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58-564: The shape of the citadel, an iconic element of Vauban architecture, influenced the design of Alba Iulia's city logo when the city adopted city branding in 2014. The city received 47.5 million lei in 2009 for the restoration and conservation of the citadel. The citadel is named after Charles VI , known as Carol VI in Romanian, who was the Holy Roman Emperor at the time of the citadel's construction. This article about

116-530: 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. 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

174-434: A Romanian building or structure is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This military base or fortification article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Vauban Sébastien Le Prestre, seigneur de Vauban, later styling himself as the marquis de Vauban (baptised 15 May 1633 – 30 March 1707), commonly referred to as Vauban ( French: [vobɑ̃] ),

232-827: A change in tactics, Marlborough arguing winning one battle was more beneficial than taking 12 fortresses. The armies of the War of the Spanish Succession averaged around 35,000, and siege warfare superseded by a greater emphasis on mobility. 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

290-633: 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 responded by 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

348-632: 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. Many of his publications, including Traité de l'attaque des places and Traité des mines , were written at

406-593: A manifesto, invaded and occupied the island of Ré , near La Rochelle. From there he sailed up to Brittany where he led a successful attack on the royal fleet in the Battle of Blavet , although he could not take the fort after a three weeks siege. Soubise then returned to Ré with 15 ships and soon occupied the Ile d'Oléron as well, thus giving him command of the Atlantic coast from Nantes to Bordeaux . Through these deeds, he

464-452: 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

522-543: 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. Some French engineers continued to be innovators, notably the Marquis de Montalembert , who published La Fortification perpendiculaire in 1776. A rejection of

580-729: A short-lived infant son. 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.' 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. While his modern fame rests on

638-507: The Canal de la Bruche , which remains 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

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696-468: The Edict of Nantes . However, they were left at the mercy of the monarchy, unable to resist when the next king, Louis XIV , embarked on active persecution in the 1670s, and revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685. The Huguenot rebellions were implacably suppressed by the French crown. As a consequence, the Huguenots lost their political power, helping to strengthen the central government, which continued on

754-561: The Siege of Montauban . After a lull, combat resumed with numerous atrocities in 1622, with the Siege of Nègrepelisse in which the population was massacred and the city was burnt to the ground. In La Rochelle, the fleet of the city under Jean Guiton started to harass royal vessels and bases. The Royal fleet met with the fleet of La Rochelle in the Naval battle of Saint-Martin-de-Ré on 27 October 1622 in an inconclusive encounter. Meanwhile,

812-656: The Spanish Netherlands and allied with the Spanish. In early 1653, when Vauban worked on the defences of Sainte-Menehould , one of Condé's principal possessions, 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

870-479: 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. The 'siege parallel' had been in development since the mid-16th century but Vauban brought the idea to practical fulfilment at Maastricht in 1673. Three parallel trenches were dug in front of

928-630: The Treaty of Montpellier ended hostilities. The Huguenot fortresses of Montauban and La Rochelle could be kept, but the fortress of Montpellier had to be dismantled. The year 1624 saw the arrival of Cardinal Richelieu to power as chief minister, which would mean more difficult times ahead for the Protestants. Louis XIII did not, however, uphold the terms of the Treaty of Montpellier, sparking renewed Huguenot resentment. Toiras reinforced

986-437: The Treaty of Paris , was signed between the city of La Rochelle and King Louis XIII on 5 February 1626, preserving religious freedom but imposing some guaranties against possible future upheavals: in particular, La Rochelle was prohibited from keeping a naval fleet. The third and last Huguenot rebellion started with an English military intervention aimed at encouraging an upheaval against the French king. The rebels had received

1044-410: The 1690s, betting on the length of a siege became a popular craze. 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. The French defence of Namur in 1695 showed "how one could effectively win a campaign, by losing a fortress, but exhausting

1102-698: The 1697 siege of Ath is often considered his offensive masterpiece. 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 . 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. It prompted

1160-468: The 17th through the 20th centuries. 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

1218-520: 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. 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

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1276-461: The French army was assigned to garrison duty. 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. As

1334-470: The Grand Battery of 200 guns at Namur in 1695, Vauban preferred a more gradual approach. 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. It was accepted even the strongest fortifications would fall, given time; the process was so well understood by

1392-636: The Huguenots were defiant of the Crown, displaying intentions to become independent on the model of the Dutch Republic : "If the citizens, abandoned to their guidance, were threatened in their rights and creeds, they would imitate the Dutch in their resistance to Spain, and defy all the power of the monarchy to reduce them." ( Mercure de France ) In 1621, Louis XIII moved to eradicate what he considered an open rebellion against his power. He led an army to

1450-645: The addition of casemated shoulders and flanks. 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 . 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

1508-412: The backing of the English king Charles I , who sent his favourite George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham with a fleet of 80 ships. In June 1627 Buckingham organised a landing on the nearby island of Île de Ré with 6,000 men in order to help the Huguenots, thus starting an Anglo-French War (1627–1629) , with the objective of controlling the approaches to La Rochelle, and of encouraging the rebellion in

1566-432: The besiegers." 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). His subsequent 'systems' strengthened their internal works with

1624-527: The besieging troops (during times when the King was absent). Residents of La Rochelle resisted for 14 months, under the leadership of the mayor Jean Guiton and with gradually diminishing help from England. During the siege, the population of La Rochelle decreased from 27,000 to 5,000 due to casualties, famine, and disease. Surrender was unconditional. Rohan continued to resist in Southern France, where

1682-412: The city. Buckingham ultimately ran out of money and support, and his army was weakened by diseases. The English intervention ended with the unsuccessful siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré (1627) . After a last attack on Saint-Martin they were repulsed with heavy casualties, and left in their ships. The English intervention was followed by the siege of La Rochelle . Cardinal Richelieu acted as the commander of

1740-650: The creation of the US Corps of Engineers in 1824. 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. 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

1798-484: The defenders, and allow better co-ordination among the assault force; he was supported by Louis, and the attack proved successful. 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

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1856-468: The end of his career to provide a training curriculum for his successors. 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. 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

1914-527: The forces of Louis XIII continued to intervene in 1629. In the siege of Privas , the inhabitants were massacred or expelled, and the city was burnt to the ground. Louis XIII finally achieved a decisive victory in the siege of Alès in June 1629, and Rohan submitted. By the terms of the Peace of Alais , the Huguenots lost their territorial, political, and military rights, but retained the religious freedom granted by

1972-550: The fortification of Fort Louis , instead of dismantling it, right under the walls of the Huguenot stronghold of La Rochelle , and as a strong fleet was being prepared in Blavet for the eventuality of a siege of the city. The threat of a future siege on the city of La Rochelle was obvious, both to Soubise and the people of La Rochelle. In February 1625, Soubise led a second Huguenot revolt against Louis XIII, and, after publishing

2030-583: The fortification of Strasbourg . As early as 1684, Vauban published design tables for retaining walls with heights between 3 and 25 metres. Three years later, Vauban, in his role as newly appointed Commissary General of all French fortifications, sent his engineers in the Corps du Génie Militaire his Profil général pour les murs de soutènement in which he presented his retaining wall profiles that were later adopted by engineering offers such as Bélidor (1729), Poncelet (1840) and Wheeler (1870). He also provided advice on

2088-457: 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 . In this period, sieges became the dominant form of warfare; during the 1672–1678 Franco-Dutch War , three battles were fought in

2146-528: The intermittent French Wars of Religion of 1562–1598. The first Huguenot rebellion was triggered by the re-establishment of Catholic rights in Huguenot Béarn by Louis XIII in 1617, and the military annexation of Béarn to France in 1620, with the occupation of Pau in October 1620. The government was replaced by a French-style parliament in which only Catholics could sit. Feeling their survival

2204-631: The lake and gardens at Blenheim Palace . 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. 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

2262-513: The local gentry, including the owners of the Château de Ruère, where Vauban spent his early years. 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 . 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

2320-424: 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,

2378-526: The minor nobility, from Vauban in Bazoches . 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

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2436-615: The period; the boundaries of the French state he proposed in the north and east have changed very little in the three centuries since. 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

2494-587: The principles advocated by Vauban and his successors; his ideas became the prevailing orthodoxy in much of Europe but were dismissed in France. 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

2552-641: The repair and enlargement of the Canal du Midi in 1686. 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 , named after a French army base on the same location, which developed as a model for sustainable neighbourhoods post-1998. Vauban's 'scientific approach' and focus on large infrastructure projects strongly influenced American military and civil engineering and inspired

2610-513: The south, first succeeding in capturing the Huguenot city of Saumur , and then succeeding in the siege of Saint-Jean-d'Angély against Rohan's brother Benjamin de Rohan, duc de Soubise on 24 June. A small number of troops attempted to surround La Rochelle under the Count of Soissons in the Blockade of La Rochelle , but Louis XIII then moved south to Montauban , where he exhausted his troops in

2668-589: 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." In the course of his career, Vauban supervised or designed the building of more than 300 separate fortifications, and by his own estimate, supervised more than 40 sieges from 1653 to 1697. 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

2726-399: 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

2784-579: The war with Spain. 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. It was common to combine these skills; John Armstrong (1674–1742), Marlborough 's chief military engineer, laid out

2842-577: Was a French military engineer and Marshal of France 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

2900-479: 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. 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,

2958-559: Was at stake, the Huguenots gathered in La Rochelle on 25 December. At this Huguenot General Assembly in La Rochelle the decision was taken to forcefully resist the Royal threat, and to establish a "state within the state", with an independent military commandment and independent taxes, under the direction of the Duc de Rohan , an ardent proponent of open conflict with the King. In that period,

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3016-409: 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. During the Nine Years' War, he supervised the capture of Namur in 1692, the major French achievement of the war, while

3074-521: Was demolished when the French withdrew after the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick , and only the foundations remain today. 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. The French retreat from the Rhine after 1697 required new fortresses; Neuf-Brisach

3132-591: 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. Vauban was rewarded with a large sum of money, which he used to purchase the Château de Bazouches from his cousin in 1675. Post-1673, French strategy in Flanders

3190-526: 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!" 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

3248-555: Was recognized as the head of the Huguenots, and named himself "Admiral of the Protestant Church". The French Navy on the contrary was now completely depleted, leaving the central government vulnerable. The Huguenot city of La Rochelle voted to join Soubise on 8 August. These events would end with the defeat of the fleets of La Rochelle and Soubise, and the full Capture of Ré island by September. After long negotiations,

3306-499: 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. To create a more coherent border, Vauban advocated destroying poor fortifications, and relinquishing territory that

3364-430: Was then stormed. This approach was used in offensive operations well into the 20th century. 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

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