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Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban

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Sébastien le Prestre, Marquis de Vauban
Sebastien le Prestre de Vauban.png
Sébastien le Prestre, Marquis de Vauban
Born15 May 1633
Saint-Léger-de-Fourcheret, Burgundy, Kingdom of France
Died30 March 1707(1707-03-30) (aged 73)
Paris, Kingdom of France
Buried
Bazoches, later reburied in Les Invalides
Allegiance France
Service/branchEngineer
Years of service1651–1703
RankMaréchal de France 1703
Commands heldCommissaire général des fortifications (Commissioner General of Fortifications) (1678–1703)
Battles/warsFranco-Spanish War 1635–1659
War of Devolution 1667–1668
Franco-Dutch War 1672–1678
War of the Reunions 1683–1684
Nine Years' War 1688–1697
War of the Spanish Succession 1701–1714
AwardsOrder of the Holy Spirit
Order of Saint Louis May 1693
Honorary Member French Academy of Sciences
SignatureSignatur Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban.PNG

Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, Seigneur de Vauban, later Marquis de Vauban (baptised 15 May 1633 – 30 March 1707),[1] commonly referred to as Vauban (French: [vobɑ̃]), was a French military engineer who worked under Louis XIV. He is generally considered the greatest engineer of his time, and one of the most important in European military history.

His principles for fortifications were widely used for nearly 100 years, while aspects of his offensive tactics remained in use until the mid-twentieth century. He viewed civilian infrastructure as closely connected to military effectiveness and worked on many of France's major ports, as well as projects like the Canal de la Bruche, which remain in use today. He founded the Corps royal des ingénieurs militaires, whose curriculum was based on his publications on engineering design, strategy and training.

His economic tract, La Dîme royale, used statistics in support of his arguments, making it a precursor of modern economics. Later destroyed by royal decree, it contained radical proposals for a more even distribution of the tax burden. His application of rational and scientific methods to problem-solving, whether engineering or social, anticipated an approach common in the Age of Enlightenment.

Perhaps the most enduring aspect of Vauban's legacy was his view of France as a geographical entity. His advocacy of giving up territory for a more coherent and defensible border was unusual for the period; the boundaries of the French state he proposed in the north and east have changed very little in the four centuries since.[2]

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Louis XIV

Louis XIV

Louis XIV, also known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any sovereign in history whose date is verifiable. Although Louis XIV's France was emblematic of the Age of Absolutism in Europe, the King surrounded himself with a variety of significant political, military, and cultural figures, such as Bossuet, Colbert, Le Brun, Le Nôtre, Lully, Mazarin, Molière, Racine, Turenne, and Vauban.

Canal de la Bruche

Canal de la Bruche

The Canal de la Bruche is a canal in eastern France that originally connected Soultz-les-Bains, near Molsheim, to the city of Strasbourg. It was built in 1682 by the famous military engineer Vauban, principally to transport sandstone from the quarries of Soultz for use in the construction of the fortifications of Strasbourg. The last commercial load was carried in 1939 and the canal formally closed in 1957, after bridges damaged during World War II were rebuilt with insufficient headroom for navigation.

Age of Enlightenment

Age of Enlightenment

The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment was an intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries with global influences and effects. The Enlightenment included a range of ideas centered on the value of human happiness, the pursuit of knowledge obtained by means of reason and the evidence of the senses, and ideals such as natural law, liberty, progress, toleration, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state.

Early life and education

Château de Bazoches, acquired by Jacques Le Prestre in 1570, purchased by Vauban in 1675
Château de Bazoches, acquired by Jacques Le Prestre in 1570, purchased by Vauban in 1675

Sébastien le Prestre de Vauban was born in May 1633, in Saint-Léger-de-Foucheret, renamed Saint-Léger-Vauban by Napoleon III in 1867, in the Yonne, now part of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. His parents, Urbain Le Prestre (c. 1602–1652) and Edmée de Cormignolle (died c. 1651), were members of the minor nobility, from Vauban in Bazoches.[1]

In 1570, his grandfather Jacques Le Prestre acquired Château de Bazoches, when he married Françoise de la Perrière, an illegitimate daughter of the Comte de Bazoches, who died intestate. The 30-year legal battle by the Le Prestre family to retain the property proved financially ruinous, forcing Urbain to become a forestry worker. He also designed gardens for the local gentry, including the owners of the Château de Ruère, where Vauban spent his early years.[3]

His only sister, Charlotte (1638–1645?), died young, but he had many relatives; his cousin, Paul le Prestre (c. 1630 – 1703), was an army officer who supervised construction of Les Invalides.[4] Three of Paul's sons served in the army, two of whom were killed in action in 1676 and 1677. The third, Antoine (1654–1731), became Vauban's assistant and later a lieutenant-general; in 1710, he was appointed Governor of Béthune for life, while he inherited Vauban's titles and the bulk of his lands.[5]

Vauban's family was impacted by the domestic conflict and foreign wars, including the Huguenot rebellions of the 1620s, the 1635–1659 Franco-Spanish War, and 1648 to 1653 Fronde; his Catholic grandfather married a Protestant from La Rochelle, and served Huguenot leader Admiral Coligny, while two of his uncles died in the war with Spain.[6]

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Château de Bazoches

Château de Bazoches

The Château de Bazoches is located in Bazoches, the modern region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, historically part of the Burgundy region of France.

Saint-Léger-Vauban

Saint-Léger-Vauban

Saint-Léger-Vauban is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France.

Napoleon III

Napoleon III

Napoleon III was the first President of France from 1848 to 1852, and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew of Napoleon I, he was elected to the presidency of the Second Republic in 1848, and he seized power by force in 1851 when he could not constitutionally be reelected. He later proclaimed himself Emperor of the French and founded the Second Empire, reigning until the defeat of the French Army and his capture by Prussia and its allies at the Battle of Sedan in 1870. Napoleon III was a popular monarch who oversaw the modernization of the French economy and filled Paris with new boulevards and parks. He expanded the French overseas empire, made the French merchant navy the second largest in the world, and engaged in the Second Italian War of Independence as well as the disastrous Franco-Prussian War. Maintaining leadership for 22 years, he was the longest-reigning leader of France since the fall of the Ancien Regime, though his empire and leadership would end on the battlefield.

Bourgogne-Franche-Comté

Bourgogne-Franche-Comté

Bourgogne-Franche-Comté is a region in Eastern France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions, from a merger of Burgundy and Franche-Comté. The new region came into existence on 1 January 2016, after the regional elections of December 2015, electing 100 members to the Regional Council of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.

Bazoches

Bazoches

Bazoches is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France.

Les Invalides

Les Invalides

The Hôtel des Invalides, commonly called Les Invalides, is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building's original purpose. The buildings house the Musée de l'Armée, the military museum of the Army of France, the Musée des Plans-Reliefs, and the Musée d'Histoire Contemporaine. The complex also includes the former hospital chapel, now national cathedral of the French military, and the adjacent former Royal Chapel known as the Dôme des Invalides, the tallest church building in Paris at a height of 107 meters. The latter has been converted into a shrine of some of France's leading military figures, most notably the tomb of Napoleon.

Lieutenant-General (France)

Lieutenant-General (France)

Lieutenant-Général in France, was a title and rank across various military and security institutions with history dating back well beyond the 18th century. The official historic succession of the "Lieutenant-Général of France" corresponded to Général de division for the French Army, and Vice-Amiral (Vice-Admiral) for the French Navy.

Béthune

Béthune

Béthune is a city in northern France, sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department.

Huguenot rebellions

Huguenot rebellions

The Huguenot rebellions, sometimes called the Rohan Wars after the Huguenot leader Henri de Rohan, were a series of rebellions of the 1620s in which French Calvinist Protestants (Huguenots), mainly located in southwestern France, revolted against royal authority. The uprising occurred a decade after the death of Henry IV who, himself originally a Huguenot before converting to Catholicism, had protected Protestants through the Edict of Nantes. His successor Louis XIII, under the regency of his Italian Catholic mother Marie de' Medici, became more intolerant of Protestantism. The Huguenots tried to respond by defending themselves, establishing independent political and military structures, establishing diplomatic contacts with foreign powers, and openly revolting against central power. The Huguenot rebellions came after two decades of internal peace under Henry IV, following the intermittent French Wars of Religion of 1562–1598.

Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659)

Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659)

The Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659) was fought between France and Spain, with the participation of a changing list of allies through the war. The first phase, beginning in May 1635 and ending with the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, is considered a related conflict of the Thirty Years' War. The second phase continued until 1659 when France and Spain agreed to peace terms in the Treaty of the Pyrenees.

La Rochelle

La Rochelle

La Rochelle is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. With 75,735 inhabitants in 2017, La Rochelle is the most populated commune in the department and ranks fifth in the New Aquitaine region after Bordeaux, the regional capital, Limoges, Poitiers and Pau. Its inhabitants are called "les Rochelaises" and "les Rochelais".

Gaspard II de Coligny

Gaspard II de Coligny

Gaspard de Coligny, Seigneur de Châtillon, was a French nobleman, Admiral of France, and Huguenot leader during the French Wars of Religion. He served under kings Francis I and Henry II during the Italian Wars, attaining great prominence both due to his military skill and his relationship with his uncle, the king's favourite Anne de Montmorency. During the reign of Francis II he converted to Protestantism, becoming a leading noble advocate for the Reformation during the early reign of Charles IX.

Career

Louis XIV at Maastricht, 1673; sieges conducted by Vauban provided him an easy way to win military prestige.
Louis XIV at Maastricht, 1673; sieges conducted by Vauban provided him an easy way to win military prestige.

In 1643, at the age of ten, Vauban was sent to the Carmelite college in Semur-en-Auxois, where he was taught the basics of mathematics, science and geometry. His father's work was also relevant; the design of neo-classical gardens and fortifications were closely linked, since they both concerned managing space.[7] It was common to combine these skills; John Armstrong (1674–1742), Marlborough's chief military engineer, laid out the lake and gardens at Blenheim Palace.[8]

In 1650, Vauban joined the household of his local magnate, the Prince de Condé, where he met de Montal; a close neighbour from Nièvre, the two were colleagues for many years, and often worked together.[9] During the 1650–1653 Fronde des nobles, Condé was arrested by the Regency Council, led by Louis XIV's mother Anne of Austria and Cardinal Mazarin. After being released in 1652, he and his supporters, among them Vauban and de Montal, went into exile in the Spanish Netherlands and allied with the Spanish.[10]

In early 1653, when Vauban worked on the defences of Sainte-Menehould, one of Condé's principal possessions,[11] he was captured by a Royalist patrol and switched sides, serving in the force led by Louis Nicolas de Clerville that took Sainte-Menehould in November 1653. Clerville, later appointed Commissaire général des fortifications, employed him on siege operations and building fortifications. In 1655, Vauban was appointed Ingénieur du Roi or Royal Engineer, and by the time the war with Spain ended in 1659, he was known as a talented engineer of energy and courage.[12]

Vauban's Pré carré or 'duelling zone' on France's northern border, defended by a line of fortresses known as the Ceinture de fer (marked in red and green)
Vauban's Pré carré or 'duelling zone' on France's northern border, defended by a line of fortresses known as the Ceinture de fer (marked in red and green)

Under the terms of the Treaty of the Pyrenees, Spain ceded much of French Flanders, and Vauban was put in charge of fortifying newly acquired towns such as Dunkirk. This pattern of French territorial gains, followed by fortification of new strongpoints, was followed in the 1667–1668 War of Devolution, 1672–1678 Franco-Dutch War and 1683-1684 War of the Reunions.

The first fortification Vauban designed was the 1673 siege of Maastricht, although he was subordinate to Louis, who ranked as the senior officer present, and thus took credit for its capture.[13] Vauban was rewarded with a large sum of money, which he used to purchase the Château de Bazouches from his cousin in 1675.[14]

Post-1673, French strategy in Flanders was based on a memorandum from Vauban to Louvois, Minister of War, setting out a proposed line of fortresses known as the Ceinture de fer, or iron belt (see Map). He was made Maréchal de camp in 1676, and succeeded Clerville as Commissaire general des fortifications in 1677.[15]

During the Nine Years' War, he supervised the capture of Namur in 1692, the major French achievement of the war, while the 1697 siege of Ath is often considered his offensive masterpiece.[16] He was rewarded with money, and made Comte de Vauban, a member of the Order of the Holy Spirit and Order of Saint Louis, and an Honorary Member of the French Academy of Sciences.[17]

The numbers needed to conduct a siege, and prevent interference from opponents meant armies of the Nine Years' War often exceeded 100,000 men, sizes unsustainable for pre-industrial societies.[18] It prompted a change in tactics, Marlborough arguing winning one battle was more beneficial than taking 12 fortresses.[19] The armies of the War of the Spanish Succession averaged around 35,000, and siege warfare superseded by a greater emphasis on mobility.[20]

Vauban, painted near the end of his life in 1703
Vauban, painted near the end of his life in 1703

In 1703, Vauban was promoted Maréchal de France, marking the end of his military career, although the Ceinture de fer proved its worth after the French defeat at Ramillies in 1706. Under pressure from superior forces on multiple fronts, France's northern border remained largely intact despite repeated efforts to break it. Capturing Lille cost the Allies 12,000 casualties and most of the 1708 campaigning season; the lack of progress between 1706 and 1712 enabled Louis to reach an acceptable deal at Utrecht in 1713, as opposed to the humiliating terms presented in 1707.[21]

With more leisure time, Vauban developed a broader view of his role. His fortifications were designed for mutual support, so they required connecting roads, bridges and canals; garrisons needed to be fed, so he prepared maps showing the location of forges, forests and farms. Since these had to be paid for, he developed an interest in tax policy, and in 1707 published La Dîme royale, documenting the economic misery of the lower classes. His solution was a flat 10% tax on all agricultural and industrial output, and eliminating the exemptions which meant most of the nobility and clergy paid nothing. Although confiscated and destroyed by royal decree, the use of statistics to support his arguments "... establishes him as a founder of modern economics, and precursor of the Enlightenment's socially concerned intellectuals."[22]

In the course of his career, Vauban supervised or designed the building of more than 300 separate fortifications, [a] and by his own estimate, supervised more than 40 sieges from 1653 to 1697.[23]

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Louis XIV

Louis XIV

Louis XIV, also known as Louis the Great or the Sun King, was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any sovereign in history whose date is verifiable. Although Louis XIV's France was emblematic of the Age of Absolutism in Europe, the King surrounded himself with a variety of significant political, military, and cultural figures, such as Bossuet, Colbert, Le Brun, Le Nôtre, Lully, Mazarin, Molière, Racine, Turenne, and Vauban.

John Armstrong (British Army officer)

John Armstrong (British Army officer)

Major-General John Armstrong was a British military engineer and soldier, who served as Chief Royal Engineer and Surveyor-General of the Ordnance.

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough

John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough

General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reigns of five monarchs. From a gentry family, he served first as a page at the court of the House of Stuart under James, Duke of York, through the 1670s and early 1680s, earning military and political advancement through his courage and diplomatic skill.

Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Palace is a country house in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough and the only non-royal, non-episcopal country house in England to hold the title of palace. The palace, one of England's largest houses, was built between 1705 and 1722, and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

Louis, Grand Condé

Louis, Grand Condé

Louis de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, known as the Great Condé for his military exploits, was a French general and the most illustrious representative of the Condé branch of the House of Bourbon. He was one of Louis XIV's pre-eminent generals.

Charles de Montsaulnin, Comte de Montal

Charles de Montsaulnin, Comte de Montal

Charles de Montsaulnin, Comte de Montal (1619–1696) was a 17th-century French military officer and noble who was a close friend of Le Grand Condé, and fought in many of the wars of Louis XIV of France.

Nièvre

Nièvre

Nièvre is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, central-east France. Named after the river Nièvre, it had a population of 204,452 in 2019. Its prefecture is Nevers.

Anne of Austria

Anne of Austria

Anne of Austria was an infanta of Spain who became Queen of France as the wife of King Louis XIII from their marriage in 1615 until Louis XIII died in 1643. She was also Queen of Navarre until that kingdom was annexed into the French crown in 1620. After her husband's death, Anne was regent to her son Louis XIV, during his minority, until 1651. During her regency, Cardinal Mazarin served as France's chief minister. Accounts of French court life of Anne's era emphasize her difficult marital relations with her husband, her closeness to her son, and her disapproval of her son's marital infidelity to her niece and daughter-in-law Maria Theresa.

Cardinal Mazarin

Cardinal Mazarin

Cardinal Jules Mazarin, born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino, or Mazarini, was an Italian cardinal, diplomat and politician who served as the chief minister to the Kings of France Louis XIII and Louis XIV from 1642 to his death. In 1654, he acquired the title Duke of Mayenne and in 1659 that of 1st Duke of Rethel and Nevers.

Louis Nicolas de Clerville

Louis Nicolas de Clerville

Louis Nicolas de Clerville, a.k.a. Chevalier de Clerville, held many military positions during his life in France in 1610–1677. He was associated with Pierre-Paul Riquet and the building of the Canal du Midi.

French Flanders

French Flanders

French Flanders is a part of the historical County of Flanders in present-day France where a dialect of Dutch was or still is traditionally spoken. The region lies in the modern-day region of Hauts-de-France and roughly corresponds to the arrondissements of Lille, Douai and Dunkirk on the northern border with Belgium. Together with French Hainaut and Cambrésis, it makes up the French Department of Nord.

Dunkirk

Dunkirk

Dunkirk is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France. It lies 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the Belgian border. It has the third-largest French harbour. The population of the commune in 2019 was 86,279.

Personal life and death

Vauban's mausoleum in Les Invalides
Vauban's mausoleum in Les Invalides

In 1660, Vauban married Jeanne d'Aunay d'Epiry (ca 1640–1705); they had two daughters, Charlotte (1661–1709) and Jeanne Françoise (1678–1713), as well as a short-lived infant son.[24] He also had a long-term relationship with Marie-Antoinette de Puy-Montbrun, daughter of an exiled Huguenot officer, usually referred to as 'Mademoiselle de Villefranche.'[25]

Vauban died in Paris on 30 March 1707; buried near his home in Bazoches, his grave was destroyed during the French Revolution. In 1808, Napoleon I ordered his heart reburied in Les Invalides, resting place for many of France's most famous soldiers.[26]

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Doctrines and legacy

Offensive doctrines; siege warfare

The 'siege parallel'; three parallel trenches, linked by communication lines. The first trench is out of range of the defenders and can withstand an assault from the rear, the third brings the assault troops to the foot of the glacis; redoubts protect the ends of each.
The 'siege parallel'; three parallel trenches, linked by communication lines. The first trench is out of range of the defenders and can withstand an assault from the rear, the third brings the assault troops to the foot of the glacis; redoubts protect the ends of each.

While his modern fame rests on the fortifications he built, Vauban's greatest innovations were in offensive operations, an approach he summarised as 'More powder, less blood.' Initially reliant on existing concepts, he later adapted these on lines set out in his memorandum of March 1672, Mémoire pour servir à l'instruction dans la conduite des sièges.[27]

In this period, sieges became the dominant form of warfare; during the 1672–1678 Franco-Dutch War, three battles were fought in the Spanish Netherlands, of which only Seneffe was unrelated to a siege. Their importance was heightened by Louis XIV, who viewed them as low-risk opportunities for demonstrating his military skill and increasing his prestige; he was present at 20 of those conducted by Vauban.[28]

The 'siege parallel' had been in development since the mid-16th century but Vauban brought the idea to practical fulfilment at Maastricht in 1673.[29] Three parallel trenches were dug in front of the walls, the earth thus excavated being used to create embankments screening the attackers from defensive fire, while bringing them as close to the assault point as possible (see diagram). Artillery was moved into the trenches, allowing them to target the base of the walls at close range, with the defenders unable to depress their own guns enough to counter this; once a breach had been made, it was then stormed. This approach was used in offensive operations well into the 20th century.[30]

However, Vauban adapted his approach to the situation, and did not use the siege parallel again until Valenciennes in 1677. Always willing to challenge accepted norms, at Valenciennes, he proposed assaulting the breach during the day, rather than at night as was normal practice. He argued this would reduce casualties by surprising the defenders, and allow better co-ordination among the assault force; he was supported by Louis, and the attack proved successful.[31]

Vauban made several innovations in the use of siege artillery, including ricochet firing, and concentrating on specific parts of the fortifications, rather than targeting multiple targets. His Dutch rival Menno van Coehoorn employed a similar approach. While the 'Van Coehoorn method' sought to overwhelm defences with massive firepower, such as the Grand Battery of 200 guns at Namur in 1695, Vauban preferred a more gradual approach.[32] Both had their supporters; Vauban argued his was less costly in terms of casualties, but it took more time, an important consideration in an age when far more soldiers died from disease than in combat.[33]

Defensive doctrines; fortifications

Neuf-Brisach, the final fortress designed by Vauban; note how the houses support and reinforce the outer defensive walls
Neuf-Brisach, the final fortress designed by Vauban; note how the houses support and reinforce the outer defensive walls

It was accepted even the strongest fortifications would fall, given time; the process was so well understood by the 1690s, betting on the length of a siege became a popular craze.[34] As few states could afford large standing armies, defenders needed time to mobilise; to provide this, fortresses were designed to absorb the attackers' energies, similar to the use of crumple zones in modern cars.[35] The French defence of Namur in 1695 showed "how one could effectively win a campaign, by losing a fortress, but exhausting the besiegers."[36]

As with the siege parallel, the strength of Vauban's defensive designs was his ability to synthesise and adapt the work of others to create a more powerful whole. His first works used the 'star-shape' or bastion fort design, also known as the trace Italienne, based on the designs of Antoine de Ville (1596–1656) and Blaise Pagan (1603–1665).[37] His subsequent 'systems' strengthened their internal works with the addition of casemated shoulders and flanks.[28]

The principles of Vauban's 'second system' were set out in the 1683 work Le Directeur-Général des fortifications, and used at Landau and Mont-Royal, near Traben-Trarbach; both were advanced positions, intended as stepping-off points for French offensives into the Rhineland.[38] Located 200 metres (660 ft) above the Moselle, Mont-Royal had main walls 30 metres (98 ft) high, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) long and space for 12,000 troops; this enormously expensive work was demolished when the French withdrew after the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick, and only the foundations remain today.[39] Fort-Louis was another new construction, built on an island in the middle of the Rhine; this allowed Vauban to combine his defensive principles with town planning, although like Mont-Royal, little of it remains.[40]

The French retreat from the Rhine after 1697 required new fortresses; Neuf-Brisach was the most significant, designed on Vauban's 'third system', and completed after his death by Louis de Cormontaigne. Using ideas from Fort-Louis, this incorporated a regular square grid street pattern inside an octagonal fortification; tenement blocks were built inside each curtain wall, strengthening the defensive walls and shielding more expensive houses from cannon fire.[41]

To create a more coherent border, Vauban advocated destroying poor fortifications, and relinquishing territory that was hard to defend. In December 1672, he wrote to Louvois: "I am not for the greater number of places, we already have too many, and please God we had half of that, but all in good condition!" [42]

Many of the fortifications designed by Vauban are still standing; in 2008, twelve groups of Vauban fortifications were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List for their exceptional engineering and influence on military fortifications from the 17th through the 20th centuries.[43]

Infrastructure and engineering

Canal de la Bruche – one of Vauban's many civilian infrastructure projects
Canal de la Bruche – one of Vauban's many civilian infrastructure projects

While often overlooked, Vauban worked on many civilian infrastructure projects, including rebuilding the ports of Brest, Dunkerque and Toulon. Since his fortifications were designed for mutual support, roads and waterways were an essential part of their design, such as the Canal de la Bruche, a 20-kilometre (12 mi) canal built in 1682 to transport materials for the fortification of Strasbourg.[7] As early as 1684, Vauban published design tables for retaining walls with heights of 3 m Canal du Midi in 1686.[44]

His holistic approach to urban planning, which integrated city defences with layout and infrastructure, is most obvious at Neuf-Brisach. His legacy is recognised in the Vauban district in Freiburg, developed as a model for sustainable neighbourhoods post-1998.[45]

Vauban's 'scientific approach' and focus on large infrastructure projects strongly influenced American military and civil engineering and inspired the creation of the US Corps of Engineers in 1824.[46] Until 1866, West Point's curriculum was modelled on that of the French Ecole Polytechnique, and designed to produce officers with skills in engineering and mathematics.[47]

To ensure a steady supply of skilled engineers, in 1690 Vauban established the Corps royal des ingénieurs militaires; until his death, candidates had to pass an examination administered by Vauban himself. Young French Huguenots made up a disproportionately high number of successful engineers due to the social and educational characteristics of French Protestantism. After the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, a significant number of these engineers joined the English and Dutch armies to fight in Ireland, Flanders and Spain.[48] Many of his publications, including Traité de l'attaque des places and Traité des mines, were written at the end of his career to provide a training curriculum for his successors.[49]

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Glacis

Glacis

A glacis in military engineering is an artificial slope as part of a medieval castle or in early modern fortresses. They may be constructed of earth as a temporary structure or of stone in more permanent structure. More generally, a glacis is any slope, natural or artificial, which fulfils the above requirements. The etymology of this French word suggests a slope made dangerous with ice, hence the relationship with glacier.

Franco-Dutch War

Franco-Dutch War

The Franco-Dutch War, also known as the Dutch War, was fought between France and the Dutch Republic, supported by its allies the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Brandenburg-Prussia and Denmark-Norway. In its early stages, France was allied with Münster and Cologne, as well as England. The 1672 to 1674 Third Anglo-Dutch War and 1675 to 1679 Scanian War are considered related conflicts.

Battle of Seneffe

Battle of Seneffe

The Battle of Seneffe took place on 11 August 1674 near Seneffe in present-day Belgium during the 1672 to 1678 Franco-Dutch War. It was fought between a primarily French force commanded by Condé and a combined Dutch, Imperial, and Spanish force under William of Orange. One of only three battles in the Spanish Netherlands during the war, Seneffe was the most expensive in terms of casualties, although estimates vary considerably.

Menno van Coehoorn

Menno van Coehoorn

Menno, Baron van Coehoorn was a Dutch soldier and engineer, regarded as one of the most significant figures in Dutch military history. In an era when siege warfare dominated military campaigns, he and his French counterpart Vauban were the acknowledged experts in designing, taking and defending fortifications.

Neuf-Brisach

Neuf-Brisach

Neuf-Brisach is a fortified town and commune of the department of Haut-Rhin in the French region of Alsace. The fortified town was intended to guard the border between France and the Holy Roman Empire and, subsequently, the German states. It was built after the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 that resulted in France losing the town of Breisach, on the opposite bank of the Rhine. The town's name means New Breisach.

Fortifications of Vauban UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Fortifications of Vauban UNESCO World Heritage Sites

The Fortifications of Vauban is a UNESCO World Heritage Site made up of 12 groups of fortified buildings and sites along the borders of France. They were designed by renowned military architect Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban (1633–1707) during the reign of King Louis XIV. These sites include a variety of fortifications, ranging from citadels, to mountain batteries and sea fortifications, to bastion walls and towers. In addition, the site includes cities built from scratch by Vauban and communication towers. These sites were chosen because they exemplify Vauban's work, bearing witness to the influence of his designs on military and civilian engineering on a global scale from the 17th century to the 20th century.

Crumple zone

Crumple zone

Crumple zones, crush zones, or crash zones are a structural safety feature used in vehicles, mainly in automobiles, to increase the time over which a change in velocity occurs from the impact during a collision by a controlled deformation; in recent years, it is also incorporated into trains and railcars.

Bastion fort

Bastion fort

A bastion fort or trace italienne is a fortification in a style that evolved during the early modern period of gunpowder when the cannon came to dominate the battlefield. It was first seen in the mid-fifteenth century in Italy. Some types, especially when combined with ravelins and other outworks, resembled the related star fort of the same era.

Blaise Francois Pagan

Blaise Francois Pagan

Blaise François Pagan (1603–1665) was a French soldier and military engineer who served in the army of Louis XIII. His military career ended in 1642 when he lost his sight and in 1645, he published Les Fortifications; this became the dominant text of its era on military fortifications and significantly influenced Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban.

Landau

Landau

Landau, officially Landau in der Pfalz, is an autonomous (kreisfrei) town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town, a long-standing cultural centre, and a market and shopping town, surrounded by vineyards and wine-growing villages of the Palatinate wine region. Landau lies east of the Palatinate forest, on the German Wine Route.

Moselle

Moselle

The Moselle is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A small part of Belgium is in its basin as it includes the Sauer and the Our.

Fort-Louis

Fort-Louis

Fort-Louis is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France.

Assessment

Việt Minh troops at Dien Bien Phu, 1954, in one of Vauban's parallel trenches
Việt Minh troops at Dien Bien Phu, 1954, in one of Vauban's parallel trenches

Vauban's offensive tactics remained relevant for centuries; his principles were clearly identifiable in those used by the Việt Minh at Dien Bien Phu in 1954.[50] His defensive fortifications dated far more quickly, partly due to the enormous investment required; Vauban himself estimated that in 1678, 1694 and 1705, between 40 and 45% of the French army was assigned to garrison duty.[51]

Vauban's reputation meant his designs remained in use long after developments in artillery made them obsolete, for example the Dutch fort of Bourtange, built in 1742. The Corps des ingénieurs militaires was based on his teachings; between 1699 and 1743, only 631 new candidates were accepted, the vast majority relatives of existing or former members.[52] As a result, French military engineering became ultra-conservative, while many 'new' works used his designs, or professed to do so, such as those built by Louis de Cortmontaigne at Metz in 1728–1733. This persisted into the late 19th century; Fort de Queuleu, built in 1867 near Metz, is recognisably a Vauban-style design.[53]

Some French engineers continued to be innovators, notably the Marquis de Montalembert, who published La Fortification perpendiculaire in 1776. A rejection of the principles advocated by Vauban and his successors, his ideas became the prevailing orthodoxy in much of Europe, but were dismissed in France.[54]

Discover more about Assessment related topics

Battle of Dien Bien Phu

Battle of Dien Bien Phu

The Battle of Điện Biên Phủ was a climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War that took place between 13 March and 7 May 1954. It was fought between the French Union's colonial Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist revolutionaries. The United States was officially not a party to the war, but it was secretly involved by providing financial and material aid to the French Union, which included CIA contracted American personnel participating in the battle. The People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union similarly provided vital support to the Viet Minh, including most of their artillery and ammunition.

Fort Bourtange

Fort Bourtange

Fort Bourtange is a fort in the village of Bourtange, Groningen, Netherlands. It was built under orders of William the Silent and completed in 1593. Its original purpose was to control the only road between Germany and the city of Groningen, which was controlled by the Spaniards during the time of the Eighty Years' War.

Metz

Metz

Metz is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand Est region. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany and Luxembourg, the city forms a central place of the European Greater Region and the SaarLorLux euroregion.

Fort de Queuleu

Fort de Queuleu

The Fort de Queuleu is a fortification to the southeast of Metz, near Queuleu, France. Construction began while part of Lorraine was under French rule in 1868. After the interruption of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, the fort was improved between 1872 and 1875 by the German Empire, which had conquered the area in the war. Renamed Fort Goeben, it formed part of the first ring of the fortifications of Metz. Functionally obsolete by the First World War, it saw no military action, but was used by the Germans as a detention center for members of the French Resistance during World War II.

Marc René, marquis de Montalembert

Marc René, marquis de Montalembert

Marc René, marquis de Montalembert was a French military engineer and writer, known for his work on fortifications.

Source: "Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2023, March 17th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sébastien_Le_Prestre_de_Vauban.

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See also
Notes
References
  1. ^ a b Vauban 1633-1707.
  2. ^ Langins 2004, p. 11.
  3. ^ Pujo 1991, p. 112.
  4. ^ Lepage 2009, p. 17.
  5. ^ Desvoyes 1872, p. 13.
  6. ^ Pujo 1991, p. 152.
  7. ^ a b Wolfe 2009, p. 151.
  8. ^ Latcham 2004.
  9. ^ Moreri 1749, p. 690.
  10. ^ Tucker 2009, p. 654.
  11. ^ Duffy 1995, p. 136.
  12. ^ Lepage 2009, p. 9.
  13. ^ Lepage 2009, p. 57.
  14. ^ "Château de Bazoches". Chemins de Mémoires. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  15. ^ Wolfe 2009, p. 149.
  16. ^ Ostwald 2006, p. 47.
  17. ^ Leridon 2004, p. 85.
  18. ^ Childs 1991, p. 2.
  19. ^ Van Hoof 2004, p. 83.
  20. ^ Lynn 1999, p. 309.
  21. ^ Kamen 2001, pp. 70–72.
  22. ^ France, Dejean 2005.
  23. ^ a b Lepage 2009, pp. 57–58.
  24. ^ Desvoyes 1872, pp. 11–12.
  25. ^ "F Marie-Antoinette du PUY-MONTBRUN la Belle Mademoiselle de Villefranche". Geneanet. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  26. ^ "Dome des Invalides". Musée de l'Armée Invalides. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  27. ^ Lepage 2009, p. 43.
  28. ^ a b Holmes 2011.
  29. ^ Duffy 1995, p. 10.
  30. ^ Vesilind 2010, p. 23.
  31. ^ De Périni 1896, p. 186.
  32. ^ Ostwald 2006, pp. 285–286.
  33. ^ Afflerbach & Strachan 2012, pp. 159–160.
  34. ^ Manning 2006, pp. 413–414.
  35. ^ Afflerbach & Strachan 2012, p. 159.
  36. ^ Lynn 1999, pp. 248–249.
  37. ^ Lepage 2009, pp. 69–72.
  38. ^ Duffy 1995, p. 20.
  39. ^ "Fortress Mont Royal". Traben-Tarbach Tourist Information. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  40. ^ "Fort Louis". The Fortifications of Vauban. Retrieved 11 January 2019.
  41. ^ Dobroslav 1992, p. 221.
  42. ^ Lepage 2009, p. 142.
  43. ^ "Fortifications of Vauban". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  44. ^ Allende 1805, pp. 688–691.
  45. ^ Schiller 2010, Box 10.7.
  46. ^ Klosky & Klosky 2013, pp. 69–87.
  47. ^ Baldwin.
  48. ^ Mousnier 1979, pp. 577–578].
  49. ^ Ostwald 2006, pp. 123–124.
  50. ^ Lepage 2009, p. 56.
  51. ^ Lynn 1997, p. 62.
  52. ^ Mousnier 1979, pp. 577–578.
  53. ^ Lepage 2009, pp. 283–284.
  54. ^ Delon & Picon 2001, pp. 540–451.
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  • De Périni, Hardÿ (1896). Batailles françaises, Volume V. Ernest Flammarion, Paris.
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Bibliography
  • Halévy, Daniel (1924). Vauban. Builder of Fortresses. Geoffrey Bles.
  • Hebbert, F.J. (1990). Soldier of France: Sébastien le Prestre de Vauban, 1633–1707. P. Lang. ISBN 978-0-8204-0890-3.
  • Satterfield, George (2003). Princes, Posts and Partisans: The Army of Louis XIV and Partisan Warfare in the Netherlands (1673-1678). Brill. ISBN 978-9004131767.
French nobility
Preceded by
first creation
Comte de Vauban
1693–1707
Succeeded by
Antoine le Prestre 1707-1754

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