Remarkable that such a small and exposed location should be able to resist such a long siege. Equally remarkable is the fact that it was the last siege Gibraltar had to face. Neither Napoleon nor the Germans/Italians in both World Wars placed the rock under siege; the thought was that it was impregnable and the Royal Navy presence was too strong. 

There were air raids in WW II but no actual attempt to take it.

We had another base in the Mediterranean until the 1780s - Minorca. It was captured from the Spanish in 1708, lost to the French in 1756 (the infamous Admiral Byng incident), restored by the Treaty of Paris in 1763 and finally retaken by the Spanish in 1782.

Now it's a popular holiday resort for Brits, not one in a thousand who flop out on its beaches will know anything of its long lost logistical importance.

Here's one off google

Oh, so you saved us from the French not once, but twice Major. Amazing the history I learn on this site & the benevolence of "Mother England."

We see it as our duty to educate the world to that fact.

Before you go on I'll outline the circumstances of the disputed Spanish succession you mentioned earlier and why it led to war.

Charles II, King of Spain died childless in 1700, he was the last in the male line of the Spanish Habsburg Kings. Towards the end of his life plans were drawn up by the European Powers for a succession acceptable to all, but the dying King Charles had ideas of his own. He rejected the European plan and nominated his great-nephew Philip, Duke of Anjou as his heir. Philip was a grandson of the French King Louis XIV (he had married Charles' half-sister) so naturally the French supported Philip's accession upon Charles' death in November 1700, it gave them the possibility of a union of the French and Spanish Crowns under a French-born King and the huge Spanish Empire would come under French influence. 

Equally understandably the rest of Europe rejected Philip's accession as it made France the dominant world power. They insisted on the initial plan they'd drawn up but rejected by the dying King Charles - the Spanish Crown to go to Archduke Charles of Austria, he would retain Spain's overseas empire but her territories in Europe beyond Spain itself were to be divided between France, Austria and Savoy.

Inevitably war followed.    

Hanoverian regiments spent a lot of time in the British Army. Mercenaries like the Wagner Group?

Before you go on I'll outline the circumstances of the disputed Spanish succession you mentioned earlier and why it led to war.

Charles II, King of Spain died childless in 1700, he was the last in the male line of the Spanish Habsburg Kings. Towards the end of his life plans were drawn up by the European Powers for a succession acceptable to all, but the dying King Charles had ideas of his own. He rejected the European plan and nominated his great-nephew Philip, Duke of Anjou as his heir. Philip was a grandson of the French King Louis XIV (he had married Charles' half-sister) so naturally the French supported Philip's accession upon Charles' death in November 1700, it gave them the possibility of a union of the French and Spanish Crowns under a French-born King and the huge Spanish Empire would come under French influence. 

Equally understandably the rest of Europe rejected Philip's accession as it made France the dominant world power. They insisted on the initial plan they'd drawn up but rejected by the dying King Charles - the Spanish Crown to go to Archduke Charles of Austria, he would retain Spain's overseas empire but her territories in Europe beyond Spain itself were to be divided between France, Austria and Savoy.

Inevitably war followed.    

The last in line eh. Did he have the Habsburg jaw, 3 legs, hemophilia, or some kind of deformity which accompanies the "royal" blood?

Pretty much, he was the final product of Habsburg inbreeding. He lived to 39 even so. 

Hanoverian regiments spent a lot of time in the British Army. Mercenaries like the Wagner Group?

Hanover and GB were united under one Crown from 1714 to 1837, so any war in which either was involved concerned the other. That's why GB became involved in so many European Wars in the 18th century, before the Hanover connection GB managed to stay out of most conflicts on the continent. 

Oh, so you saved us from the French not once, but twice Major. Amazing the history I learn on this site & the benevolence of "Mother England."

Do I detect an intzi wintzi sense of cynicism in this post Tom?

Pretty much, he was the final product of Habsburg inbreeding. He lived to 39 even so. 

Not exactly Robert Redford. 

Oh, so you saved us from the French not once, but twice Major. Amazing the history I learn on this site & the benevolence of "Mother England."

Do I detect an intzi wintzi sense of cynicism in this post Tom?

I have been unmasked. 

Well that's what you get when you pick fights with everybody. You get stretched mighty thin eh?