibraltar in 1462 on the feast day of St Bernard, now Gibraltar’s patron saint, the inhabitants carried out further works. Luis Bravo de Acuña, an engineer concerned with the repair and strengthening of the fortifications of Gibraltar, produced some excellent plans in 1627 that illustrate the layout and the evolution of the city. Again, many of the early Spanish works were subsumed within later British fortifications, but some important vestiges remain, in particular Charles V Wall, built to protect the southern approaches to the town. Subsequent additions helped form the early bastion trace of the city as gunpowder eclipsed earlier weapons.

Gibraltar remained a Spanish possession until the early 18th century. At this time, the War of the Spanish Succession had pitted two rival claimants to the throne: the French Philip of Anjou (Philip V) and the Austrian Archduke Charles III. It was then, in 1704, that a combined Anglo-Dutch force led by Adm Sir George Rooke in support of Charles III, took Gibraltar to begin the latest, uninterrupted, period of British rule.

The 18th century saw three sieges including the most severe, known as the Great Siege, which lasted from 1779 to 1783. This early British period also saw great changes to the defences of Gibraltar and many salient examples still survive. Notable among these are the King’s Bastion, at the time an innovatively designed fortification which was instrumental in the defence of the Rock, and the northern defences, a system of tiered batteries and tunnelled galleries which took advantage of the Rock’s height to protect its land front.

Strengthening of the fortress continued in the 19th century, when it developed into the ultimate gunner’s station, a fortress of such impregnability that it coined the phrase ‘as strong as the Rock of Gibraltar’, a term now applied to anything considered impregnable. Many fortifications and armaments remain dating to this time, including retired batteries along the west face of the Rock, as well as the zenith of rifled muzzle-loading artillery, the 100-ton gun.

The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw the arrival of the 9.2in. coastal defence guns, which eventually closed the Strait. Increasing German naval power prompted the British high command to commission a new dockyard for Gibraltar, which not only changed the face of the Rock but also strengthened Gibraltar’s role as an important naval base.

During World War II it was the naval base for the Mediterranean Task Force ‘H’, as well as a vital stop for supply convoys. A new airfield, considered instrumental in the North African offensive, was built and an unprecedented amount of tunnelling took place on the Rock. Gibraltar became a veritable warren of tunnels that housed guns, hangars, ammunition stores, barracks and hospitals.

Gibraltar thus not only preserves in its defences a rich testament to extended periods of human conflict, but also contains a unique record of the evolution of fortifications spanning the better part of a millennium.

This protracted period of fortification and evolution of a city within the fortress walls, incorporating both natural and man-made features and including elements of Islamic, Spanish and British military structures, is what makes the fortress of Gibraltar unique in the world, and perhaps even more so its symbolic perception.