This year’s Calpe Conference, in its 29th edition, will focus its attention on the subject of Gibraltar during the Second World War.

In order to contextualise the subject, other major global conflicts involving Gibraltar are included. The conference, entitled “Gibraltar in the Second World War and in other global conflicts: the importance of geography” brings together scholars from Gibraltar, the United Kingdom, Spain, Malta, Israel, and the United States.  

The conference will be held from the 18th to the 20th September 2025, appropriately, within the newly refurbished World War II Tunnels Complex at Hay’s Level, as part of the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.  

The first day will be dedicated to “other global conflicts” and Gibraltar’s involvement in them. This day will focus on Gibraltar during the Greek Carthaginian-Roman conflicts between the 9th and 2nd Centuries BCE, which ended with the ceasing of activities at the Sanctuary in Calpe, the northern Pillar of Herakles. It will also look at the invasion and conquest of Hispania and the growth of al-Andalus after Tarik’s landing in Gibraltar in 711 CE, including recently published information revealing links with significant climate change at the time. The role of Gibraltar in the conflict which has been termed the Gibraltar Crusade and the Battle for the Strait, will lead to a discussion of Gibraltar’s strategic importance in the 14th Century. The early British period, and particularly the Great Siege (1779-83), Nelson’s time in Gibraltar during the Napoleonic wars, through to the construction of the dockyard will bring the conference to the Second World War. Colonel Jason Musteen (retd.), of the United States Military Academy at West Point, and author of the book Nelson’s Refuge. Gibraltar in the Age of Napoleon, will be talking in this first session, which will conclude with an account, by Mr Christian Wright, of the works that have been carried out at Hay’s Level. 

The second and third days concentrate on the Second World War but will also include an account of Gibraltar’s role during the Spanish Civil War by Dr Gareth Stockey. Other talks will cover a diversity of topics, such as Operation Felix and beyond. The Axis powers and Gibraltar in the Second World War by Professor Matthias Strohn who is Head of Historical Analysis at the Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research (CHACR), the strategic think tank for the British Army. There will also be papers looking at Gibraltar and Malta, by Mr Gianluca Giorgio Falzon of the University of Malta, and also the conflict as seen from the other end of the Mediterranean, in Israel, by Professor Mina Weinstein-Evron of Haifa University.  The evacuation will be covered by former archivist Mr Thomas Finlayson, who has written widely on the subject, including the landmark book The Fortress Came First: Story of the Civilian Population of Gibraltar During the Second World War. The conference ends with two papers from renowned scholars Geoffrey Plank on The Second World War, the Strait of Gibraltar, and decolonisation around the world, and Oxford Professor Yasmin Khan on Gibraltar as an imperial nexus in the Second World War: a social history. 

Registration, which is free for Gibraltar residents, is now open at 

https://calpe2025.eventbrite.co.uk

Calpe ’25 Conference Programme 

Thursday 18th September 

0900 Official Opening by Minister Professor John Cortes 

0930 Professor Geraldine Finlayson, Dr Stewart Finlayson, Professor Clive Finlayson, The Gibraltar National Museum, Gibraltar 

Geographical Icons: Pillars of Herakles, Jbel Tarik and Strong as the Rock 

1100 Dr Francisco Jimenez Espejo, Andalusian Earth Sciences Institute, Spanish Research Council (IACT-CSIC), Armilla (Spain). 

The first landing at Gibraltar: geographical and climatic forcing for the Islamic expansion in the Iberian Peninsula 

1200 Professor Clive Finlayson, Dr Stewart Finlayson, Professor Geraldine Finlayson, The Gibraltar National Museum, Gibraltar 

The biggest tower ever built - the Gibraltar Crusade and the Battle for the Strait of Gibraltar 

1500 Colonel (Ret.) Jason R. Musteen, PhD, United States Military Academy - West Point, United States of America 

War on the One Side and Pestilence on the Other 

1630 Professor Jason Dittmer, Dept. Geography, University College, London, United Kingdom 

The rise and fall and rise and fall of Gibraltar as a strategic location 

1730 Mr Christian Wright, Wright Tech Ltd., Gibraltar 

Breathing new life into the Rock: Re-imagining Gibraltar’s WWII Tunnels for the 21st Century visitor 

Friday 19th September 

0930 Dr Gareth Stockey, Independent Scholar, United Kingdom 

Victims of Geography: solidarity and suffering in Gibraltar and the Campo de Gibraltar during the Spanish Civil War 

1100 Mr Nicholas Rankin and Professor Maggie Gee, Independent Authors, United Kingdom 

“Defending the Rock” revisited

1200 Dr Nicholas Marquez-Grant, Cranfield Forensic Institute, Cranfield University, United Kingdom 

Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology in the search and recovery of WWI and WWII casualties 

1500 Professor Mina Weinstein-Evron, School of Archaeology and Maritime Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Haifa, Israel 

WWII at the other end of the Mediterranean: the initiation and contribution of the British Army Jewish Brigade 

1630 Professor Julio Ponce Alberca, Dept. Historia Contemporanea, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain 

Gibraltar at the crossroads of WWII (1939-1945) 

1730 Professor Matthias Strohn, Head of the Historical Analysis Programme, Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research and the University of Buckingham, United Kingdom 

Operation Felix and beyond. The Axis powers and Gibraltar in the Second World War

Saturday 20th September 

0930 Mr Gianluca Giorgio Falzon, Dept. History, University of Malta, Malta 

A Rock and an Island: A comparative study of fortress security in Gibraltar and Malta 

1100 Dr Chris Grocott, School of Business, University of Leicester, United Kingdom 

Planning for Peace: Civilian Gibraltar in the Second World War 

1200 Mr Thomas J. Finlayson, Gibraltar Archivist (Ret.), Gibraltar 

The evacuation: a life-changing experience 

1500 Professor Geoffrey Plank, Independent Scholar, United Kingdom 

The Second World War, the Strait of Gibraltar, and decolonisation around the world 

1630 Professor Yasmin Khan, Faculty of History, University of Oxford, United Kingdom 

Gibraltar as an imperial nexus in the Second World War: a social history