1.
American Revolutionary War
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From about 1765 the American Revolution had led to increasing philosophical and political differences between Great Britain and its American colonies. The war represented a culmination of these differences in armed conflict between Patriots and the authority which they increasingly resisted. This resistance became particularly widespread in the New England Colonies, especially in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. On December 16,1773, Massachusetts members of the Patriot group Sons of Liberty destroyed a shipment of tea in Boston Harbor in an event that became known as the Boston Tea Party. Named the Coercive Acts by Parliament, these became known as the Intolerable Acts in America. The Massachusetts colonists responded with the Suffolk Resolves, establishing a government that removed control of the province from the Crown outside of Boston. Twelve colonies formed a Continental Congress to coordinate their resistance, and established committees, British attempts to seize the munitions of Massachusetts colonists in April 1775 led to the first open combat between Crown forces and Massachusetts militia, the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Militia forces proceeded to besiege the British forces in Boston, forcing them to evacuate the city in March 1776, the Continental Congress appointed George Washington to take command of the militia. Concurrent to the Boston campaign, an American attempt to invade Quebec, on July 2,1776, the Continental Congress formally voted for independence, issuing its Declaration on July 4. Sir William Howe began a British counterattack, focussing on recapturing New York City, Howe outmaneuvered and defeated Washington, leaving American confidence at a low ebb. Washington captured a Hessian force at Trenton and drove the British out of New Jersey, in 1777 the British sent a new army under John Burgoyne to move south from Canada and to isolate the New England colonies. However, instead of assisting Burgoyne, Howe took his army on a campaign against the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia. Burgoyne outran his supplies, was surrounded and surrendered at Saratoga in October 1777, the British defeat in the Saratoga Campaign had drastic consequences. Giving up on the North, the British decided to salvage their former colonies in the South, British forces under Lieutenant-General Charles Cornwallis seized Georgia and South Carolina, capturing an American army at Charleston, South Carolina. British strategy depended upon an uprising of large numbers of armed Loyalists, in 1779 Spain joined the war as an ally of France under the Pacte de Famille, intending to capture Gibraltar and British colonies in the Caribbean. Britain declared war on the Dutch Republic in December 1780, in 1781, after the British and their allies had suffered two decisive defeats at Kings Mountain and Cowpens, Cornwallis retreated to Virginia, intending on evacuation. A decisive French naval victory in September deprived the British of an escape route, a joint Franco-American army led by Count Rochambeau and Washington, laid siege to the British forces at Yorktown. With no sign of relief and the situation untenable, Cornwallis surrendered in October 1781, Whigs in Britain had long opposed the pro-war Tory majority in Parliament, but the defeat at Yorktown gave the Whigs the upper hand
2.
John Singleton Copley
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John Singleton Copley RA was an American painter, active in both colonial America and England. He was probably born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Richard and Mary Singleton Copley and he is famous for his portrait paintings of important figures in colonial New England, depicting in particular middle-class subjects. His portraits were innovative in their tendency to depict artifacts relating to these individuals lives, Copleys mother owned a tobacco shop on Long Wharf. His father was from Limerick, his mother, of the Singletons of County Clare, Letters from John Singleton, Mrs. Copleys father, are in the Copley-Pelham collection. Richard Copley, described as a tobacconist, is said by biographers to have arrived in Boston in ill health and to have gone, about the time of Johns birth, to the West Indies. William H. Whitmore gives his death as of 1748, the year of Mrs. Copleys remarriage, james Bernard Cullen says, Richard Copley was in poor health on his arrival in America and went to the West Indies to improve his failing strength. No contemporary evidence has been located for either year, except for a family tradition that speaks of his precocity in drawing, nothing is known of Copleys schooling or of the other activities of his boyhood. His letters, the earliest of which is dated September 30,1762, in such a household young Copley may have learned to use the paintbrush and the engravers tools. The family lived next to the occupied by japanner Thomas Johnston and his family. His son, Lord Lyndhurst, wrote that he was entirely self taught, variants of this thesis are found almost everywhere in his earlier letters. They suggest that, while Copley was industrious and an executant, he was physically unadventurous and temperamentally inclined toward brooding. He could have seen at least a few paintings and many good prints in the Boston of his youth. The excellence of his own portraits was not accidental or miraculous and it is a remarkable work to have come from so young a hand. No other engraving has been attributed to Copley, such painting would obviously advertise itself anywhere. Without going after business, for his letters do not indicate that he was ever aggressive or pushy, besides painting portraits in oil, doubtless after a formula learned from Peter Pelham, Copley was a pioneer American pastellist. He wrote, on September 30,1762, to the Swiss painter Jean-Étienne Liotard, the requested pastels were duly received and used by Copley in making many portraits in a medium suited to his talent. By this time he had begun to demonstrate his genius for rendering surface textures and capturing emotional immediacy. Copleys fame was established in England by the exhibition, in 1766, of A Boy with a Squirrel, which depicted his half-brother, Henry Pelham, seated at a table and playing with a pet squirrel
3.
Saint Helier
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Saint Helier is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. St Helier has a population of about 33,500, roughly 34. 2% of the population of Jersey. The greater part of St Helier is rural, the parish covers a surface area of 4.1 square miles, being 9% of the total land area of the Island. The parish arms are two crossed axes on a blue background, the blue symbolising the sea, and the axes symbolising the martyrdom of Helier at the hands of Saxon pirates in 555 AD. It is thought that the site of St Helier was settled at the time of the Roman control of Gaul, before land reclamation and port construction started, boats could be tied up to the churchyard wall on the seaward side. An Abbey of St Helier was founded in 1155 on LIslet, closed at the Reformation, the site of the abbey was fortified to create the castle that replaced Mont Orgueil as the Islands major fortress. The new Elizabeth Castle was named after the Queen by the Governor of Jersey 1600-1603, la Cohue stood on one side of the square, now rebuilt as the Royal Court and States Chamber. The market cross in the centre of the square was pulled down at the Reformation, george II gave £200 towards the construction of a new harbour - previously boats would be beached on a falling tide and unloaded by cart across the sands. Many of St Heliers road names and street names are bilingual English/French or English/Jèrriais, the names in the various languages are not usually translations, distinct naming traditions survive alongside each other. The Royal Square was also the scene of the Battle of Jersey on 6 January 1781, john Singleton Copleys epic painting The Death of Major Pierson captures an imaginative version of the scene. As harbour construction moved development seaward, a growth in population meant that marshland, settlement by English immigrants added quarters of colonial-style town houses to the traditional building stock. Continuing military threats from France spurred the construction of a fortress, Fort Regent, on the Mont de la Ville. This was the start of Jerseys agricultural prosperity in the 19th century, from the 1820s, peace with France and better communications by steamships and railways to coastal ports encouraged an influx of English-speaking residents. Speculative development covered the basin north of the central coastal strip as far as the hills within a period of about 40 years. In the second half of the 19th century, hundreds of trucks laden with potatoes and this prompted a programme of road-widening which swept away many of the ancient buildings of the town centre. Pressure for redevelopment has meant that few buildings remain in urban St Helier which date to before the 19th century. Pierre Le Sueur, reforming Constable of St Helier, was responsible for installing sewerage, an obelisk with fountain in the town centre was raised to his memory following his premature death in office from overwork. In the 1970s, a programme of pedestrianisation of the streets was undertaken
4.
Jersey
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Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is a Crown dependency of the United Kingdom, ruled by the Crown in right of Jersey, off the coast of Normandy, France. Jersey was part of the Duchy of Normandy, whose dukes went on to become kings of England from 1066. After Normandy was lost by the kings of England in the 13th century, and the ducal title surrendered to France, Jersey, Jersey is a self-governing parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy, with its own financial, legal and judicial systems, and the power of self-determination. The Lieutenant Governor on the island is the representative of the Queen. The island of Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands, although the bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey are often referred to collectively as the Channel Islands, the Channel Islands are not a constitutional or political unit. Jersey has a relationship to the Crown from the other Crown dependencies of Guernsey. It is not part of the United Kingdom, and has an identity separate from that of the UK. The definition of United Kingdom in the British Nationality Act 1981 is interpreted as including the UK, Jersey is not fully part of the European Union but has a special relationship with it, notably being treated as within the European Community for the purposes of free trade in goods. The name Caesarea has been used as the Latin name for Jersey since William Camdens Britannia, the Latin name Caesarea was also applied to the colony of New Jersey as Nova Caesarea. Andium, Agna and Augia were used in antiquity, scholars variously surmise that Jersey and Jèrri derive from jarð or jarl, or perhaps a personal name, Geirr. The ending -ey denotes an island, Jersey history is influenced by its strategic location between the northern coast of France and the southern coast of England, the islands recorded history extends over a thousand years. La Cotte de St Brelade is a Palaeolithic site inhabited before rising sea levels transformed Jersey into an island, Jersey was a centre of Neolithic activity, as demonstrated by the concentration of dolmens. Evidence of Bronze Age and early Iron Age settlements can be found in locations around the island. In June 2012 it was announced what could be Europes largest hoard of Iron Age coins had been found in Grouville by two persons using metal detectors, the hoard may be worth up to £10 M. People had been searching for treasure for 30 years. It was reported that the hoard weighed about three quarters of a tonne and could contain up to 50,000 Roman and Celtic coins, in 2012 the same two men had found 60 Iron Age coins in the same area. Jersey was part of Neustria with the same Gallo-Frankish population as the continental mainland, Jersey was invaded by Vikings in the 9th century. In 933 it was annexed to the future Duchy of Normandy, together with the other Channel Islands, Cotentin and Avranchin, by William Longsword, count of Rouen and it became one of the Norman Islands
5.
Kingdom of Great Britain
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The Kingdom of Great Britain, officially Great Britain, was a sovereign state in western Europe from 1 May 1707 to 31 December 1800. It did not include Ireland, which remained a separate realm, the unitary state was governed by a single parliament and government that was based in Westminster. Also after the accession of George I to the throne of Great Britain in 1714, the early years of the unified kingdom were marked by Jacobite risings which ended in defeat for the Stuart cause at Culloden in 1746. On 1 January 1801, the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland were merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922, five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom, the name Britain descends from the Latin name for the island of Great Britain, Britannia or Brittānia, the land of the Britons via the Old French Bretaigne and Middle English Bretayne, Breteyne. The term Great Britain was first used officially in 1474, in the instrument drawing up the proposal for a marriage between Edward IV of Englands daughter Cecily and James III of Scotlands son James. The Treaty of Union and the subsequent Acts of Union state that England and Scotland were to be United into one Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain. However, both the Acts and the Treaty also refer numerous times to the United Kingdom and the longer form, other publications refer to the country as the United Kingdom after 1707 as well. The websites of the UK parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the BBC, additionally, the term United Kingdom was found in informal use during the 18th century to describe the state. The new state created in 1707 included the island of Great Britain, the kingdoms of England and Scotland, both in existence from the 9th century, were separate states until 1707. However, they had come into a union in 1603. Each of the three kingdoms maintained its own parliament and laws and this disposition changed dramatically when the Acts of Union 1707 came into force, with a single unified Crown of Great Britain and a single unified parliament. Ireland remained formally separate, with its own parliament, until the Acts of Union 1800, legislative power was vested in the Parliament of Great Britain, which replaced both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. In practice it was a continuation of the English parliament, sitting at the location in Westminster. Newly created peers in the Peerage of Great Britain were given the right to sit in the Lords. Despite the end of a parliament for Scotland, it retained its own laws. As a result of Poynings Law of 1495, the Parliament of Ireland was subordinate to the Parliament of England, the Act was repealed by the Repeal of Act for Securing Dependence of Ireland Act 1782. The same year, the Irish constitution of 1782 produced a period of legislative freedom, the 18th century saw England, and after 1707 Great Britain, rise to become the worlds dominant colonial power, with France its main rival on the imperial stage
6.
Kingdom of France
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The Kingdom of France was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Western Europe. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe and a great power since the Late Middle Ages and it was also an early colonial power, with possessions around the world. France originated as West Francia, the half of the Carolingian Empire. A branch of the Carolingian dynasty continued to rule until 987, the territory remained known as Francia and its ruler as rex Francorum well into the High Middle Ages. The first king calling himself Roi de France was Philip II, France continued to be ruled by the Capetians and their cadet lines—the Valois and Bourbon—until the monarchy was overthrown in 1792 during the French Revolution. France in the Middle Ages was a de-centralised, feudal monarchy, in Brittany and Catalonia the authority of the French king was barely felt. Lorraine and Provence were states of the Holy Roman Empire and not yet a part of France, during the Late Middle Ages, the Kings of England laid claim to the French throne, resulting in a series of conflicts known as the Hundred Years War. Subsequently, France sought to extend its influence into Italy, but was defeated by Spain in the ensuing Italian Wars, religiously France became divided between the Catholic majority and a Protestant minority, the Huguenots, which led to a series of civil wars, the Wars of Religion. France laid claim to large stretches of North America, known collectively as New France, Wars with Great Britain led to the loss of much of this territory by 1763. French intervention in the American Revolutionary War helped secure the independence of the new United States of America, the Kingdom of France adopted a written constitution in 1791, but the Kingdom was abolished a year later and replaced with the First French Republic. The monarchy was restored by the great powers in 1814. During the later years of the elderly Charlemagnes rule, the Vikings made advances along the northern and western perimeters of the Kingdom of the Franks, after Charlemagnes death in 814 his heirs were incapable of maintaining political unity and the empire began to crumble. The Treaty of Verdun of 843 divided the Carolingian Empire into three parts, with Charles the Bald ruling over West Francia, the nucleus of what would develop into the kingdom of France. Viking advances were allowed to increase, and their dreaded longboats were sailing up the Loire and Seine rivers and other waterways, wreaking havoc. During the reign of Charles the Simple, Normans under Rollo from Norway, were settled in an area on either side of the River Seine, downstream from Paris, that was to become Normandy. With its offshoots, the houses of Valois and Bourbon, it was to rule France for more than 800 years. Henry II inherited the Duchy of Normandy and the County of Anjou, and married Frances newly divorced ex-queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, after the French victory at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214, the English monarchs maintained power only in southwestern Duchy of Guyenne. The death of Charles IV of France in 1328 without male heirs ended the main Capetian line, under Salic law the crown could not pass through a woman, so the throne passed to Philip VI, son of Charles of Valois
7.
Naval battles of the American Revolutionary War
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From the start of the hostilities, the British North American station under Vice-Admiral Samuel Graves blockaded the major colonial ports and carried raids against patriot communities. Colonial forces could do little to stop these developments due to British naval supremacy, in 1777, colonial privateers made raids into British waters capturing merchant ships, which they took into French and Spanish ports, although both were officially neutral. Seeking to challenge Britain, France signed two treaties with America in February 1778, but stopped short of declaring war on Britain, the risk of a French invasion forced the British to concentrate its forces in the English Channel, leaving its forces in North America vulnerable to attacks. After the French fleet departed, the British turned their attention to the south, in 1779, the French fleet returned to assist American forces attempting to recapture Savannah from British forces. In 1780, another fleet and 6,000 troops commanded by Lieutenant-General Jean-Baptiste, comte de Rochambeau, landed at Newport, and shortly afterwards was blockaded by the British. British Vice-Admiral Sir George Brydges Rodney, who had been tracking de Grasse around the West Indies, was alerted to the latters departure, but was uncertain of the French admirals destination. Rodney, who was ill, sailed for Europe with the rest of his fleet in order to recover, refit his fleet, the Royal Navy attempted to dispute this control in the key Battle of the Chesapeake on 5 September but Rear-Admiral Thomas Graves was defeated. When the news reached London, the government of Lord Frederick North fell, and these culminated in the Treaty of Paris in 1783, in which King George III recognised the independence of the United States of America. The Battle of Lexington and Concord on 19 April 1775 drew thousands of militia forces from throughout New England to the towns surrounding Boston. These men remained in the area and their numbers grew, placing the British forces in Boston under siege when they blocked all access to the peninsula. The British were still able to sail in supplies from Nova Scotia, Providence, colonial forces could do nothing to stop these shipments due to the naval supremacy of the British fleet and the complete absence of any sort of rebel armed vessels in the spring of 1775. During the siege, with the supplies in the city running shorter by the day, Graves, apparently acting on intelligence that the Colonials might make attempts on the islands, posted guard boats near Noddles Island. These were longboats that included detachments of Marines, sources disagree as to whether or not any regulars or marines were stationed on Noddles Island to protect the naval supplies. In response, the Colonials began clearing Noddles Island and Hog Island of anything useful to the British and this contested action resulted in the loss of two British soldiers and the capture and burning of Diana. He also belatedly sent a detachment of regulars to secure Noddles Island, Moore also carried orders to recover what he could from the wreck of HMS Halifax, which had apparently been run aground in Machias Bay by a patriot pilot in February 1775. After a heated negotiation, the Machias townspeople seized the merchant vessels, Jeremiah OBrien immediately outfitted one of the three captured vessels with breastwork, armed her with the guns and swivels taken from Margaretta and changed her name to Machias Liberty. In July 1775, Jeremiah OBrien and Benjamin Foster captured two more British armed schooners, Diligent and Tatamagouche, whose officers had been captured when they came ashore near Bucks Harbour. In August 1775, the Provincial Congress formally recognised their efforts, the community would be a base for privateering until the wars end
8.
Battle of Flamborough Head
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The Battle of Flamborough Head was a naval battle that took place on 23 September 1779 in the North Sea off the coast of Yorkshire. The battle was led by Continental Navy officer John Paul Jones and it became one of the most celebrated naval actions of the war. The crews included Americans, French volunteers, British sailors previously captured by the Americans and offered the chance to get out of captivity, and many others seeking glory or prize money. On the evening of 22 September, Jones in Bonhomme Richard, accompanied by the brigantine Vengeance, had been off Spurn Head, hoping to catch a few prizes emerging from the Humber estuary. He decided to head northward during the hours of darkness, and rendezvous with his frigates Alliance and Pallas, shortly after midnight, two vessels were seen, so signal lanterns were set. The strangers did not give the response that would identify them as members of his squadron. Early in the afternoon the squadron sighted a brig in Bridlington Bay, so at about 3,30 pm. Shortly after the schooner was dispatched, Alliance, which had been ahead of the others, hoisted a signal. At least two large vessels had been sighted in the distance, so the schooner was immediately recalled by firing a gun. Some ships left the convoy before Britain came in sight, heading for northern ports such as Leith, early in the afternoon, as they approached Flamborough Head, the lookouts of the foremost ships saw the danger in Bridlington Bay for themselves. Hastily tacking, they attempted to run for the safety of Scarborough, Serapis put on all sail to get between the fleeing merchant vessels and a potential attack from the Franco-American squadron, while the smaller Countess of Scarborough shepherded the convoy. About 4 pm, with the convoy to his north. As the squadron caught up, the Royal Navy vessels made sure to position themselves so that the enemy could not easily sail round them to reach the slower merchant ships. As the situation became clear Alliance gradually slowed, allowing the rest of Jones’s squadron to catch up, about 6 pm, Commodore Jones ordered Pallas to ride directly in his wake, to confuse the opposition about the squadron’s strength. Half an hour later he hoisted signals ordering all vessels to form a line of battle. Captain Landais, who unlike Jones had a deal of formal training in naval leadership and tactics. He used Alliances superior handling to sail off to one side, finally, a little after 7 pm, Bonhomme Richard was within pistol-shot of the battle-ready Serapis. In the gathering dark, Pearson then hailed the potentially hostile ship to ask pertinent questions, its name
9.
Action of 6 October 1779
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The battle ended in a French victory when Quebec was destroyed by an explosion. France along with Spain joined on the side of the Americans, Britain did not attempt a close blockade of French ports rather a screen of frigates kept a vigil while the ships of the line stayed at anchor at places like Torbay and Spithead. One of those frigates, operating off Guernsey, was the thirty-two gun, Quebec had submerged on a rock and had to throw excess weight overboard to refloat her, sacrificing his 12-pound cannon. When repaired in Portsmouth there were no replacements at the time so ship, on 6 October, Quebec working with the cutter HMS Rambler of ten guns spotted a frigate and a cutter. By 8, 00am they were found to be the French Iphigénie-class, 32-gun Surveillante, under captain Couëdic de Kergoaler, Quebec cleared for action and by 8,30 in the light wind the French frigate had opened fire. Within an hour Quebec opened fire after she became parallel with Surveillante, Farmer was wounded as was the first lieutenant who had to have his arm amputated after part of it was shot away and remarkably soon went back to duty. Couëdic was wounded twice within two hours but not seriously when all of Surveillantes masts and rigging progressively crashed down, Quebec seeing an opportunity was about to finish the French ship but her severely damaged and weakened masts all came down within a space of a half an hour. Quebecs main and foremasts went over the side but the mizzen mast came down on the engagement side blocking many of the gunports with the sails. The ships drifted together with Surveillantes bowsprit becoming entangled in the wreckage of Quebecs mizzen mast, Quebecs gun captains kept up her rate of fire by shooting through the wreckage. Couëdic saw his opportunity to board and take Quebec but they were repulsed with heavy losses including Couëdic who had now a third wound. By now a stalemate had ensued both sides priority was now taken to sorting the damage and casualties were heavy, however, a turn of events began, a fire which had begun on Quebecs mangled and tangled sails covering the gun ports and as a result of cannon fire. The fire soon spread out of control and soon took a hold of Surveillante, Couëdic though managed to break free of Quebec by chopping off the wreckage that entangled both ships and the fire on the French ship was brought under control. However, on Quebec the situation was serious, the fire had spread within the ship itself and had become totally uncontrollable, Farmer ordered the magazine to be flooded but this was now futile and by 6pm the fire reached the magazine. British sailors jumped into the water as some knew the inevitable would happen, Farmer ordered the ship to be abandoned and panic ensued. Within moments Quebec exploded taking whatever was left of her complement including Farmer himself. Surveillante managed to be out of way but was so badly shot up the vessel did not have a boat that was seaworthy. The cutters had fought their own battle and they too had battered themselves into submission. When Quebec exploded the task of rescuing survivors became a priority, the British cutter Rambler had her sails and rigging so badly damaged she was unable to pursue or let alone even intervene, she sent out a boat instead to help
10.
Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1780)
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The Battle of Cape St. Vincent was a naval battle took place off the southern coast of Portugal on 16 January 1780 during the American Revolutionary War. A British fleet under Admiral Sir George Rodney defeated a Spanish squadron under Don Juan de Lángara, the battle is sometimes referred to as the Moonlight Battle because it was unusual for naval battles in the Age of Sail to take place at night. It was also the first major victory for the British over their European enemies in the war. When Lángara saw the size of the British fleet, he attempted to make for the safety of Cádiz, in a running battle that lasted from mid-afternoon until after midnight, the British captured four Spanish ships, including Lángaras flagship. After the battle Rodney successfully resupplied Gibraltar and Minorca before continuing on to the West Indies station, Lángara was released on parole, and was promoted to lieutenant general by King Carlos III. One of Spains principal goals upon its entry into the American War of Independence in 1779 was the recovery of Gibraltar, the Spanish planned to retake Gibraltar by blockading and starving out its garrison, which included troops from Britain and the Electorate of Hanover. The siege formally began in June 1779, with the Spanish establishing a blockade around the Rock of Gibraltar. The matching naval blockade was comparatively weak, however, and the British discovered that small fast ships could evade the blockaders, by late 1779, however, supplies in Gibraltar had become seriously depleted, and its commander, General George Eliott, appealed to London for relief. A supply convoy was organized, and in late December 1779 a large fleet sailed from England under the command of Admiral Sir George Brydges Rodney, although Rodneys ultimate orders were to command the West Indies fleet, he had secret instructions to first resupply Gibraltar and Minorca. On 4 January 1780 the fleet divided, with ships headed for the West Indies sailing westward and this left Rodney in command of 19 ships of the line, which were to accompany the supply ships to Gibraltar. On 8 January 1780 ships from Rodneys fleet spotted a group of sails, giving chase with their faster copper-clad ships, the British determined these to be a Spanish supply convoy that was protected by a single ship of the line and several frigates. The entire convoy was captured, with the ship of the line, Guipuzcoana. Guipuzcoana was staffed with a prize crew and renamed HMS Prince William, in honour of Prince William, the third son of the King. On 12 January HMS Dublin, which had lost part of her topmast on 3 January, suffered additional damage, assisted by HMS Shrewsbury, she limped into Lisbon on 16 January. The Spanish had learnt of the British relief effort, córdova learnt of the strength of Rodneys fleet, and returned to Cadiz rather than giving chase. On 16 January the fleets of Lángara and Rodney spotted each other around 1,00 pm south of Cape St. Vincent, the point of Portugal. The weather was hazy, with heavy swells and occasional squalls, Rodney was ill, and spent the entire action in his bunk. His flag captain, Walter Young, urged Rodney to give orders to engage when the Spanish fleet was first spotted, Lángara started to establish a line of battle, but when he realised the size of Rodneys fleet, he gave orders to make all sail for Cadiz
11.
Great Siege of Gibraltar
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The Great Siege of Gibraltar was an unsuccessful attempt by Spain and France to capture Gibraltar from the British during the American War of Independence. This was the largest action fought during the war in terms of numbers, at three years and seven months, it is the longest siege endured by the British Armed Forces. In 1738 a dispute between Spain and Great Britain arose over commerce between Europe and the Americas, a short time later, the War of Jenkins Ear began, and both countries declared war on 23 October 1739, each side drawing up plans to establish trenches near Gibraltar. Seeing these first movements, Britain ordered Admiral Vernon to sail from Portobello, the passage of years failed to break the hostilities in the region. Then on 9 July 1746, King Philip V of Spain died in Madrid and his successor, Ferdinand VI, soon began negotiations with Britain on trade. The British Parliament was amenable to such negotiations, and even looked favourably upon lifting the British embargo on Spain, the neutrality adopted by Ferdinand VI quickly ended with his death in 1759. The new king, Charles III, was willing to negotiate with Great Britain. Instead, he signed a Family Compact with Louis XV of France on 15 August 1761, at that time France was at war with Britain, so Britain responded by declaring war on Spain and capturing the Spanish colonial capitals of Manila and Havana. Two years later, after cessation of hostilities, Spain recovered Manila, in the years of peace that followed both France and Spain hoped for an opportunity to launch a war against Britain on more favourable terms and recover their lost colonial possessions. Following the outbreak of the American War of Independence, both states supplied funding and arms to the American rebels, and drew up a strategy to intervene on the American side and defeat Britain. On 12 April 1779, France and Spain signed the Treaty of Aranjuez wherein they agreed to aid one another in recovering lost territory from Britain, then, in June 1779, Spain declared war on Great Britain, France having done so the year before. The Spanish blockade was directed by Martín Álvarez de Sotomayor, Spanish ground forces were composed of two battalions of Royal Guards, another two of Walloon Guards, with artillery and cavalry, about 13,000 in all. The artillery was commanded by Rudesindo Tilly, while the cavalry, antonio Barceló commanded the maritime forces responsible for blockading the bay, and established his base in Algeciras, commanding a fleet of several xebecs and gunboats. A fleet of 11 ships and two frigates were placed in the Gulf of Cadiz under the command of Luis de Córdova y Córdova to block the passage of British reinforcements. All the defences were strengthened, and many of the infantry, including picked men, the garrison included contingents of Hanoverian and Corsican troops. The British had anticipated an attack for some time, and a number of ships had sailed to reinforce and supply Gibraltar. The combined Spanish and French fleets blockaded Gibraltar from the sea, while on the side a enormous army constructed forts, redoubts, entrenchments. General Eliott formed a corps of sharpshooters, as the winter of 1779 came down the garrison began to suffer from want of fresh provisions, which became very scarce and dear
12.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
