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uty, who had taken charge of the defense
when Álvarez de Castro fell gravely ill,
Gerona had reached the end of its resources.
Both sides agreed that all had been done
that could possibly be demanded by mili-
tary honor, and Gerona yielded to Augereau.
Spain's casualties amounted to 9,000 and
those of France to 20,000. The siege of
Gerona demonstrated the determination of
the Spanish nation to defend its sovereignty
against the invaders and the obstinate will-
ingness of the French emperor to pour
blood and treasure into the struggle for the
Iberian Peninsula. The courage and valor
displayed at Gerona would continue for
another five years to inspire the Spaniards.
sive harbor facilities that were constructed
there, and during World War II the Rock's
formidable gun batteries overawed every
challenge from Axis enemies. By 2004 the
population of Gibraltar stood at a little less
than 30,000 and enjoyed British citizenship
and a large degree of local government.
Spain's periodic efforts to secure the retro-
cession of Gibraltar were routinely rebuffed
by the colony's voters who preferred to
retain the advantages of being British
(despite the fact that most of them were of
Spanish, Italian, or Maltese origin).
Although Spain has presented her case in
every guise, from demands for historical
justice to concerns over environmental pol-
lution, the 2.5-square-mile enclave at the
foot of the great fortified mountain seems
destined to remain an alien intrusion on
Spain's rocky extremity.
Gibraltar
At the southernmost extremity of the Ibe-
rian Peninsula, the mountain known in
antiquity as Calpe, one of the legendary Pil-
lars of Hercules that marked the exit from
the Mediterranean, has stood for the last
300 years as a reminder of certain painful
moments in Spain's history. It was here that
Muslim invaders led by Tarik launched the
first phase of their conquest of the penin-
sula in 711, since which the mountain has
been named for him,
Gibraltar
being a con-
traction of
Gebel al-Tarik
(the mount of
Tarik). Recaptured by the forces of C
ASTILE
in 1462, it was taken in 1704 by England
and recognized as one of her colonies at the
end of the W
AR
OF
THE
S
PANISH
S
UCCESSION
(1713). By the time Spain launched an
unsuccessful attack in 1779 the new mas-
ters of Gibraltar had already begun to con-
struct defenses that would eventually turn
it into one of the strongest fortresses in the
world. British ships patrolled the Mediter-
ranean during World War I from the mas-
Giner de los Ríos, Francisco
(1839-1915)
Spanish philosopher and educator
Giner was the chief Spanish promoter of
the doctrines of the German philosopher
Karl Krause, whose disciple Julián Sanz del
Río had been Giner's teacher.
Krausismo
underlay the movement of educational and
moral reform that Giner and his circle
attempted to introduce in Spain during the
late 19th century. A professor of the philos-
ophy of law at the University of Madrid,
Giner became involved in the tumultuous
political and social disturbances that fol-
lowed the deposition of I
SABELLA
II in 1868.
He was imprisoned for his perceived radi-
calism in 1875 but by 1876 was organizing
likeminded educators who founded the
independent school known as the Insti-
tución Libre de Enseñanza (Institution for
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