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91-460: A bastion fort or trace italienne (a phrase derived from non-standard French, literally meaning 'Italian outline') 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

182-476: A four-month siege , when the garrison led by general Louis François Jean Chabot , being short of provisions and having lost the key island of Vido at the entrance of the port, surrendered and was allowed passage back to France. The Military Revolution thesis originally proposed by Michael Roberts in 1955, as he focused on Sweden (1560–1660) searching for major changes in the European way of war caused by

273-430: A ravelin like angular gun platform screening one of the curtain walls which is protected from flanking fire from the towers of the main part of the fort. Another example is the fortifications of Rhodes which were frozen in 1522 so that Rhodes is the only European walled town that still shows the transition between the classical medieval fortification and the modern ones. A manual about the construction of fortification

364-538: A border guard rather than a real strongpoint to watch and maintain the border. The art of setting out a military camp or constructing a fortification traditionally has been called "castrametation" since the time of the Roman legions . Fortification is usually divided into two branches: permanent fortification and field fortification. There is also an intermediate branch known as semi-permanent fortification. Castles are fortifications which are regarded as being distinct from

455-529: A combined Florentine and French army. With the original medieval fortifications beginning to crumble to French cannon fire, the Pisans constructed an earthen rampart behind the threatened sector. It was discovered that the sloping earthen rampart could be defended against escalade and was also much more resistant to cannon fire than the curtain wall it had replaced. The second siege was that of Padua in 1509. A monk engineer named Fra Giocondo , trusted with

546-471: A ditch was dug in front of them. The earth used from the excavation was piled behind the walls to create a solid structure. While purpose-built fortifications would often have a brick fascia because of the material's ability to absorb the shock of artillery fire, many improvised defences cut costs by leaving this stage out and instead opting for more earth. Improvisation could also consist of lowering medieval round towers and infilling them with earth to strengthen

637-521: A double wall of trenches and ramparts, and in the Congo forests concealed ditches and paths, along with the main works, often bristled with rows of sharpened stakes. Inner defenses were laid out to blunt an enemy penetration with a maze of defensive walls allowing for entrapment and crossfire on opposing forces. A military tactic of the Ashanti was to create powerful log stockades at key points. This

728-531: A formative influence on the patterning of the Renaissance ideal city : "The Renaissance was hypnotized by one city type which for a century and a half—from Filarete to Scamozzi—was impressed upon all utopian schemes: this is the star-shaped city". In the nineteenth century, the development of the explosive shell changed the nature of defensive fortifications. Elvas , in Portugal is considered by some to be

819-526: A military camp or constructing a fortification traditionally has been called castrametation since the time of the Roman legions . Laying siege to a fortification and of destroying it is commonly called siegecraft or siege warfare and is formally known as poliorcetics . In some texts, this latter term also applies to the art of building a fortification. Fortification is usually divided into two branches: permanent fortification and field fortification. Permanent fortifications are erected at leisure, with all

910-665: A month. Eventually it fell, but the Ottoman casualties were very high, and it bought time for the relief force which arrived from Sicily to relieve the rest of the besieged island. The star fort therefore played a crucial and decisive role in the siege. After the fall of Venice to Napoleon, Corfu was occupied in 1797 by the French republican armies. The now ancient fortifications were still of some value at this point. A Russian–Ottoman–English alliance led at sea by Admiral Ushakov and with troops sent by Ali Pasha retook Corfu in 1799 after

1001-591: A result, very very few kotas still stand to this day. Notable kotas: During Muhammad 's era in Arabia, many tribes made use of fortifications. In the Battle of the Trench , the largely outnumbered defenders of Medina, mainly Muslims led by Islamic prophet Muhammad, dug a trench , which together with Medina's natural fortifications, rendered the confederate cavalry (consisting of horses and camels ) useless, locking

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1092-405: A role in the numerous Mediterranean wars, slowing down the Ottoman expansion. Although Rhodes had been partially upgraded to the new type of fortifications after the 1480 siege, it was still conquered in 1522 ; nevertheless it was a long and bloody siege, and the besieged had no hope of outside relief because the island was close to the Ottoman power base and far from any allies. On the other hand,

1183-399: A series of straight lines creating the central fortified area that gives this style of fortification its name. Faussebraye A faussebraye ( Italian : falsa braga ) is a defensive wall located outside the main walls of a fortification . It is of a lower height than the main walls, and is preceded by a ditch . In Greek and Byzantine fortifications, the faussebraye was known as

1274-561: Is Borġ in-Nadur , where a bastion built in around 1500 BC was found. Exceptions were few—notably, ancient Sparta and ancient Rome did not have walls for a long time, choosing to rely on their militaries for defence instead. Initially, these fortifications were simple constructions of wood and earth, which were later replaced by mixed constructions of stones piled on top of each other without mortar . In ancient Greece , large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece , such as

1365-428: Is another example of a Gaulish fortified settlement. The term casemate wall is used in the archaeology of Israel and the wider Near East , having the meaning of a double wall protecting a city or fortress, with transverse walls separating the space between the walls into chambers. These could be used as such, for storage or residential purposes, or could be filled with soil and rocks during siege in order to raise

1456-577: Is the construction of Roman forts in England and in other Roman territories where camps were set up with the intention of staying for some time, but not permanently. Castles are fortifications which are regarded as being distinct from the generic fort or fortress in that it describes a residence of a monarch or noble and commands a specific defensive territory. An example of this is the massive medieval castle of Carcassonne . Defensive fences for protecting humans and domestic animals against predators

1547-746: The British Raj are found in the mainland Indian subcontinent (modern day India , Pakistan , Bangladesh and Nepal ). "Fort" is the word used in India for all old fortifications. Numerous Indus Valley Civilization sites exhibit evidence of fortifications. By about 3500 BC, hundreds of small farming villages dotted the Indus floodplain. Many of these settlements had fortifications and planned streets. The stone and mud brick houses of Kot Diji were clustered behind massive stone flood dykes and defensive walls, for neighbouring communities bickered constantly about

1638-1205: The Maratha Empire . A large majority of forts in India are in North India. The most notable forts are the Red Fort at Old Delhi , the Red Fort at Agra , the Chittor Fort and Mehrangarh Fort in Rajasthan , the Ranthambhor Fort , Amer Fort and Jaisalmer Fort also in Rajasthan and Gwalior Fort in Madhya Pradesh . Arthashastra , the Indian treatise on military strategy describes six major types of forts differentiated by their major modes of defenses. Forts in Sri Lanka date back thousands of years, with many being built by Sri Lankan kings. These include several walled cities. With

1729-586: The Mediterranean . The fortifications were continuously being expanded and improved. Around 600 BC, in Heuneburg , Germany, forts were constructed with a limestone foundation supported by a mudbrick wall approximately 4 metres tall, probably topped by a roofed walkway, thus reaching a total height of 6 metres. The wall was clad with lime plaster, regularly renewed. Towers protruded outwards from it. The Oppidum of Manching (German: Oppidum von Manching)

1820-569: The Napoleonic wars . Most of the colonial forts were garrisoned up until the early 20th century. The coastal forts had coastal artillery manned by the Ceylon Garrison Artillery during the two world wars. Most of these were abandoned by the military but retained civil administrative officers, while others retained military garrisons, which were more administrative than operational. Some were reoccupied by military units with

1911-580: The Nordic states and in Britain , the fortifications of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the harbour archipelago of Suomenlinna at Helsinki being fine examples. During the 18th century, it was found that the continuous enceinte , or main defensive enclosure of a bastion fortress, could not be made large enough to accommodate the enormous field armies which were increasingly being employed in Europe; neither could

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2002-707: The Old City of Shanghai , Suzhou , Xi'an and the walled villages of Hong Kong . The famous walls of the Forbidden City in Beijing were established in the early 15th century by the Yongle Emperor . The Forbidden City made up the inner portion of the Beijing city fortifications . During the Spanish Era several forts and outposts were built throughout the archipelago. Most notable is Intramuros ,

2093-618: The Siege of Ta'if in January 630, Muhammad ordered his followers to attack enemies who fled from the Battle of Hunayn and sought refuge in the fortress of Taif. The entire city of Kerma in Nubia (present day Sudan) was encompassed by fortified walls surrounded by a ditch. Archaeology has revealed various Bronze Age bastions and foundations constructed of stone together with either baked or unfired brick. The walls of Benin are described as

2184-634: The Tang dynasty (618–907 AD). The Great Wall of China had been built since the Qin dynasty (221–207 BC), although its present form was mostly an engineering feat and remodelling of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644 AD). In addition to the Great Wall, a number of Chinese cities also employed the use of defensive walls to defend their cities. Notable Chinese city walls include the city walls of Hangzhou , Nanjing ,

2275-828: The Theodosian Walls of Constantinople , together with partial remains elsewhere. These are mostly city gates, like the Porta Nigra in Trier or Newport Arch in Lincoln . Hadrian's Wall was built by the Roman Empire across the width of what is now northern England following a visit by Roman Emperor Hadrian (AD 76–138) in AD ;122. A number of forts dating from the Later Stone Age to

2366-639: The 19th century led to another stage in the evolution of fortification. Star forts did not fare well against the effects of high explosives, and the intricate arrangements of bastions, flanking batteries and the carefully constructed lines of fire for the defending cannon could be rapidly disrupted by explosive shells. Steel -and- concrete fortifications were common during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The advances in modern warfare since World War I have made large-scale fortifications obsolete in most situations. Many United States Army installations are known as forts, although they are not always fortified. During

2457-593: The Indus Valley Civilization were fortified. Forts also appeared in urban cities of the Gangetic valley during the second urbanisation period between 600 and 200 BC, and as many as 15 fortification sites have been identified by archaeologists throughout the Gangetic valley, such as Kaushambi , Mahasthangarh , Pataliputra , Mathura , Ahichchhatra , Rajgir , and Lauria Nandangarh . The earliest Mauryan period brick fortification occurs in one of

2548-641: The Iron Age and peaking in Iron Age II (10th–6th century BC). However, the construction of casemate walls had begun to be replaced by sturdier solid walls by the 9th century BC , probably due the development of more effective battering rams by the Neo-Assyrian Empire . Casemate walls could surround an entire settlement, but most only protected part of it. The three different types included freestanding casemate walls, then integrated ones where

2639-614: The Ottomans failed to take Corfu in 1537 in no small part because of the new fortifications, and several attempts spanning almost two centuries (another major one was in 1716 ) also failed. Two star forts were built by the Order of Saint John on the island of Malta in 1552, Fort Saint Elmo and Fort Saint Michael . Fort Saint Elmo played a critical role in the Ottoman siege of 1565 when it managed to hold out heavy bombardment for over

2730-473: The ability to fire point-blank. The lower the angle of elevation, the higher the stopping power. The first key instance of a trace Italianate was at the Papal port of Civitavecchia , where the original walls were lowered and thickened because the stone tended to shatter under bombardment. The first major battle which truly showed the effectiveness of trace Italienne was the defence of Pisa in 1500 against

2821-518: The ancient site of Mycenae (famous for the huge stone blocks of its ' cyclopean ' walls). In classical era Greece , the city of Athens built two parallel stone walls, called the Long Walls , that reached their fortified seaport at Piraeus a few miles away. In Central Europe , the Celts built large fortified settlements known as oppida , whose walls seem partially influenced by those built in

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2912-406: The ancient site of Mycenae (known for the huge stone blocks of its ' cyclopean ' walls). A Greek phrourion was a fortified collection of buildings used as a military garrison , and is the equivalent of the Roman castellum or fortress. These constructions mainly served the purpose of a watch tower, to guard certain roads, passes, and borders. Though smaller than a real fortress, they acted as

3003-483: The appearance of the trace Italienne in early modern Europe, and the difficulty of taking such fortifications, is what resulted in a profound change in military strategy, most importantly, Parker argued, an increase in army sizes necessary to attack these forts. "Wars became a series of protracted sieges", Parker suggests, and open-pitch battles became "irrelevant" in regions where the trace Italienne existed. Ultimately, Parker argues, "military geography", in other words,

3094-415: The arrival of cannons in the 14th century. Fortifications in the age of black powder evolved into much lower structures with greater use of ditches and earth ramparts that would absorb and disperse the energy of cannon fire. Walls exposed to direct cannon fire were very vulnerable, so the walls were sunk into ditches fronted by earth slopes to improve protection. The arrival of explosive shells in

3185-410: The arrival of cannons on the 14th century battlefield . Fortifications in the age of black powder evolved into much lower structures with greater use of ditches and earth ramparts that would absorb and disperse the energy of cannon fire. Walls exposed to direct cannon fire were very vulnerable, so were sunk into ditches fronted by earth slopes. This placed a heavy emphasis on the geometry of

3276-533: The attacker should they be overcome, but also to allow the large volumes of smoke that the defending cannon would generate to dissipate. Fortifications of this type continued to be effective while the attackers were armed only with cannon, where the majority of the damage inflicted was caused by momentum from the impact of solid shot . Because only low explosives such as black powder were available, explosive shells were largely ineffective against such fortifications. The development of mortars , high explosives , and

3367-502: The best surviving example of the Dutch school of fortifications. When the newly-effective manoeuvrable siege cannon came into military strategy in the fifteenth century, the response from military engineers was to arrange for the walls to be embedded into ditches fronted by earthen slopes (glacis) so that they could not be attacked by destructive direct fire and to have the walls topped by earthen banks that absorbed and largely dissipated

3458-538: The consequent large increase in the destructive power of explosive shells and thus plunging fire rendered the intricate geometry of such fortifications irrelevant. Warfare was to become more mobile. It took, however, many years to abandon the old fortress thinking. Bastion forts were very expensive. Amsterdam 's 22 bastions cost 11 million florins , and Siena in 1544 bankrupted itself to pay for its defences. For this reason, bastion forts were often improvised from earlier defences. Medieval curtain walls were torn down, and

3549-566: The control of prime agricultural land. The fortification varies by site. While Dholavira has stone-built fortification walls, Harrapa is fortified using baked bricks; sites such as Kalibangan exhibit mudbrick fortifications with bastions and Lothal has a quadrangular fortified layout. Evidence also suggested of fortifications in Mohenjo-daro . Even a small town—for instance, Kotada Bhadli, exhibiting sophisticated fortification-like bastions—shows that nearly all major and minor towns of

3640-425: The covered way, or covert way. Defenders could move relatively safely in the cover of the ditch and could engage in active countermeasures to keep control of the glacis, the open slope that lay outside the ditch, by creating defensive earthworks to deny the enemy access to the glacis and thus to firing points that could bear directly onto the walls and by digging counter mines to intercept and disrupt attempts to mine

3731-964: The current level of military development. During the Renaissance era , the Venetian Republic raised great walls around cities, and the finest examples, among others, are in Nicosia (Cyprus), Rocca di Manerba del Garda (Lombardy), and Palmanova (Italy), or Dubrovnik (Croatia), which proved to be futile against attacks but still stand to this day. Unlike the Venetians, the Ottomans used to build smaller fortifications but in greater numbers, and only rarely fortified entire settlements such as Počitelj , Vratnik , and Jajce in Bosnia . Medieval-style fortifications were largely made obsolete by

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3822-485: The defence of the Venetian city, cut down the city's medieval wall and surrounded the city with a broad ditch that could be swept by flanking fire from gun ports set low in projections extending into the ditch. Finding that their cannon fire made little impression on these low ramparts, the French and allied besiegers made several bloody and fruitless assaults and then withdrew. The new type of fortification also played

3913-490: The defences be constructed far enough away from the fortress town to protect the inhabitants from bombardment by the besiegers, the range of whose guns was steadily increasing as better manufactured weapons were introduced. Threfore, since refortifying the Prussian fortress cities of Koblenz and Cologne after 1815, the principle of the ring fortress or girdle fortress was used: forts, each several hundred metres out from

4004-404: The defences could not be directed around curved walls. To prevent this, what had previously been round or square turrets were extended into diamond-shaped points to eliminate potential cover for attacking troops. The ditches and walls channelled the attackers into carefully constructed zwinger , bailey , or similar " kill zone " areas where the attackers had no place to shelter from the fire of

4095-465: The defenders. A further and more subtle change was to move from a passive model of defence to an active one. The lower walls were more vulnerable to being stormed, and the protection that the earthen banking provided against direct fire failed if the attackers could occupy the slope on the outside of the ditch and mount an attacking cannon there. Therefore, the shape was designed to make maximum use of enfilade (or flanking) fire against any attackers on

4186-539: The earliest walled settlements in Europe but it is younger than the walled town of Sesklo in Greece from 6800 BC. Uruk in ancient Sumer ( Mesopotamia ) is one of the world's oldest known walled cities . The Ancient Egyptians also built fortresses on the frontiers of the Nile Valley to protect against invaders from neighbouring territories, as well as circle-shaped mud brick walls around their cities. Many of

4277-635: The early twenty-first-century French intervention in Mali where they were built by the 17th Parachute Engineer Regiment . Fortification From very early history to modern times, defensive walls have often been necessary for cities to survive in an ever-changing world of invasion and conquest . Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were the first small cities to be fortified. In ancient Greece , large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece , such as

4368-557: The enemies. The enemies' hope was to either ram the gate or climb over the wall with ladders and overcome the defenders. For the invading force these fortifications proved quite difficult to overcome and, accordingly, fortresses occupied a key position in warfare. Passive ring-shaped ( Enceinte ) fortifications of the Medieval era proved vulnerable to damage or destruction when attackers directed cannon fire on to perpendicular masonry wall. In addition, attackers that could get close to

4459-600: The energy of plunging fire . Where conditions allowed, as in Fort Manoel in Malta , the ditches were cut into the native rock, and the wall at the inside of the ditch was simply unquarried native rock. As the walls became lower, they also became more vulnerable to assault. The rounded shape that had previously been dominant for the design of turrets created "dead space", or "dead zones", which were relatively sheltered from defending fire, because direct fire from other parts of

4550-728: The escalation of the Sri Lankan Civil War ; Jaffna fort , for example, came under siege several times. Large tempered earth (i.e. rammed earth ) walls were built in ancient China since the Shang dynasty ( c.  1600 –1050 BC); the capital at ancient Ao had enormous walls built in this fashion (see siege for more info). Although stone walls were built in China during the Warring States (481–221 BC), mass conversion to stone architecture did not begin in earnest until

4641-475: The existence or absence of the trace Italienne in a given area, shaped military strategy in the early modern period . This is a profound alteration of the Military Revolution thesis. Parker's emphasis on the fortification as the key element has attracted substantial criticism from some academics, such as John A. Lynn and M. S. Kingra, particularly with respect to the claimed causal link between

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4732-498: The fact that lower walls were easier to climb, the ditch was widened so that attacking infantry were still exposed to fire from a higher elevation, including enfilading fire from the bastions. The outer side of the ditch was usually provided with a glacis to deflect cannonballs aimed at the lower part of the main wall. Further structures, such as ravelins , tenailles , hornworks or crownworks , and even detached forts could be added to create complex outer works to further protect

4823-591: The following three centuries. Italian engineers were heavily in demand throughout Europe to help build the new fortifications. The late-seventeenth-century architects Menno van Coehoorn and especially Vauban , Louis XIV 's military engineer, are considered to have taken the form to its logical extreme. "Fortresses... acquired ravelins and redoubts , bonnettes and lunettes , tenailles and tenaillons, counterguards and crownworks and hornworks and curvettes and faussebrayes and scarps and cordons and banquettes and counterscarps ..." The star-shaped fortification had

4914-437: The fort walls. Compared to medieval fortifications , forts became both lower and larger in area, providing defence in depth , with tiers of defences that an attacker needed to overcome in order to bring cannon to bear on the inner layers of defences. Firing emplacements for defending cannon were heavily defended from bombardment by external fire, but open towards the inside of the fort, not only to diminish their usefulness to

5005-475: The fortification to allow defensive cannonry interlocking fields of fire to cover all approaches to the lower and thus more vulnerable walls. The evolution of this new style of fortification can be seen in transitional forts such as Sarzanello in North West Italy which was built between 1492 and 1502. Sarzanello consists of both crenellated walls with towers typical of the medieval period but also has

5096-651: The fortifications of the ancient world were built with mud brick, often leaving them no more than mounds of dirt for today's archaeologists. A massive prehistoric stone wall surrounded the ancient temple of Ness of Brodgar 3200 BC in Scotland . Named the "Great Wall of Brodgar" it was 4 metres (13 ft) thick and 4 metres tall. The wall had some symbolic or ritualistic function. The Assyrians deployed large labour forces to build new palaces , temples and defensive walls. In Bronze Age Malta , some settlements also began to be fortified. The most notable surviving example

5187-477: The generic fort or fortress in that they are a residence of a monarch or noble and command a specific defensive territory. Roman forts and hill forts were the main antecedents of castles in Europe, which emerged in the 9th century in the Carolingian Empire . The Early Middle Ages saw the creation of some towns built around castles. Medieval-style fortifications were largely made obsolete by

5278-532: The height of the Maguindanao Sultanate 's power, they blanketed the areas around Western Mindanao with kotas and other fortifications to block the Spanish advance into the region. These kotas were usually made of stone and bamboo or other light materials and surrounded by trench networks. As a result, some of these kotas were burned easily or destroyed. With further Spanish campaigns in the region,

5369-413: The inner wall was part of the outer buildings of the settlement, and finally filled casemate walls, where the rooms between the walls were filled with soil right away, allowing for a quick, but nevertheless stable construction of particularly high walls. The Romans fortified their cities with massive, mortar-bound stone walls. The most famous of these are the largely extant Aurelian Walls of Rome and

5460-402: The intervals between them. The arrival of explosive shells in the 19th century led to yet another stage in the evolution of fortification. Star forts did not fare well against the effects of high explosives and the intricate arrangements of bastions, flanking batteries and the carefully constructed lines of fire for the defending cannon could be rapidly disrupted by explosive shells. Worse,

5551-430: The introduction of portable firearms . Roberts linked military technology with larger historical consequences, arguing that innovations in tactics, drill and doctrine by the Dutch and Swedes (1560–1660), which maximized the utility of firearms, led to a need for more trained troops and thus for permanent forces ( standing armies ). According to Geoffrey Parker in his article, The Military Revolution 1560–1660: A Myth? ,

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5642-413: The large open ditches surrounding forts of this type were an integral part of the defensive scheme, as was the covered way at the edge of the counter scarp . The ditch was extremely vulnerable to bombardment with explosive shells. In response, military engineers evolved the polygonal style of fortification. The ditch became deep and vertically sided, cut directly into the native rock or soil, laid out as

5733-480: The main antecedents of castles in Europe , which emerged in the 9th century in the Carolingian Empire . The Early Middle Ages saw the creation of some towns built around castles. These cities were only rarely protected by simple stone walls and more usually by a combination of both walls and ditches . From the 12th century, hundreds of settlements of all sizes were founded all across Europe, which very often obtained

5824-515: The main wall from artillery , and sometimes provide additional defensive positions. They were built of many materials, usually earth and brick , as brick does not shatter on impact from a cannonball as stone does. Bastion fortifications were further developed in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, primarily in response to the French invasion of the Italian peninsula . The French army

5915-539: The new fortress design and increases in army sizes during this period. In the nineteenth century, with the development of more powerful artillery and explosive shells, star forts were replaced by simpler but more robust polygonal forts . In the twentieth century, with the development of tanks and aerial warfare during and after the First World War, fixed fortifications became and have remained less important than in previous centuries. Star forts reappeared during

6006-539: The old walled city of Manila located along the southern bank of the Pasig River . The historic city was home to centuries-old churches, schools, convents, government buildings and residences, the best collection of Spanish colonial architecture before much of it was destroyed by the bombs of World War II . Of all the buildings within the 67-acre city, only one building, the San Agustin Church, survived

6097-440: The original enceinte, were carefully sited so as to make best use of the terrain and to be capable of mutual support with the neighbouring forts. Gone were citadels surrounding towns: forts were to be moved to the outside of the cities some 12 km to keep the enemy at a distance so their artillery could not bombard the city center. From now on a ring of forts were to be built at a spacing that would allow them to effectively cover

6188-602: The outer edge of the ditch and also any who should reach the base of any of the walls. The indentations in the base of each point on the star sheltered cannons. Those cannons would have a clear line of fire directly down the edge of the neighbouring points, while their point of the star was protected by fire from the base of those points. The evolution of these ideas can be seen in transitional fortifications such as Sarzana in northwest Italy. Thus forts evolved complex shapes that allowed defensive batteries of cannon to command interlocking fields of fire . Forward batteries commanded

6279-738: The outset of colonial rule in the Indian Ocean , Sri Lanka was occupied by several major colonial empires that from time to time became the dominant power in the Indian Ocean. The colonists built several western-style forts, mostly in and around the coast of the island. The first to build colonial forts in Sri Lanka were the Portuguese ; these forts were captured and later expanded by the Dutch . The British occupied these Dutch forts during

6370-437: The pioneering era of North America, many outposts on the frontiers, even non-military outposts, were referred to generically as forts. Larger military installations may be called fortresses; smaller ones were once known as fortalices. The word fortification can refer to the practice of improving an area's defense with defensive works. City walls are fortifications but are not necessarily called fortresses. The art of setting out

6461-535: The related star fort of the same era. The design of the fort is normally a polygon with bastions at the corners of the walls. These outcroppings eliminated protected blind spots, called "dead zones", and allowed fire along the curtain wall from positions protected from direct fire. Many bastion forts also feature cavaliers , which are raised secondary structures based entirely inside the primary structure. Their predecessors, medieval fortresses , were usually placed on high hills . From there, arrows were shot at

6552-656: The resistance of the outer wall against battering rams. Originally thought to have been introduced to the region by the Hittites , this has been disproved by the discovery of examples predating their arrival, the earliest being at Ti'inik (Taanach) where such a wall has been dated to the 16th century BC . Casemate walls became a common type of fortification in the Southern Levant between the Middle Bronze Age (MB) and Iron Age II, being more numerous during

6643-481: The resources that a state can supply of constructive and mechanical skill, and are built of enduring materials. Field fortifications—for example breastworks —and often known as fieldworks or earthworks, are extemporized by troops in the field, perhaps assisted by such local labour and tools as may be procurable and with materials that do not require much preparation, such as soil, brushwood, and light timber , or sandbags (see sangar ). An example of field fortification

6734-429: The right of fortification soon afterward. The founding of urban centres was an important means of territorial expansion and many cities, especially in eastern Europe , were founded precisely for this purpose during the period of Eastern Colonisation . These cities are easy to recognise due to their regular layout and large market spaces. The fortifications of these settlements were continuously improved to reflect

6825-405: The slopes which defended walls deeper in the complex from direct fire. The defending cannon were not simply intended to deal with attempts to storm the walls, but to actively challenge attacking cannon and deny them approach close enough to the fort to engage in direct fire against the vulnerable walls. The key to the fort's defence moved to the outer edge of the ditch surrounding the fort, known as

6916-489: The stockades by mounting old-fashioned bayonet charges, after laying down some covering fire. Defensive works were of importance in the tropical African Kingdoms. In the Kingdom of Kongo field fortifications were characterized by trenches and low earthen embankments. Such strongpoints ironically, sometimes held up much better against European cannon than taller, more imposing structures. Roman forts and hill forts were

7007-414: The structures. It was also often necessary to widen and deepen the ditch outside the walls to create a more effective barrier to frontal assault and mining. Engineers from the 1520s were also building massive, gently sloping banks of earth called glacis in front of ditches so that the walls were almost totally hidden from horizontal artillery fire. The main benefit of the glaces was to deny enemy artillery

7098-438: The stupa mounds of Lauria Nandangarh, which is 1.6 km in perimeter and oval in plan and encloses a habitation area. Mundigak ( c.  2500 BC ) in present-day south-east Afghanistan has defensive walls and square bastions of sun dried bricks. India currently has over 180 forts, with the state of Maharashtra alone having over 70 forts, which are also known as durg , many of them built by Shivaji , founder of

7189-636: The sultanate was subdued and a majority of kotas dismantled or destroyed. kotas were not only used by the Muslims as defense against Spaniards and other foreigners, renegades and rebels also built fortifications in defiance of other chiefs in the area. During the American occupation, rebels built strongholds and the datus, rajahs, or sultans often built and reinforced their kotas in a desperate bid to maintain rule over their subjects and their land. Many of these forts were also destroyed by American expeditions, as

7280-407: The town of Provadia a walled fortified settlement today called Solnitsata starting from 4700 BC had a diameter of about 300 feet (91 m), was home to 350 people living in two-storey houses, and was encircled by a fortified wall. The huge walls around the settlement, which were built very tall and with stone blocks which are 6 feet (1.8 m) high and 4.5 feet (1.4 m) thick, make it one of

7371-485: The two sides in a stalemate. Hoping to make several attacks at once, the confederates persuaded the Medina-allied Banu Qurayza to attack the city from the south. However, Muhammad's diplomacy derailed the negotiations, and broke up the confederacy against him. The well-organized defenders, the sinking of confederate morale, and poor weather conditions caused the siege to end in a fiasco. During

7462-420: The wall were able to conduct undermining operations in relative safety, as the defenders could not shoot at them from nearby walls, until the development of machicolation . In contrast, the bastion fortress was a very flat structure composed of many triangular bastions , specifically designed to cover each other, and a ditch. To counteract the cannonballs, defensive walls were made lower and thicker. To counteract

7553-559: The war. Partial listing of Spanish forts: The Ivatan people of the northern islands of Batanes built their so-called idjang on hills and elevated areas to protect themselves during times of war. These fortifications were likened to European castles because of their purpose. Usually, the only entrance to the castles would be via a rope ladder that would only be lowered for the villagers and could be kept away when invaders arrived. The Igorots built forts made of stone walls that averaged several meters in width and about two to three times

7644-410: The width in height around 2000 BC. The Muslim Filipinos of the south built strong fortresses called kota or moong to protect their communities. Usually, many of the occupants of these kotas are entire families rather than just warriors. Lords often had their own kotas to assert their right to rule, it served not only as a military installation but as a palace for the local Lord. It is said that at

7735-634: The world's second longest man-made structure, as well as the most extensive earthwork in the world, by the Guinness Book of Records, 1974 . The walls may have been constructed between the thirteenth and mid-fifteenth century CE or, during the first millennium CE. Strong citadels were also built other in areas of Africa. Yorubaland for example had several sites surrounded by the full range of earthworks and ramparts seen elsewhere, and sited on ground. This improved defensive potential—such as hills and ridges. Yoruba fortifications were often protected with

7826-430: Was a large Celtic proto-urban or city-like settlement at modern-day Manching (near Ingolstadt), Bavaria (Germany). The settlement was founded in the 3rd century BC and existed until c.  50–30 BC . It reached its largest extent during the late La Tène period (late 2nd century BC), when it had a size of 380 hectares. At that time, 5,000 to 10,000 people lived within its 7.2 km long walls. The oppidum of Bibracte

7917-658: Was employed in later wars against the British to block British advances. Some of these fortifications were over a hundred yards long, with heavy parallel tree trunks. They were impervious to destruction by artillery fire. Behind these stockades, numerous Ashanti soldiers were mobilized to check enemy movement. While formidable in construction, many of these strongpoints failed because Ashanti guns, gunpowder and bullets were poor, and provided little sustained killing power in defense. Time and time again British troops overcame or bypassed

8008-465: Was equipped with new cannon and bombards that were easily able to destroy traditional fortifications built in the Middle Ages . Star forts were employed by Michelangelo in the defensive earthworks of Florence , and refined in the sixteenth century by Baldassare Peruzzi and Vincenzo Scamozzi . The design spread out of Italy in the 1530s and 1540s. It was employed heavily throughout Europe for

8099-478: Was published by Giovanni Battista Zanchi in 1554. Fortifications also extended in depth, with protected batteries for defensive cannonry, to allow them to engage attacking cannons to keep them at a distance and prevent them from bearing directly on the vulnerable walls. The result was star shaped fortifications with tier upon tier of hornworks and bastions , of which Fort Bourtange is an excellent example. There are also extensive fortifications from this era in

8190-406: Was the construction of Fort Necessity by George Washington in 1754. There is also an intermediate branch known as semi-permanent fortification. This is employed when in the course of a campaign it becomes desirable to protect some locality with the best imitation of permanent defences that can be made in a short time, ample resources and skilled civilian labour being available. An example of this

8281-434: Was used long before the appearance of writing and began "perhaps with primitive man blocking the entrances of his caves for security from large carnivores ". From very early history to modern times, walls have been a necessity for many cities. Amnya Fort in western Siberia has been described by archaeologists as one of the oldest known fortified settlements, as well as the northernmost Stone Age fort. In Bulgaria, near

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