User:Wee Curry Monster/Gibraltar NPOVN

Proposed Text
The Grand Alliance captured Gibraltar on 3 August 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession after abortive attempts elsewhere. It was selected for it's strategic value, weak garrison and to encourage the rejection of Philip V (the Bourbon Claimant) in favour of Charles III (the Hapsburg claimant). Following orders to respect civilians, officers tried to maintain control but discipline broke down and the men ran amok. After order was restored, despite the surrender agreement promising property and religious rights, most of the population left with the garrision on 7 August citing loyalty to Philip.Letter Of The Authorities To King Philip V. 115

Sire,

The loyalty with which this city has served all the preceding kings, as well as your Majesty, has ever been notorious to them. In this last event, not less than on other occasions, it has endeavoured to exhibit its fidelity at the price of lives and property, which many of the inhabitants have lost in the combat; and with great honour and pleasure did they sacrifice themselves in defence of your Majesty, who may rest well assured that we who have survived (for our misfortune), had we experienced a similar fate, would have died with glory, and would not now suffer the great grief and distress of seeing your Majesty, our lord and master, dispossessed of so loyal a city.

Subjects, but courageous as such, we will submit to no other government than that of your Catholic Majesty, in whose defence and service we shall pass the remainder of our lives; departing from this fortress, where, on account of the superior force of the enemy who attacked it, and the fatal chance of our not having any garrison for its defence, except a few poor and raw peasants, amounting to less than 300, we have not been able to resist the assault, as your Majesty must have already learnt from the governor or others.

Our just grief allows us to notice no other fact for the information of your Majesty, but that all the inhabitants, and each singly, fulfilled their duties in their several stations; and our governor and alcalde have worked with the greatest zeal and activity, without allowing the horrors of the incessant cannonading to deter them from their duties, to which they attended personally, encouraging all with great devotion. May Divine Providence guard the royal person of your Majesty,

Gibraltar, August 5th (N. S.), 1704. Several factors influenced the decision including the expectation of a counter attack and the violence during the capture, which ultimately proved disastrous for the Hapsburg cause. The subsequent siege failed to dislodge the Hapsburg forces and the refugees settled around Algeciras and the hermitage of San Roque. In 1711, the British and French Governments started secret negotiations to end the war leading to the cession of Gibraltar to the British by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713.

Spain attempted to retake Gibraltar in 1727 and most notably in 1779, when it entered the American Revolutionary War on the American side as an ally of France.

Existing Text
On 4 August 1704, during the War of the Spanish Succession, a combined Anglo-Dutch force captured the town of Gibraltar. The terms of surrender provided certain assurances but commanders lost control, sailors and marines engaged in rape and pillage, desecrating most churches, and townspeople carried out reprisal killings. By 7 August, after order was restored, almost all the population felt that staying in Gibraltar was too dangerous and fled to San Roque and other nearby areas of Spain.