A rip-roaring account of the dramatic four-year siege of Britain’s Mediterranean garrison by Spain and France - an overlooked key to the British loss in the American Revolution. For more than three and a half years, from 1779 to 1783, the tiny territory of Gibraltar was besieged and blockaded, on land and at sea, by the overwhelming forces of Spain and France. It became the longest siege in British history, and the obsession with saving Gibraltar was blamed for the loss of the American colonies in the War of Independence.   During the siege, thousands of soldiers, civilians, and their families withstood terrifying bombardments, starvation, and disease. Very ordinary people lived through extraordinary events, from shipwrecks and naval battles to an attempted invasion of England and a daring sortie out of Gibraltar into Spain.   Gibraltar: The Greatest Siege in British History is an epic page-turner, rich in dramatic human detail—a tale of courage, endurance, intrigue, desperation, greed, and humanity.  “This book is a fascinating, well-crafted account of a siege that defined Britishness, and shaped the strategy of the next four major wars.” - BBC History Magazine “Fascinating . . . timely.” - Daily Mail