Everyone immediately began rubbing their hands in anticipation.
Gibraltar was as important to the United Kingdom as its homeland. Attacking it was tantamount to launching an all-out war against the United Kingdom.
Previously, although Spain and the English Army had been fighting fiercely in Portugal, it had never risen to the level of a national war.
Joseph pondered. "To give the Spaniards confidence, we must send troops first. At least five thousand men, along with a large number of heavy guns of thirty-two pounds or more."
Indeed, taking Gibraltar was extraordinarily difficult. Spain would most likely be unwilling to bite into that hard bone alone.
Gibraltar itself was a rocky mountain by the sea. Its landward side was extremely steep, connected only by a winding mountain road a few hundred meters wide. With merely a few cannons placed atop the mountain, no number of soldiers could hope to fight their way up.
Moreover, the English had operated here for more than a century, placing heavy artillery everywhere that could fire. The entire fortress held nearly three hundred cannons in total.
Historically, Napoleon had once planned to send fifteen thousand soldiers to besiege the small Gibraltar Fortress, only to discover there was nowhere to begin. In the end, he could only abandon the plan in frustration.
It could be said that unless the United Kingdom's maritime supply lines to Gibraltar were cut off and the fortress was left without ammunition or food, taking the place was almost impossible. However, the United Kingdom had never declared the Anti-French Alliance dissolved, nor had France and the United Kingdom ever signed a Ceasefire Agreement. In other words, the two countries were theoretically still in a state of war.
Therefore, France had no psychological reservations whatsoever about sending troops to attack Gibraltar.
And now, Portugal's