James Falkner - Marshal Vauban: Louis XIVs Engineer Genius
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[A] vivid and well written account of the life of the man who built some of the most magnificent military structures known to man.Clayton Donnell, Fortress Archaeologist
Sebastien Le Prestre, Marshal Vauban, was one of the greatest military engineers of all time. His complex, highly sophisticated fortress designs, his advanced theories for the defense and attack of fortified places, and his prolific work as a writer and radical thinker on military and social affairs, mark him out as one of the most influential military minds of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Yet no recent study of this extraordinary man has been published in English.
James Falkner, in this perceptive and lively new account of Vaubans life and work, follows his career as a soldier from a dashing and brave young cavalry officer to his emergence as a masterful military engineer. And he shows that Vauban was much more than simply a superlative builder of fortresses, for as a leading military commander serving Louis XIV, he perfected a method for attacking fortifications in the most effective way, which became standard practice until the present day. Falkners new study will add significantly to the understanding of Vaubans achievements and the impact his work has had on the history of warfare.
A very enjoyable read for those looking for a good, basic account of Vaubans career and his role in the wars of Louis XIV and of fortification more generally. Its usefulness is enhanced by various maps and reproductions of portraits of key characters and of contemporary plans of fortresses.War in History
Sebastien Le Prestre, Marshal Vauban, was one of the greatest military engineers of all time. His complex, highly sophisticated fortress designs, his advanced theories for the defense and attack of fortified places, and his prolific work as a writer and radical thinker on military and social affairs, mark him out as one of the most influential military minds of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Yet no recent study of this extraordinary man has been published in English.
James Falkner, in this perceptive and lively new account of Vaubans life and work, follows his career as a soldier from a dashing and brave young cavalry officer to his emergence as a masterful military engineer. And he shows that Vauban was much more than simply a superlative builder of fortresses, for as a leading military commander serving Louis XIV, he perfected a method for attacking fortifications in the most effective way, which became standard practice until the present day. Falkners new study will add significantly to the understanding of Vaubans achievements and the impact his work has had on the history of warfare.
A very enjoyable read for those looking for a good, basic account of Vaubans career and his role in the wars of Louis XIV and of fortification more generally. Its usefulness is enhanced by various maps and reproductions of portraits of key characters and of contemporary plans of fortresses.War in History
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First published in Great Britain in 2011 by
PEN & SWORD MILITARY
An imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS
Copyright James Falkner, 2011
9781783031337
The right of James Falkner to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted
by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library.
available from the British Library.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in
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or by any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission from the Publisher in writing.
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording
or by any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission from the Publisher in writing.
Typeset by Concept, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.
Printed and bound in England by the CPI UK.
Printed and bound in England by the CPI UK.
Pen & Sword Books Ltd incorporates the imprints of Pen & Sword Aviation,
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Table of Contents
List of Plates
Black-and-white plates
Sbastien le Prestre de Vauban, Marshal of France. Louis XIVs indefatigable Inspector-General of Fortifications.
King Louis XIV of France, The Sun King, circa 1660.
Louis II de Bourbon, Prince of Cond. Brilliant but capricious. Vauban served in his rebel army during the Second Fronde.
Cardinal Jules Mazarin. Italian-born diplomat and politician. He brought Vauban into the Royal service.
Henri de la Tour dAuvergne, Marshal Turenne.
William of Orange, King William III of England.
Franois-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, Louis XIVs formidable Minister for War. A staunch supporter of Vauban and his plans.
Jean-Baptiste Colbert. Louis XIVs Controller-General of Finance, and Minister for the Navy.
Dunkirk. Vaubans massive new fortifications. Demolished after the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht.
Siege operations. Sapping techniques, an illustration from Vaubans Trait de lAttacque des Places.
A Coehorn mortar, named after the renowned Dutch engineer. Deadly effective.
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough.
Prince Eugne of Savoy.
Franois de Neufville, Marshal Villeroi. Defeated at Ramillies in 1706, he lost the Spanish Netherlands.
Claude-Louis-Hector, Marshal Villars. With Vaubans Fence of Iron he defied Marlborough, 1709-1711.
Reginald Blomfields pencil sketch of the massive Porte de Tournai, at Lille ( circa 1936).
Reginald Blomfields pencil sketch of the water defences at Gravelines ( circa 1936).
Reginald Blomfields pencil sketch of the Brianon defences ( circa 1936).
Reginald Blomfields pencil sketch of the Porte de Paris Gate at Lille ( circa 1936).
Raising the Militia in a French town, 1705. Malpractice and impressment became common.
Layout of a model siege battery, circa 1700.
Chteau Queyras, guarding the high Alpine passes.
Plan of Strasbourg and the Fortress of Kehl.
Colour plates
Bthune. Captured by the Duke of Marlborough in 1710.
Mons. Detail of the 1709 siegeworks, after the Battle of Malplaquet.
Aire-sur-la-Lys with Fort St Francis.
Tournai. The radical Vauban design for the massive new citadel.
Douai. Captured by Marlborough and Eugne in 1710.
Colmar les Alpes. Fortified sentry post on the defensive ramparts.
Mauberge. The Porte de Mons (2009).
Mauberge. The defensive ditch with the Porte de Mons in the background. (2009)
Mons. Louis XIV conducts the brilliantly successful siege of 1691.
Namur. The French siege of 1692. They lost it to the Allies three years later.
Lille. Brickwork in the defensive ditch to the citadel (2008).
Lille. The massive gateway into Vaubans new citadel.
Tournai. The hard-fought siege by Marlborough and Eugne in 1709.
Introduction
For Valour, Bounty and Probity, despite a rough and brutal exterior, without question the finest man of his century where sieges and fortification were concerned.
The name and reputation of Vauban, Marshal of France, Engineer-in-Chief to King Louis XIV, and Inspector-General of Fortifications, continues to excite attention and admiration from soldiers, historians, engineers and social reformers. A French biographer in the 1920s wrote that, No man has left a greater mark upon the features of his country. This seems to fit rather well with the age in which the fortifications were conceived, designed and constructed, at a time when thought in western Europe was moving steadily towards what would become known as the Age of Enlightenment or, perhaps a little optimistically, the Age of Reason. In matters of warfare, reason may often seem to be lacking, but the work of Vauban, both where it can be seen today in brick and stone, and also in his thoughts on matters both military and civil, and recorded in his writings, appears to come close.
Opinions vary as to the number of Vauban fortifications that exist in presentable form today. Their state of repair, good or bad, is a rather subjective judgement, and what is felt to be fine condition by one observer may be just plain shabby to another. In some cases the fortifications have gone altogether, demolished as militarily unnecessary or swept away by urban development, but these are the exception and tend to have happened where the pressure of population is greatest, mostly in the north of France. It is possible to list more than 180 towns, cities, fortresses, citadels and forts that still bear, or had borne at one time, the mark of Vaubans fertile imagination and apparently boundless energy, having been designed, constructed, improved or intended for improvement to his specification. The sheer range of these fortified places, large and small, and his wider career as a military engineer in all its many and varied aspects, are a body of work representing phenomenal sustained physical and mental effort, which is not truly matched by any other soldier.
The magnificent tally of fortifications in stone and brick that Vauban left naturally excites the admiration for its sheer scale and scope, yet this can all be a little misleading. Much of what he did was developed from the eminently sensible theories and works of his renowned predecessors, notably that of Blaise Franois de Pagan. This does not detract from Vaubans prolific achievements in fortress design, or cast a shadow over the fine reputation he enjoys. Vaubans accomplishments were well rounded, and his refined knowledge of the art of fortifications proofed as far as possible against the effects of gunpowder artillery and mining, and his understanding of what was necessary for the successful prosecution of a siege, inclined him to devote as much thought to subduing fortresses, as he did to building them. A thorough grasp of the finer points of the defensive arrangements for a fortress is invaluable for any military commander who has to lay siege to such a place.
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