Think this was posted before but the French military are building these today<p><a href="https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/35863/the-french-army-is-building-renaissance-style-fortresses-in-africa" rel="nofollow">https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/35863/the-french-army-...</a>
I love reading about these designs but I find the Wikipedia articles don’t do a great job explaining the logic behind the geometry. I assume it has to do with maximizing what your cannons can see while minimizing flat-on surfaces for their cannons to strike?<p>But then there’s probably some tactical reasons too like how the emplacements on the points of the star forces enemy engagement to take place a certain way.<p>All guesswork. Any good links or videos that really do a good job explaining the why?
Gothenburg, Sweden, was built as a bastion fort [1]. When the fortifications were removed in the early 19th century, large parts of the ramparts were converted into a public park, which still surrounds the city center[2].<p>1: <a href="https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6teborgs_bef%C3%A4stningar#/media/Fil:Goteborg1795.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6teborgs_bef%C3%A4stning...</a><p>2: <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@57.7036863,11.9640366,2382m/data=!3m1!1e3" rel="nofollow">https://www.google.com/maps/@57.7036863,11.9640366,2382m/dat...</a>
I absolutely love military history, and it's interesting on how much I find it relates to other parts of life.<p>It was just this week I was explaining to my therapist the concept of "Defense in Depth" and how that relates to trust, friendship making, security, life opsec, work opsec, work, and making reliable systems.<p>The geometry in particular I always find to be interesting, since a lot of it is about reacting to life (both animal and human) and the natural shape of the terrain. Things like how animals hunt, or where they like to nest. Where and how colonies are established, etc. Covering distance quickly and secretly, and being able to see others coming. Protecting resources like food, water, or crypto keys.
>> On the other hand, 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.[6][7]<p>The bastion fortifications of Corfu were established shortly before the last Ottoman invasion of 1716, by Count von der Schulenburg, appointed to the Job by Venice. They were destroyed later when Corfu joined the newly freed Greek nation with the treaty of 1864. The destruction of the Corfu fortifications was an actual clause of the treaty. Today, only the (Venetian) Old Fort remains and some few parts of the star-shaped walls. Allegedly, the fortifications were so renowned that the British wanted them destroyed in case they ended up being used against them. A bit of a shame, too, since they were really impressive and they would have made a spectacular historical site today. What remains is already interesting enough.<p>Sources: a bit of wikipedia to remind me of the dates and primarily local lore (I spend a lot of time in Corfu) and also maps depicting the Ottoman siege in 1716, showing e.g. fortified positions of the defenders and the invaders with detailed descriptions of the forces deployed, illustrations of gun emplacements and even the trajectories of enfilading fire etc. Such maps are often exhibited in Corfu, and I must surely look a huge nerd the way I spend hours poring over them every bloody time :)
If your flight lands on the right runway (27R) at Philadelphia International Airport, you will get a close up view of Fort Mifflin, a bastion fort dating back to 1771 which took part in the Revolutionary War.<p><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/Fort_mifflin_from_airplane_arriving_at_PHL.jpg/2560px-Fort_mifflin_from_airplane_arriving_at_PHL.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/Fo...</a>
The <i>trace italienne</i> also features prominently in the novel Wolf in White Van: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/26/books/wolf-in-white-van-by-john-darnielle.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/26/books/wolf-in-white-van-b...</a>
The history of warfare has gone back and forth between offense and defense being stronger. In the castle era, defense was stronger, which led to military and political strong points. But a castle can't project power very far, at best half a day's ride. Hence, strong barons, weak central governments.<p>Better cannon changed that, and gave the attacker an advantage.<p>Still better artillery and fortifications, plus heavy machine guns, gave the defender the advantage again, resulting in WWI, which was stalled with everyone in fixed positions for some time.<p>Then came tanks, and offense started beating defense again.<p>Arguably, guerilla warfare has given defense an edge again. It's a defense based on hiding and disappearing into the general population, but a defense nevertheless.
Cape Town, South Africa, 1679 -still used in part as a military base.
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_of_Good_Hope" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_of_Good_Hope</a>
Fort Pitt in Pittsburgh<p><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Fort_Pitt_in_1776.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Fort_Pit...</a><p><a href="https://i0.wp.com/www.heinzhistorycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Model-blog-1.23.19.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://i0.wp.com/www.heinzhistorycenter.org/wp-content/uplo...</a>
The Netherlands is full of these, lots of cities have bastion forts around it. When i was in Sri Lanka, Jaffna, I even found one made by purtogese, captured by the dutch during their Colonial era: <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/CBEBGZSgTtfHoSV68" rel="nofollow">https://goo.gl/maps/CBEBGZSgTtfHoSV68</a>
They are still in use, see this [0] French FOB in Mali<p>[0] <a href="https://i.redd.it/f325vekqsxh51.jpg" rel="nofollow">https://i.redd.it/f325vekqsxh51.jpg</a>
If curious see also<p>2019 <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19061690" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19061690</a>