UK transfers Gibraltar following 7 Years' War

Rather than hand back Havana in exchange for Florida, at the end of the 7 Years' War Britain tries to appease Spain by trading back Gibraltar. I don't think Britain loses a lot of strategic interest here - it still gets Minorca back, so it can restrict access to the Straits of Gibraltar if necessary. Maybe Britain can retain the right to access Gibraltar during peace, but it's still administered by Spain. Control of Cuba pretty much makes the entire Caribbean a British hostage, further increasing the costs to Spain of a future war (although I highly doubt there was any way of getting a lasting peace at this point).

What could Britain reasonably expect to get for Gibraltar in 1763? Cuba+Florida? I don't know how much value Spain placed on Gibraltar at this point.
 
Rather than hand back Havana in exchange for Florida, at the end of the 7 Years' War Britain tries to appease Spain by trading back Gibraltar. I don't think Britain loses a lot of strategic interest here - it still gets Minorca back, so it can restrict access to the Straits of Gibraltar if necessary. Maybe Britain can retain the right to access Gibraltar during peace, but it's still administered by Spain. Control of Cuba pretty much makes the entire Caribbean a British hostage, further increasing the costs to Spain of a future war (although I highly doubt there was any way of getting a lasting peace at this point).

What could Britain reasonably expect to get for Gibraltar in 1763? Cuba+Florida? I don't know how much value Spain placed on Gibraltar at this point.

I don't know if that's such a great idea. Spain would want Havana back, it had one of the largest harbours and docks of the Spanish Empire, so it made it a centre point of its colonial empire.
 
Minorca wouldn't be anywhere near as useful for controlling the Straits of Gibraltar as Gibraltar would be. Spain would have to give up more territory than it would be willing to if the British were to exchange it for Gibraltar.
 
I don't know if that's such a great idea. Spain would want Havana back, it had one of the largest harbours and docks of the Spanish Empire, so it made it a centre point of its colonial empire.

So would Spain keep fighting in hopes of getting it back, even if offered Gibraltar? Everyone's pretty much bankrupt at this point, but Spain is in worse shape than Britain. The Brits can last another year. Spain will just lie prostrate and lose more and more colonies.
 
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