France's Perfect Fortresses and Infallible Sieges (~1700)
Summary
TLDRSebastien Le Prestre de Vauban revolutionized siege warfare in the 17th century with his innovative fortress designs and systematic offensive strategies. His methods, including the use of parallels, ricochet firing, and cavaliers de tranchée, transformed the art of siege, making fortress assaults more predictable and efficient. Vauban's influence extended beyond his lifetime, shaping military engineering and fortification strategies across Europe. His work on the 'pré carré' fortified frontier protected France for generations, showcasing his enduring legacy as a master of military engineering.
Takeaways
- 💡 Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban revolutionized siege warfare in the 17th century, making French military strategies highly effective.
- 🏰 Vauban designed some of the most resilient fortresses of his time and developed nearly infallible offensive siege routines.
- 🇫🇷 When Vauban began his work, France was lagging in siege warfare, often relying on poorly prepared frontal assaults known as 'attack a la française'.
- 📜 Vauban's systematic approach to siege warfare established principles that remained unaltered for nearly two centuries.
- 🔧 Vauban's offensive innovations included the use of parallels, ricochet firing, and elevated fighting platforms called cavaliers de tranchée.
- ⚔️ Vauban's methods allowed for a more structured and effective siege attack, reducing unnecessary casualties and making the point of attack less predictable.
- 🛡️ In addition to offensive strategies, Vauban perfected the bastion fort design and fortified France's borders with a network of strongholds.
- 📖 Although Vauban never wrote down his defensive strategies, his improvements to fortress design contributed significantly to defensive siege warfare.
- 🔒 Vauban's three systems of fortress design—based on the trace italienne—were adapted to various terrains and needs, emphasizing the importance of flexibility and adaptation.
- 🏞️ Vauban's comprehensive approach to fortifying France, known as the 'pré carré', created a defensive frontier that protected the nation for generations, influencing military strategy well beyond his lifetime.
Q & A
Who is Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban and why is he significant in the history of siege warfare?
-Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban was a French military engineer who profoundly changed siege warfare by designing resilient fortresses and developing an effective offensive siege routine. His innovations in siege tactics and fortress design remained largely unaltered for almost two centuries.
What was the state of French siege warfare before Vauban's innovations?
-Before Vauban, French siege warfare was less advanced, with frontal assaults often resulting in unnecessary losses. These attacks were known as 'a la française' or 'the French way', and were considered less effective compared to the siege skills of Spain and the Dutch Republic.
What is the significance of the contravallation and circumvallation in siege warfare?
-The contravallation and circumvallation are two rings of entrenchment used in siege warfare. The contravallation faces inward to the besieged fortress, while the circumvallation faces outward to protect the attackers from a relief army. They are crucial for cutting off reinforcements and supplies to the fortress under siege.
How did Vauban's system of saps and parallels improve upon traditional siege methods?
-Vauban's system of saps and parallels introduced a more organized approach to siege warfare. By digging trenches (saps) in a zigzag pattern and establishing fortified lines (parallels) at strategic distances from the fortress, attackers could approach the fortress with less predictability, forcing defenders to spread their efforts.
What is ricochet firing and how did Vauban use it in siege warfare?
-Ricochet firing is a technique where cannons are loaded with less powder to lob cannonballs over the parapet and make them bounce along the covered ways and ramparts, causing chaos among defenders. Vauban perfected this technique, using it to increase the effectiveness of artillery during sieges.
What is the purpose of the cavalier de tranchée in Vauban's siege strategy?
-The cavalier de tranchée is an elevated infantry firing platform built close to the fortress's glacis. It allowed attacking infantry to shoot along the covered way, bypassing the costly phase of fighting for the covered way and potentially reducing casualties.
How did Vauban's methods impact the resources required for a siege?
-Vauban's methods, while saving lives by reducing casualties, were resource-intensive. He calculated that 20,000 men were needed to besiege even a modest fortress, along with large quantities of food, ammunition, and other supplies.
What were Vauban's three systems of fortress design and how did they differ?
-Vauban's three systems of fortress design were adaptations of the trace italienne. The first system was a straightforward version with bastions and curtain walls. The second system introduced the bastion tower for better resistance on hills. The third system, used only in Neuf-Brisach, added recesses in the curtain wall for more firepower and covered positions.
What was the 'pré carré' strategy and how did Vauban implement it?
-The 'pré carré' was a strategy to fortify France's frontiers by creating a continuous line of fortresses. Vauban advocated for this strategy, proposing which fortresses to seize or abandon to create a fortified frontier that would protect France from invasion.
How did Vauban's work in fortress design and siege warfare influence military engineering and strategy in Europe?
-Vauban's work set a new standard in military engineering and siege warfare. His methods were admired and copied across Europe, and his fortress designs became a model for defensive architecture. His influence can be seen in the way military engineers approached both attack and defense in siege situations.
What was the long-term impact of Vauban's fortresses on France's defense?
-Vauban's fortresses provided France with a strong defensive line that lasted well beyond his lifetime, protecting the country during various conflicts, including the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. His fortifications were still considered effective during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870.
Outlines
🛡️ Vauban: Pioneer of Modern Siege Warfare
Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban was a French military engineer who revolutionized siege warfare in the 17th century. He designed impenetrable fortresses and developed a highly effective siege routine that lasted for centuries. Vauban's innovations addressed France's shortcomings in siege techniques, replacing the reckless 'attack a la française' with a systematic approach. His methods, which included the use of parallels, ricochet firing, and cavaliers de tranchée, were later adopted by the British in WW1 and are still the foundation of military engineering principles. Vauban also played a significant role in professionalizing military engineering and fortifying France's borders with a line of formidable fortresses.
🏰 Vauban's Offensive Innovations in Siege Tactics
Vauban introduced several key innovations to siege warfare, starting with the systematic use of saps and parallels. He established a three-tiered approach to sieges, beginning with a contravallation and progressing to three parallel lines of attack, each with specific functions such as breaching batteries. Vauban's second innovation was ricochet firing, which involved lobbing cannonballs over parapets to cause chaos among defenders. The third innovation was the cavalier de tranchée, an elevated platform for infantry to fire along the fortress's covered way. These innovations, while not entirely new, were perfected and systematized by Vauban, making siege warfare more predictable and less costly in terms of lives, though resource-intensive.
🏯 Vauban's Fortress Design: Adapting and Innovating
Vauban's approach to fortress design was flexible and adaptive, emphasizing the importance of terrain and practicality over rigid systems. He built upon the trace italienne design, incorporating elements like tenailles for improved defense. His second system introduced the bastion tower, a strongpoint that could withstand attacks even after the outer bastion was breached. Vauban's third system, used only in Neuf-Brisach, featured enhanced firepower and protected positions. Despite his disdain for rigid systems, Vauban's fortress designs were categorized into three systems for ease of understanding, each reflecting his ingenuity in adapting to different strategic needs.
🗺️ Vauban's Strategic Fortification of France
Vauban envisioned a fortified France, protected by a continuous line of fortresses known as the pré carré. He advocated for strategic construction and deconstruction of fortresses to strengthen France's borders and reduce the need for maintaining a large number of defenses. Vauban's efforts led to the creation of a robust defensive line that protected France for generations, enduring through various conflicts including the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. His legacy in military engineering and strategic planning remains unparalleled, with his fortress designs and siege tactics serving as a blueprint for future military engineers.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban
💡Siege Warfare
💡Fortress Design
💡Bastion Fort
💡Parallels
💡Ricochet Firing
💡Cavalier de Trenchée
💡Pré Carré
💡Trace Italienne
💡Military Engineering
Highlights
Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban revolutionized siege warfare with his resilient fortress designs and systematic offensive siege routine.
Vauban's innovations in siege warfare brought France to parity with its adversaries and influenced military tactics for nearly two centuries.
The British 'Military Engineering (Part II) Attack and Defence of Fortresses' manual from WW1 was largely based on Vauban's principles.
Vauban perfected the bastion fort, fortifying the French border with fortresses that proved their worth until Napoleon's era.
He was the first military engineer to rise through the ranks, establishing a professional class of military engineers.
Vauban introduced the concept of 'saps and parallels' during the siege of Maastricht in 1673, significantly reducing the time and losses in sieges.
His use of ricochet firing changed artillery tactics, causing balls to bounce along the fortress walls and inflicting damage on defenders.
The 'cavalier de tranchée', an elevated infantry firing platform, was introduced by Vauban to bypass the costly fight for the covered way.
Vauban's siege methods were so systematic that he claimed they guaranteed success if followed faithfully.
Despite saving lives, Vauban's methods were resource-intensive, requiring large numbers of men and supplies for a siege.
Vauban's fortress design evolved through three systems, each adapting to different terrains and strategic needs.
His first system was based on the trace italienne, emphasizing the importance of bastions and curtain walls in fortress design.
The 'tour bastionnée' or bastion tower, part of Vauban's second system, provided a strong retraction point after the bastion was breached.
Vauban's third system, used only in Neuf-Brisach, featured enhanced firepower and covered positions for improved defense.
Vauban's strategic vision for France included a fortified frontier called the 'pré carré' to protect against invasions.
He advocated for the strategic construction and destruction of fortresses to strengthen France's defensive line and field army.
Vauban's legacy in fortress design and siege warfare continued to influence military tactics and engineering long after his death.
Transcripts
When it comes to siege warfare there’s no getting around one name. Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban.
This French military engineer changed the face of siege warfare profoundly and lastingly. He
designed the most resilient fortresses ever seen up to his times and developed a nearly
infallible offensive siege routine. When Vauban entered the stage of history in the middle of the
17th century, France was in a predicament. Spain and the Dutch Republic had both honed
their siege skills in the Eighty Years’ War, a conflict in which most military action consisted
of sieges. The French, however, had been making little progress. Their style of assault “amounted
to little more than an ill-prepared storming of the work targeted for attack” , as the expert
for the French army of the Grand Siècle John Lynn puts it. Soon, headlong frontal assaults,
often involving unnecessary losses, were known as attack "a la française”, “the French way”. Vauban
was the man to bring about change. Not only did he bring France to eye level with its adversaries,
but he in fact established a routine of the siege attack that was to remain unaltered for almost two
centuries. Even the manual “Military Engineering (Part II) Attack and Defence of Fortresses” which
the British took to France in WW1 was still largely based on his principles. Moreover,
Vauban perfected the bastion fort and equipped the French border with a line of fortresses that
repeatedly proved their worth up until Napoleon’s times. Vauban was the first military engineer ever
to rise through the ranks, thereby paving the way for a professional class of military engineers.
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Chapter 1: Vauban’s offensive Methods: The Formal Siege
When Vauban began his work, siege warfare had already come a long way. By the 17th century it
was a specialized form of warfare with its very own experts, strategies, and methods.
Fortresses were no longer cracked open by heavy bombardment or overran by storm assaults but by
extensive digging, well, except when France was attacking. But even for them the standard weapon
to attack a fortress soon became the shovel. The average early modern siege began when the
attacker encircled the fortress to cut it off from reinforcements and supply. This was usually done
with two complete rings of entrenchment, the contravallation facing inward to the
besieged and the circumvallation facing outward to protect the attackers against a relief army.
Such methods had been used sporadically throughout history, Caesar’s Battle of Alesia might come to
mind, but now they were standard. A complete circumvallation could be very extensive. When
besieging ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 1629, the army of the Dutch republic built a contravallation of 25km
and a circumvallation of 45km – walking around it was an 11 hour walk. The contravallation,
the inner line, was the starting point for zigzagged trenches towards the fortress.
They needed to be zigzagged because this way the enemy could not shoot along the trenches.
The angles of these so-called saps became ever sharper as they came closer to the defenses.
In addition, the attackers sporadically built redoubts,
where they could seek cover. This way their trenches would worm ever closer to the walls.
Now, Vauban didn’t invent an entirely new style of siege warfare, but he perfected the often
messy and inconsistent methods. To do so he made several changes. We obviously can’t look at each
and every one in detail here but we will talk about his most important offensive innovations:
parallels, ricochet firing, and the cavaliers de tranchée, which are elevated fighting platforms.
Vauban first implicated his system of saps and parallels during the siege of Maastricht in 1673,
when he took this major fortress in just ten days and with much fewer
losses than expected. Parallels were, as the name suggests, dug parallelly to the
enemy fortress. They did not span all around it, however. When Vauban laid siege to a fortress,
he also began by building a contravallation, usually just outside the reach of the defenders,
that is between 2.8 and 3.5km away from their closest artillery position. From
there Vauban had his men dig approaches towards the fortress and then create the first parallel,
equipped with batteries, at about 600m. They then sapped forward to about 250 meters and installed
a second parallel, where among others the ricochet batteries were placed, about which we will talk in
a minute. The third and final parallel then needed to be very close to the walls, at the base of the
glacis, an artificial slope outside the ditch, usually at about 30 to 50m from the main wall.
This last parallel featured the breaching batteries, heavy guns designed to blow
a hole in the walls of the fortress by pounding against them over and over again.
In most cases, all three Parallels were reinforced with redoubts at both ends and
used as defensive positions for the attackers and as valuable assembly points. Before the
introduction of parallels an attacker, who wanted to attack more than one spot had to undergo the
immense task of opening several trenches right from the contravallation, which made the point
of attack predictable. Now, there were three additional lines stretching along the defenses.
Where exactly an attacker would strike became clear only at the very last moment. This forced
the defenders to spread their efforts. In some cases, for example at the siege of Ath in 1697 ,
parallels even replaced the contravallation. Vauban’s second offensive innovation was ricochet
firing. To the consternation of the gunners, who were used to batter at the walls with all they
had and very much enjoyed the thundering sound of a canon loaded to the maximum, Vauban had some of
them load their cannons with less powder. This way, their balls didn’t just sail over the heads
of the defenders behind the parapets in a flat trajectory but were rather lobbed over the parapet
and then – ideally – bounced along covered ways and ramparts, wreaking havoc among the defenders.
This was made possible by the parallels who allowed certain
batteries to be positioned sideways, from where they could shoot along the defenses.
While Vauban experimented with this as early as 1674, the first time he used it on full scale was
also during the siege of Ath in 1697 in which he brought the use of artillery to perfection.
The third innovation had a very similar purpose. The cavalier de tranchée, was a raised firing
platform for infantry built only thirty or so meters away from the top of the glacis.
It allowed the attacking infantry to shoot along the covered way. Vauban emphasized these cavaliers
as a means to bypass the phase of a siege that was usually most costly in terms of casualties,
the fight for the covered way. He thought of it as a means to spare the lives of the attackers.
So, no mine warfare regular viewers might ask. Yes and no. Indeed, Vauban experimented with mines
multiple times, but he was not too enthusiastic about them and by the time he had completed his
work, it took an exceptionally obstinate defense to prompt the attackers to go to the trouble of
digging mines at all. By applying Vauban’s methods, a well-defended fortress could be
taken in about forty-five days. Practice largely confirmed this. Lille (1667) fell in fifty-one
days, Maestricht (1673) in twenty-five, Luxembourg (1684) in thirty-seven, and
Namur (1692) in thirty-six, to name but a few examples.
In the past it has been argued that none of these innovations were actually innovative. And that is
in some sense true. Parallels and elevated firing platforms had been used by Ottoman siege masters
before, although not exactly in the same way. Yet, before Vauban came on the scene, the siege attack
was an indiscriminate and senseless chaos, a labyrinthine accumulation of dangerous and
countless trenches. Vauban adapted, reorganized and structured what he found. His true achievement
was systematizing siege warfare and thereby creating a method which was almost foolproof.
He himself promised in one of his treatises: “I guarantee an infallible success without a day's
extra delay if you will defer to my opinion and follow faithfully the rules I lay down."
Indeed if it was followed intelligently while ample resources were available, the fortress
under siege was almost certainly doomed. But while Vauban’s methods undoubtedly saved lives they were
prodigal with other resources. He calculated that 20’000 men were required to besiege even a
modest fortress and accordingly mountains of foods, ammunition and other siege supplies.
In fact, sieges following Vauban's principles were so costly that the French rarely conducted
more than one at a time. This led to some clashes with the King, the minister of war
and high-ranking field commanders. Especially when armies grew bigger in the late 17th century
such decision makers were more willing to trade lives for time and resources.
And to make that clear here, Vauban’s role was primarily to counsel and implement – the
decisions were made elsewhere, namely by the King himself and the minister of War. For
most of the time this was Marquis of Louvois. Vauban’s offensive methods quickly became the
standard procedure for attacking a fortress but he was also known for boasting of having “worked out
an infallible method of defending a fortress” as well. However, he never found himself under
siege and actually died without ever writing down or stating any of his alleged strategies.
Nevertheless, he did perfect the bastion fort and has therefore contributed more to defensive siege
warfare than anybody else. To this day fortresses all along the French border bear witness of to his
famous capability as a fortress-builder. Chapter 2: Fortress design:
Vauban’s Three Systems Vauban would certainly not be
too happy with all the historians, including us, who discuss his achievements as three systems.
Although he emphasized structure and method in offensive siege warfare , he deeply despised
rigid systems when it came to the design of fortifications. He insisted: "The art
of fortification does not consist of rules and systems, but uniquely in (consist of) good sense
and experience." In fact, Vauban thought it absolutely essential to adapt to terrain and
harshly criticized those who built fortresses as designed on a plane white piece of paper.
But for the sake of simplicity I’m sure, the great engineer would make an exception as
long as we make clear that the three systems are nothing more than useful
categories summarizing retrospectively what he was actually doing. Vgl. Bilder am Ende
For most of the fortresses Vauban designed he simply built on the straightforward,
well-proportioned version of the trace italienne designed by Blaise François Pagan,
a great engineer under Louis XIII and major influence on Vauban.
This was Vauban's so-called first system. The core elements of a trace italienne fortress, a bastion
fort that is, were in his eyes the bastions, which formed a set of mutually supporting strongpoints,
merely connected by the curtain wall. The decisive factor in making these strongpoints effective was
the distance between them, which was the effective firing range of a musket, that is about 125 yards.
This way musketeers on both bastions could cover the whole ditch between them.
In addition, Vauban made use of all known outworks: demi-lunes, ravelins, hornworks,
crownworks, and so on. The one thing he did change on the Pagan bastion fort was the adaption of a
part of the Dutch so-called fausse-braye, that is a lower wall just beneath the main wall.
These so-called tenailles screened the assembly of sorties and provided a low, secure firing
position. Vauban masterfully applied known methods according to the requirements of time
and terrain. He liked the challenge of integrating existing fortifications, town buildings and the
civilian community and made the best of it. One thing that particularly puzzled Vauban were
hills. A fortress dominated by neighboring heights was at a significant disadvantage
as became evident for example in the siege of Ostende, where the Spanish could easily shoot over
the parapets of the defense from a platform in the dunes. Vauban found a solution for this problem.
He placed the main artillery in a small, sturdy tower and detached the bastion from the main wall.
This invention is known as his second system the tour bastionnée or bastion tower. Vauban explains:
“In essentials the bastion tower is a very strong retrenchment, which is capable of putting up a
powerful resistance after the detached bastion in front has fallen. In an ordinary fortress,
when the bastions are breached the whole enceinte is breached […]. This cannot occur in the new
system, where only the individual work actually under attack is at risk.” Hitherto the bastion
had been the most obvious point of attack, because an attack on the curtain wall meant
advancing under the crossfire of two bastions at the point usually shielded best by outworks.
The bastion tower changed this as it made it significantly more difficult to attack
the bastion. Vauban, sometimes choosing odd analogies described his creation as
"pulling out the nose in order to throw it in the face of its enemy."
Bastion towers were first introduced in Besançon, Belfort, and Landau in 1687. They were very
effective and could be applied on almost any site, given that considerable funds were available.
The third system was only implemented in one fortress, his defensive masterpiece: Neuf-Brisach
in Alsace. This place was fortified in 1698 and is one of the better conserved Vauban-fortresses.
As you see here (aerial view or plan wiki), the bastion tower was complemented by a recess in the
curtain wall. The curtain wall featured its own little shoulders, so to speak, in which casemates,
fortified gun emplacements or armored structures that were used as firing positions, could be
placed. In addition, Vauban gave the ravelins a fully covered redoubts, making it harder to be hit
from above. So, in essence this was very similar to the second system but with more firepower
and better covered positions. Neuf-Brisach was probably the pinnacle of bastion forts.
However, nobody took this system up after Vauban’s death, because casemates fell into
disrepute and the costs of remodeling the curtain wall would have been overwhelming. Neuf-Brisach
alone consumed an enormous 4 million livres. Chapter 3: The great Fortress called France
Although Vauban despised war, he thought it a necessary evil. He saw, as John Lynn puts it
“predatory foes across the frontiers, surrounding a beleaguered France.” As he perceived the
European environment as very hostile, he thought a fortified frontier to cover all fronts would
be necessary, the so-called pré carré. In 1673 he wrote to Louis XIV: “I do not like this pell-mell
confusion of fortresses of ours and the enemy's. You are obliged to maintain three for one;
your men are plagued by it; your expenses are increased, and your forces are much diminished
[…]. That is why, be it by treaties, be it by a good war, you should round off the borders.”
Whenever possible he advocated this strategy and proposed to Louis which fortresses should
be seized and which abandoned. The King was fond of Vauban‘s views and soon the pré carréee became
a direction of strategy. Vauban was most concerned with the northern frontier, where eight fortresses
received entirely new walls or new citadels, and twenty-three were significantly renovated.
There Vauban built a double line of fortresses resembling an army arrayed for battle.
These fortresses withstood the test of time. The frontier was not broken through for
decades. (All fortresses in footnotes) Although the northern front was the
centerpiece of Vauban’s ambitions, he fortified all of France over time.
Two double rows stretched south-east between Lorraine and Luxembourg and along the Rhenish
frontier, while the major roads from Italy through the Alps were protected by a set of fortresses
near Briançon. The defensive line then continued all the way to the Mediterranean and an additional
line stretched along the Pyrenean front. Rounding off the borders, included both adding
and removing fortresses. In addition to conquering and building new fortresses, old and unneeded ones
had to be destroyed. This was necessary because an unused, badly maintained or undermanned fortress
simply invited the enemy to seize it and would offer them a defensive position at
the French border. Vauban knew this all too well and in fact far more fortresses were destroyed on
his advice than built. He was obsessed with eliminating unnecessary strongholds. Apart
from strategical purposes this cut expenses and relinquished significant numbers of men
for service in the field armies. So, razing unnecessary fortresses strengthened both the
defensive line and the field army. By deliberately constructing and
destroying fortresses, Vauban created a frontier that shielded France way
beyond the reign of Louis XIV. In the 1790s it protected the young republic
from monarchical Europe. In the early 1800s Napoleon was very well aware of
how much he owed to Vauban's fortress walls and even in the Franco-Prussian
War in 1870 Vauban's fortifications could still give a good account of themselves.
After Vauban had conducted his last siege at Breisach in 1703 the old engineer was put out
to pasture. In a long hard-working life, he had equipped France for generations with reliable
defenses and brought it from the headlong attack "a la française” to cutting edge siege methods.
His work was admired and copied all over Europe and the military engineers that followed in his
footsteps were frustrated by the quest of finding a reliable method of defense against
the Vauban-style attack. Vauban had established a nearly infallible routine, applicable by any man
with a decent understanding of siege craft and the will to become versed in it. When he died on
30 March 1707, he had sustained eight wounds, directed some forty-eight sieges, and drawn
up projects for about 160 fortresses. This great engineer had established his immortality in more
concrete form than probably any other human being since the time of the building of the Pyramids.
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