ArmHis Castles and fortifications

This page is a menu page presenting some castles and fortifications I have found interesting.
As I have mainly travelled in Europe and France, and am based in Norway,
there will be an overweight of European sites.

One very interesting person is the builder and engineer Marechal Sebastien le Prestre Marquis de Vauban,
mostly referred to as just Vauban. He was one of the king Louis XIV's most trusted subjects,
together with the illustrous Musquetaire Captain d'Artagnan. His full name was Charles Ogier de Batz de Castelmore,
but as d'Artagnan who was on his mothers side was a better ranking fief, he added that to his family name
when riding north for Paris at the age of 18 with the ambition of a career in a Musquetaire company.

It was during the assault of June 25 that the commanding officer of the first company of France’s elite royal guard,
Charles de Batz-Castelmore, Count d’Artagnan, was killed after leaving his breakfast to assist his soldiers in an outbreak from the city.
The Siege of Maastricht showed the genius of Vauban. He was able to capture the well-fortified city without a prolonged struggle.
Vauban unleashed the might of his battery of twenty-six guns. He ordered trenches to be dug parallel to the walls.
Then he used artillery to protect sappers digging diagonal zigzagging trenches toward a closer position where another trench was started.
Using this technique, Vauban moved closer and closer to the city walls of Maastricht.

Please mail comments to flint @ armhis.com

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