18th-Century Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 33

[cahn]

And, I mean, it doesn't have to be just 18th century characters, either!

(also, waiting for Yuletide!)

Comments

Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Gibraltar

[cahn]

Ha! Even geographically-challenged me knows where Gibraltar is :P (although for some reason apparently my fingers want to type it with an extra "l" why fingers)

If you read it closely, it says, "I will endeavor to convince Parliament to give Gibraltar back," not, "We will definitely give it back."

WELP

But hold on, I don't get it, knowing where Gibraltar is means that I know it's kind of... far away, how is that going to be at all useful --

Because yes, we have looked at a map, and Gibraltar's not doing us a whole lot of good.

Hee!

So that's why we'll still be hanging onto it in 2022.

...I actually did not know that was a thing!

Re: 1730 Trending Topics: Gibraltar

[mildred_of_midgard]

So that's why we'll still be hanging onto it in 2022.

...I actually did not know that was a thing!

Oh, yes! The very tip of Spain is still owned by the UK. The only wild monkey population on the European continent is the Barbary macaques living on the Rock of Gibraltar, and, per Wikipedia:

A popular belief holds that as long as Gibraltar Barbary macaques exist on Gibraltar, the territory will remain under British rule. In 1942 (during World War II), after the population dwindled to just seven monkeys, UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered their numbers be replenished immediately from forest fragments in both Morocco and Algeria because of this traditional belief.

:P

Wikipedia also tells me that Gibraltar has refused in referenda to be reunited with Spain. And that they're still trying to work out the whole Brexit thing.

But hold on, I don't get it, knowing where Gibraltar is means that I know it's kind of... far away, how is that going to be at all useful --

Well, the thing is, the Strait of Gibraltar is very narrow, which means if you control land bordering the strait, you can, if you have a very good navy, make it much harder for other countries to enter and leave the Mediterranean. So it's not totally useless to a major naval power like Great Britain. But it's also not of such high value in the 1720s that the kings and ministers think it's worth keeping.

Mind you, they're very, very interested in having a naval base in the Mediterranean, but they also conquered Menorca during the Spanish Succession. So if they can keep that, they're willing to give up Gibraltar. And the Spanish, while they didn't like losing Menorca, aren't nearly as emotionally invested in it in the 1720s as in Gibraltar. So they could have worked something out. But the British public got very upset at the thought of giving back territory conquered in the recent war--territory used mainly as a beachhead for launching an invasion of Spain to put a different king on the throne--so here we are today.

Conversely, Spain, also once a major naval power, still controls the bit of Gibraltar on the African coast opposite the bit that the British control in Spain, and the Moroccans are not happy with Spain about that.