Fortification
The Siege of Antwerp
Parma’s bridge across the Scheldt at Antwerp Over the next few years the Duke of Parma consolidated the line between the loyal south and the rebellious north, and set about reducing the northern strongholds by means of a long succession of sieges, a process that culminated in the thirteen-month-long Siege of Antwerp – one of the most fascinating operations of…
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Early Fortifications
Babylon The Ishtar Gate Structures built to protect against attack-played an important role in the city-states, kingdoms, and empires of the ancient Near East. This was especially true for cities built on flat plains that had no natural barriers, in regions such as southern Mesopotamia. Most early fortifications consisted of…
‘A great dyke from sea to sea’
‘Roman genius and energy’: Offa’s Dyke near Edenhope Hill, Shropshire. In the late 780s Offa took the decision for which he is best remembered: to build the dyke along the Welsh frontier. There had been such dykes before in England, but Offa’s surpassed all these earlier works in scope. Why…
ROMAN FORTRESSES, FORTS, AND FORTLETS
Fort at Vindolanda, AD 105. The fort housed the First Tungrian cohort and a Batavian cohort. WALL OF ANTONINUS Also called the Antonine Wall; the second great barrier erected in the 2nd century A. D. by the Romans in the province of Britain. Situated farther north than the Wall of…
Fortress of Liege
Fort Loncin, near Liege, destroyed by 42cm howitzers during the advance through Belgium. Western Europe was a beehive of activity in August 1914. France mobilized 78 infantry and 10 cavalry divisions for the heroic charge into the “martyred provinces” of Alsace- Lorraine. These “pioneers in the great war of revenge,”…
Artillery fortress
Bourtange fortification, restored to its 1750 condition, Groningen, Netherlands. 17th century map of the city of Palmanova, Italy, an excellent example of a Venetian star fort. Historian John Lynn’s excellent term for fortifications that employed “trace italienne” bastions and other new features that eliminated “dead zones” in crossing fields of…
Fort Carillon
The Victory of Montcalm’s Troops at Carillon. Early 20th century painting by Henry Alexander Ogden (1854 1936). Fort Ticonderoga Museum, NY. The British opened the 1758 campaign with a new government leader, the eloquent and efficient William Pitt, who was committed to providing more troops, more money, and new military…