The Rock Against Napoleon:
The Importance of Gibraltar
to the Napoleonic Wars
French Revolution to 1809
by Cole H. KeKelis, USA
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The French Republican forces, under the leadership of artillery officer Napoleon Bonaparte, forced the British fleet to abandon Toulon that same year, but in the battle for that important port, Bonaparte received the only major injury he would suffer throughout his entire military career: a bayonet wound to the leg. The British sent from Gibraltar did that to the future emperor, and the then-lieutenant-governor of Gibraltar, General Charles O’Hara, took part in the assault personally; O’Hara was captured, but was later released. In 1796, the Spanish and French fleets joined against Britain and moved to expel her from the Mediterranean. They did so effectively, forcing Britain back to the gates at Gibraltar. In 1796, as in 1704, Gibraltar was Britain’s first and only outpost in the Mediterranean, and the Rock became the hub for all operations throughout 1796 and 1797 in the attempts to reenter the Mediterranean. Admiral Jervis, who would become First Sea Lord of the British Navy in 1800, made this comment regarding the essential nature of Gibraltar in the 1796-1797 period:
Admiral Jervis states in the most definite terms the usefullness of Gibraltar to Britain during the period of Napoleon’s rise to power. [8]
In 1797, the same Admiral Jervis, working in conjunction with Nelson, joined his fleet to that of Nelson at Cape St. Vincent and crushed a massive Spanish fleet. The battle took place outside Cadiz, but most of the ships involved had first passed through the Straits of Gibraltar. Nelson had stopped off for repairs at Gibraltar before joining his fleet to that of Jervis, and all prizes taken in the victory for Britain were then taken to Gibraltar.
Thus, Gibraltar aided in the destruction of four and the damaging of ten Spanish vessels in 1797, just three years before Napoleon would become First Consul of the French Republic. Bonaparte would, of course, make use of the Spanish fleet until Trafalgar, and so this battle wounded the budding emperor’s stock of allies. The Battle of St. Vincent brought Britain back into the Mediterranean. In 1798, garrison troops from Gibraltar took the island of Minorca in an easy victory. From this island, the port of Toulon could be guarded and blockaded effectively, and thus Gibraltar again contributed to the detriment of the France that would soon be Napoleon’s. Also in 1798, Malta was taken by a force launching from Gibraltar. Just as Gibraltar stands strategically at the gates of
the Mediterranean, so does Malta lie in the center of that sea.
With these two islands, Britain was free to roam the Mediterranean without the need for a friendly port on the continent. Malta was taken from Britain by Napoleon himself on his way to Egypt in 1798, but Malta was again seized by British from Gibraltar in 1800.
Napoleon’s Egyptian Campaign did not bring the general an Eastern Empire. Rather, it brought him defeat at the hands of the British and the Turks. In 1798, Napoleon landed at Aboukir Bay. Nelson’s fleet, launched from Gibraltar, was on Bonaparte’s heels, and in the Battle of the Nile, the French fleet was wiped out. Abercromby’s Egyptian Campaign, which reclaimed Egypt from the French by 1801, was also launched from Gibraltar. Ships docked at Gibraltar were in an excellent position to ambush and seize French merchant vessels passing through the Straits, and the occasional ship of war, such as the French Frigate, L’Africaine, also fell as prey to Gibraltar’s hawks.
In July, 1801, Admiral Saumarez scored a surprise victory from Gibraltar; this victory altered the balance of naval power just as Napoleon was coming to total domination in France. Saumarez piloted the HMS Superb from Gibraltar in pursuit of a Franco-Spanish Fleet passing through the Straits. Saumarez sailed between two 112-gunned ships of the line (the largest in the world at that time), the Spanish vessels Real Carlos and Hermenegildo, and broad-sided both of them.
In the darkness and confusion, the two Spanish vessels destroyed each other. From his general headquarters on Gibraltar, Admiral Jervis, First Lord of the Admiralty at that time, might well have seen “the terrible night explosion of two of the enemy’s three-deckers, shaking Gibraltar to its foundation.” [9]
Thus we see the Rock playing vital roles in key naval and army operations during the rise of Napoleon. Such victories as Cape St. Vincent, Aboukir Bay, and Malta would cripple Bonaparte’s France.
Third Coalition
The Third Coalition formed against Napoleon in 1804, and in a dispatch from Sir J.B. Warren in St. Petersburgh to Lord Harrowby on July 24, 1804, Warren referred to discussions with a certain Russian minister relating to the solidification of the Third Coalition. One of the important points of coalition formation was that the British should commit some of their soldiers to work in conjunction with Russian forces for an attack upon Bonaparte’s Italy. Warren told the Russian minister that “a large part of the garrison” of Gibraltar could “be spared to assist in conjunction with the Russian troops from Corfu, and that the remainder of the troops would soon follow, if the Emperor (Tsar Alexander) would propose or enter into a treaty to unite the several Powers of the North for the important object of saving Europe from the dominion of France ...” [10]
See how Gibraltar figured so highly in the diplomatic theatre that was plotting against Napoleon. The Rock was used as a lever to bring Tsar Alexander into line with Britain against Napoleon in the Third Co-alition. Indeed, British diplomatic instructions dating from the 1745-1789 period referred to Gibraltar as being “so highly valuable in every sense to this country.”
[11]
In 1805, Gibraltar played central role in the greatest naval victory of the Napoleonic Age. Admiral Nelson was at Gibraltar when Villeneauve and the huge Franco-Spanish fleet sailed through the Straits, and in the resulting Battle of Trafalgar, planned and launched from Gibraltar, the British fleet destroyed the bulk of the Spanish and French fleets. The result ensured British maritime domination throughout
the period. Napoleon could no longer hope to invade Britain’s shores.
Following the battle, the ships put back to Gibraltar for repairs; “The signal was made from the Royal Sovereign for all those ships that could carry sail to proceed to Gibraltar.”
[12]
Nelson’s body was brought into Rosia Bay, Gibraltar, on his flagship, HMS Victory. Gibraltar thus played a key role in the annihilation of the French and Spanish fleets and guaranteed Britain the naval superiority which she had always sought and which she had so desperately needed during the Napoleonic Wars.
Gibraltar crippled Napoleon’s navy and that of his ally, Spain. Gibraltar thwarted Bonaparte’s attempted invasion of Britain and sealed his fate forever, for as long as the British possessed the seas, they could always land troops to harass Napoleon and supplies to arm rebels against the Emperor. After Trafalgar, Gibraltar became intimately involved with the military operations of the Peninsular War which was fought in Spain from 1808 to 1813 and which decimated Napoleon’s armies and guaranteed his downfall. Gibraltar was ideally situated to supply southerly campaigns in Spain, and the British
used the Rock to the utmost in the struggle against Napoleon.
Napoleon had been ally to the Spanish throne until 1808, when he forced the Spanish monarch to abdicate in favour of Bonaparte’s elder brother, Joseph. The result was a spontaneous revolt starting at Madrid and soon spreading throughout all of Spain. Napoleon had tricked Charles IV of Spain and his son to meet with him at Bayonne, France, in order to force them into abdication. There had been a
“tentative” plan to evacuate the Spanish royals to Gibraltar and from thence to some other safe harbour, but the royals abdicated before the plan could be agreed upon.
[13]
Thus was begun the Peninsular War. Spain became a battleground in which guerilla bands bound loosely to regional Spanish revolutionary juntas stalked the countryside and attacked the French.
Sir John Moore with 10,000 men and General Spencer with 5,000 men docked at Gibraltar on their way to Portugal, Britain’s ancient ally, which had fallen to the French under Marshal Junot. Moore’s British land forces, which were ferried to the Peninsula with the aid of Gibraltar, would begin to harass Napoleon’s armies in Spain. Already, Gibraltar was playing a key role in the Peninsular War as a center for major troop movements. Meanwhile, King George III of Britain recognized Spain as an ally to Britain and authorized British military personnel to work in cooperation with the Spanish
rebels. [14]
The lieutenant-governor of Gibraltar was General Sir Hew Dalrymple. The governor, the Duke of Kent, had been relieved some years earlier after he had sparked the infamous Christmas Eve Mutiny of 1803 at Gibraltar, but Kent retained the title of governor until his death in 1820. The lieutenant-governor of Gibraltar was, therefore, the unofficial senior officer of the Rock during the rest of the
Napoleonic Period.
Dalrymple made good contacts with the rebels of Andalusia (southern Spain). Many of these guerillas were under the command of General Castanos, who worked closely with Dalrymple in order to frustrate French designs upon Spain. Dalrymple ordered all male Gibraltarians (there was a Spanish town on the peninsula) between the ages of fifteen and forty-six to join Castanos against the French. Already, one can see that Gibraltar was at the hub of military activities in the south of Spain, and she even contributed warriors for the cause of defeating Napoleon.
Gibraltar fast became the chief supply base for Andalusian rebels. Gibraltar merchants loaned great sums of money (interest-free) to Castanos and his fellow commanders, and huge stocks of equipment and clothing were collected at Gibraltar and sent to Cadiz, from whence they were distributed amongst the rebels.
In 1808, the Battle of Bailen was fought when Castanos forced a large French army to surrender. This was the first time the French had been defeated since the Battle of Alexandria in 1801 (fought by British soldiers dispatched from Gibraltar), and thus the victory had great psychological impact upon the minds of the Spanish guerillas. [15]
Gibraltar once again was at the hub of military operations and contributed indirectly to the demise of Napoleon by supplying the Spanish resistance with equipment and rations and by aiding in the defeat of the French at Bailen, a victory with far-reaching psychological consequences.
In the words of Sir William G.F. Jackson, after Bailen, “most Spaniards believed that they were individually the reincarnation of El Cid and twice the match of any Frenchman or Briton for that
matter.” [16]
Castanos, riding this wave of popular enthusiasm and confidence, took Madrid in August, 1808. The Spanish, supplied and advised from Gibraltar, were making good progress against Napoleon’s legions. Portugal had fallen to the French under Junot, but General Arthur Wellesley, later the Duke of Wellington, landed and defeated Junot at Rolica. Sir Hew Dalrymple, now lieutenant-governor
of Gibraltar, had been made chief commander of the British troops in the Iberian Peninsula in July, 1808. In a tactical blunder which negated the benefit of Wellesley’s victory over Junot in Portugal, Dalrymple signed the Convention of Sintra, by which Junot and his men would be carted back to France in British ships.
These were honourable, time-honoured, traditional terms of surrender, but since the time of the French Revolution, the French soldiers had not been treated with the former respect given them by the British, and so Dalrymple’s Sintra Convention was regarded as a foolish, tactless, almost treacherous waste. Dalrymple was recalled and replaced at Gibraltar by Major General Drummond. Despite Dalrymple’s failure at Sintra, it is clear that contributions made by Gibraltar under Dalrymple against the French in the Peninsular War far outweigh this one failure. Dalrymple’s appointment to supreme command in the Iberian Peninsula must also be regarded as noteworthy, for Gibraltar had thus been identified as the chief headquarters for the war effort. Before Wellesley liberated Portugal from the French, Gibraltar was, after all, the only British foothold in Iberia.
The initial successes of the Spanish rebels were to be crushed when Napoleon himself led an invasion of Spain in November, 1808. Gibraltar had taken the Spaniards to Madrid and had forced the Emperor himself to lead personally the attack in Spain. When Napoleon led his troops into Spain, he declared that they were going to “bear our triumphant Eagles to the Pillars of Hercules ... ”
[17]
Remarkable! Napoleon had recognized the importance of Gibraltar and had intended to plant his standards upon the Rock in his 1808 Campaign.
Madrid was quickly retaken and Castanos was defeated at Tudela. Napoleon was heading south toward Gibraltar, but he was diverted when General Moore entered from the north to support the Spanish. Moore was going to link with Castanos, but this was not possible, and Napoleon chased Moore to the coast in a costly British retreat. Moore himself was killed in the final battle of this retreat. At this point, Napoleon was forced to abandon personal command in Spain and instead went to lead his armies against the Austrians, who had risen against him once again.
Marshal Soult and General Victor were sent to take command in Spain and were given orders to march on Portugal, ignoring Andalusia and Gibraltar for the moment. At Gibraltar, many men worked to dismantle the guns set up before the Peninsular War by the Spanish along the border with Gibraltar; these weapons were sent to other cities in order to further the war effort. Also, the fortifications between Gibraltar and Spain, designed to repel attacks from Gibraltar, were demolished. This made possible British advances into Spain from Gibraltar should that be necessary later in the wars.
[18]
Meanwhile, Soult and Victor were defeated by Wellesley by means of his massive Torres Vedras defense lines in Portugal.
The Rock Against Napoleon The Importance of Gibraltar to the Napoleonic Wars
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In order to begin an analysis detailing all military actions in which Gibraltar dealt blows to Bonaparte, one must truly begin during the Age of the French Revolution (1789-1800), for it was during this age that Napoleon was rising through the ranks, and it is the France of this age that Bonaparte would eventually come to dominate. Any blows dealt to French Revolution France are, therefore, blows dealt to Napoleon’s France. For instance, Gibraltar would reach out and strike Napoleon in the thigh when, in 1793, she launched a British fleet under Admiral Hood to take Toulon in support of French royalist forces in that city.