Why does Britain own Gibraltar and also why did they own Hong

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>>2617514
They own Gibraltar because they won a war with Spain and took Gibraltar because it is a strategic location at the entrance to the Mediterranean. They had Hong Kong so that they could sell opium and trade other stuff to the Chinese. Also pic related. They gave of Hong Kong because they only had a lease on the island which ran out.

>>2617514
During the War of the Spanish Succession, Britain and the Netherlands captured it. Spain offered to let Britain keep Gibraltar if they withdrew from the war.

As for Hong Kong, China leased Hong Kong to Britain for 99 years in 1898.
In 1997 the lease expired and they had to hand it over.

>>2617514
Because the contract for Hong Kong ended.

>>2617514
At one point in time Britain had some sort of Empire

Britain owns Gibraltar because they were ceded the land in 1713 under the Treaty of Utrecht. This was done to get Britain out of the Spanish War of Succession.

Hong Kong was ceded to the British at the end of the First Opium War in 1842. In 1898 the British expanded these holdings by leasing a bunch of land around Hong Kong from the Chinese. The lease lasted 99 years. When the lease expired the British not only gave back the leased territory but also Hong Kong.

>>2617596
But they gave it to the peoples republic not to the heir of the chinese empire aka Taiwan

>>2617596
>When the lease expired the British not only gave back the leased territory but also Hong Kong.

And the reason they did was because it's fairly likely the Chinese would have taken it by force if they didn't.

>>2617932
Brute force is the only way to deal with pirate scum.

Hong Kong is so fucking based.

Fuck politics and political freedom. You faggots are getting human freedom and economic prosperity instead. If you want to squabble over stupid ass social issues then move to a democratic shithole like America or Britain

>>2617826
Image the butthurt if they would have done that

>>2617514
>why did they give up Hong Kong?

Because they had leased it, and it would have been illegal for them to have continued owning it after 1997.

>>2617548
>They gave of Hong Kong because they only had a lease on the island which ran out.

not quite.

the UK had permanent sovereignty over Hong Kong _Island_. But it leased the Kowloon Penninsula, called the "new territories" for a 99-year lease. At the time, it was almost uninhabited, and the island was a city, but pretty small. They never expected it to grow so much, as it did.
the problem was, when the 99-year lease was coming up to end in the 1980's, there was no way for HK island to survive without the infrastructure around it on the New Territories - it would've needed something akin to the Berlin Airlift to feed it, and by that date it was already clear that the Chinese government would not renew the lease.
that had in fact, already caused problems in the 1970's when they were wanting to build the airport, as investors were unwilling to do so unless they knew what would happen to the new territories at the lease end.

so when the lease expired, the UK government voluntarily released its claim on HK island, so they all transferred at the same time.

>>2617575
bullshit.

>>2618326
Why didn't they just set up defences and say "fuck you" to the chinamen

>>2618343
>Why didn't they just set up defences and say "fuck you" to the chinamen

It's cute you think the 1990s British military could stop the Chinese in China.

>>2618343
Britain, for all its faults, actually does follow its own legal system pretty well.

Plus China is fuckhuge and has a pretty powerful military.

>>2618412
Nuke that shit brah.

>>2617548
>won a war against spain
gibraltar was occupied by dutchmen in the sucession war.

The faction where uk was part of, lost the war as the french pretender was appionted king.

in order to gain recognision he made a treaty (utrecht)where he gave up the netherlands, naples, milan gibraltar and minorca as part of the deal.


UK has never won a war in any way against Spain

>>2617567
Actually, Britain got to keep Hong Kong until eternity. Britain however struck a deal with China to get good relations to keep it for 99 years.

>>2618412
Chinamen declaring war on the British would have brought a lot more nations into the war against it though.

Chink boats wouldn't have been able to do fuck all either, and there was plenty of time to fortify the shit out of Hong Kong. I even have my doubts about the ability for the Chinese to logistically maintain a large fighting force in China.

>>2618825
>we wuz winnerz n sheit

>>2617826
>>2618104
I was thinking of that the other day kek
Pretty sure the chinks would have started a war over it.

>>2617514

Britain only cedes territory to non whites. They'll go to war over falklands and gibraltar.

>>2619081
This is correct. Britain only goes ape shit when its other white people that want a piece of the pie

>>2619081
>Britain only cedes territory to non whites.
but they didn't give the falklands to argentina

>>2619081
>>2619121
>Argentina
>white

>>2619081

this.

>>2618013
>squabble over social issues
>like economic policy, welfare, govt health coverage
You gotta be an idiot of some kind.

>>2619081
>Argentina
>white

>>2619081
This explains why we gave so much land to France in the 1450's.

>>2621662
Kek

>>2618825
>let's just ignore the British and Dutch PU at the time, that unnecessarily complicates this nationalistic pissing contest

>>2618416
So does Britain.

It's called NATO.

>>2622932
Britain couldn't pull NATO in over Article 5 due to an attack on Hong Kong. It only applied to attacks in Europe and North America. It's the same reason NATO told France to get fucked over Vietnam.

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>>2622971
>It's the same reason NATO told France to get fucked over Vietnam.
if only we had actually listened to the Viets and told the French to stop they never would have gone communist

>>2618326
Well, technically they had only leased part of it -- the original concession, a rather small island off the coast, was technically owned in perpetuity following the first Opium War, but it was unsustainable without the leased portion and China would've thrown a fit (like they did with Macau) anyways.

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>>2619081
>argentina
>white

>>2622987
>hey never would have gone communist
Ho Chi Minh had been communist since the 1910's. He picked it up in France, ironically enough. The time to stop Vietnam going communist was in 1919 when Ho sought an audience with Wilson.

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>>2618825

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>>2623009

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>>2618825
>UK has never won a war in any way against Spain