SpainandAND⤬THE JUNCTION
7 SHARED EVENTSUnited Kingdom

Entangled histories

7 events in which either nation’s sourced chronicle names the other — including under earlier names of the same state. Each is the same record, with the same sources, as on its own chronicle; nothing here was written for this page.

ONE SPINE OF YEARS · TWO WALLS OF EVENTS · ESP LEFT · GBR RIGHT

1. 1588

   Defeat of the Spanish Armada

   England repelled the Spanish Armada sent by Philip II, a decisive check to Spanish ambitions that bolstered English naval confidence and national identity.

   War & Rupture · from the United Kingdom chronicle · Tudors, the Reformation, and the first empire · REFS 1 — God blew and they were scattered

2. 1704

   Anglo-Dutch capture of Gibraltar

   During the War of the Spanish Succession an Anglo-Dutch force took Gibraltar; by the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 Spain ceded it to Britain in perpetuity, and Spain continues to seek its return.

   War & Rupture · from the Spain chronicle · Decline, the Bourbons and the Napoleonic Crisis · REFS 2 — The Closure of the Border, 1969–2019, Gibraltar: working paper prepared by the Secretariat (A/AC.109/2023/8)

3. 1779–1783

   The Great Siege of Gibraltar

   During the American Revolutionary War, Spain and France besieged British Gibraltar from June 1779 to February 1783 in an unsuccessful attempt to capture it.

   War & Rupture · from the Spain chronicle · Decline, the Bourbons and the Napoleonic Crisis · REFS 1 — Great Siege of Gibraltar

4. 1814

   End of the Peninsular War

   Allied Spanish, British and Portuguese forces expelled the French and restored Spanish independence, but the returning Ferdinand VII reimposed absolute monarchy and revoked the 1812 constitution.

   War & Rupture · from the Spain chronicle · Decline, the Bourbons and the Napoleonic Crisis · REFS 1 — Spain

5. 10 Sep 1967

   Gibraltar votes to stay British

   In a sovereignty referendum Gibraltarians chose to keep their link with Britain rather than pass under Spanish sovereignty, by 12,138 votes to 44; Spain responded by closing the land frontier in 1969.

   Politics & Power · from the United Kingdom chronicle · World wars, decolonisation, and the modern UK · REFS 2 — 1967 Gibraltar sovereignty referendum, The Closure of the Border, 1969–2019

6. 8 Jun 1969

   Franco closes the Gibraltar frontier

   After Gibraltarians voted in 1967 to keep their link with Britain and a new Gibraltar constitution followed in May 1969, Franco's government closed the land frontier; it partly reopened to pedestrians on 15 December 1982 and fully on 5 February 1985.

   Politics & Power · from the Spain chronicle · The Franco Dictatorship and Democratic Spain · REFS 2 — The Closure of the Border, 1969–2019, Gibraltar–Spain border

7. 7 Nov 2002

   Gibraltar rejects shared sovereignty

   In a referendum called by the Gibraltar Government, voters rejected a proposal for British–Spanish joint sovereignty by 17,900 votes to 187.

   Politics & Power · from the United Kingdom chronicle · World wars, decolonisation, and the modern UK · REFS 1 — 2002 Gibraltar sovereignty referendum