How to Lay Siege to a Polygonal Fortress in the 18th and 19th Centuries

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Black Friday sale: up to 55% off using my code SANDRHOMAN at checkout - https://partner.ekster.com/sandrhomanhistory At the end of the 17th century, conquering fortresses became increasingly easy. This was because the chief engineer of Louis XIV of France, the Marquis de Vauban, had created an almost infallible siege method that rendered the star fortress—the gold standard of fortress defense—increasingly useless. To address this problem, engineers and tacticians devised a new system of defense in the 18th and 19th centuries: the polygonal fortress. With this fortification, the centuries-old struggle between defense and attack entered the next round. Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/sandrhomanhistory Paypal (thank you: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/SandRhomanhistory Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sandrhoman Chapters: 00:00-00:35 Intro 00:35-01:32 Sponsor 01:32-3:47 The Rise and Fall of the Star Fortress 03:47-06:40 The Polygonal Fortress 06:40-10:20 Four Alternatives to the Formal Siege 10:20-19:21 Formal Siege Some must read mlitary history books: Ambrose, S. E., Band of Brothers: E Company, 2001. https://amzn.to/438ltvZ Baime, A. J., The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman, 2017. https://amzn.to/3TcDGUj Beard, M., Emperor of Rome: Ruling the Ancient Roman World, 2023. https://amzn.to/49L2olR Bevoor, A., Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege: 1942-1943, 1999. https://amzn.to/4a4rqwe Beevor, A., The Second World War, 2013. https://amzn.to/3wNFITu Brennan, P+D., Gettysburg in Color, 2022. https://amzn.to/48LGldG Clausewitz, C., On War, 2010. https://amzn.to/3Vblf5 Kaushik, R., A Global History of Pre-Modern Warfare: 10,000 BCE–1500 CE, 2021. https://amzn.to/49Mtqt7 McPherson, J., Battle Cry of Freedom, The Civil War Era, 2021. https://amzn.to/3TseYAW Tsu, S., The Art of War, 2007, https://amzn.to/3TuknHA Sledge. E. B., With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa, 2008. https://amzn.to/439olIK Pomerantsev, P., How to Win an Information War, 2024. https://amzn.to/3Ts0YqQ Bibliography Black, J., Fortifications and Siegecraft. Defense and Attack through the Ages, Lanham/Boulder/New York/London 2018. Du Boys de Riocour, M., Histoire de la Ville et des deux Sièges de La Mothe, Bourmont 1841. Duffy, Ch., The Fortress in the Early Modern World 1494-1660, London 1979. Duffy, Ch., The Fortress in the Age of Vauban and Frederick the Great 1660-1789, London 1985. Duffy, Ch., Fire and Stone. The Science of Fortress Warfare 1660-1860, New York 1975. Hogg, Ian V., Fortress: A History of Military Defense, London 1975. Hoppe, S., s.v. Festungsbau, in: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Kinard, J., Artillery. An Illustrated History of Its Impact, Santa Barbara 2007. Lynn, J. A., Giant of the Grand Siecle. The French Army 1610-1715, Cambridge 1997. Lynn, J. A., States in Conflict 1661-1763, in: Parker, G. (ed.), The Cambridge History of Warfare, Cambridge 2005. Lynn, J. A., The trace itallienne and the Growth of Armies, in: Rogers, C. J. (Ed.), The Military Revolution Debate. Readings on the Military Transformation of Early Modern Europe, Boulder / San Francisco / Oxford 1995. Neumann, H., Festungsbau-Kunst und -Technik, Bonn 2004. Ortenburg, G., Waffe und Waffengebrauch im Zeitalter der Landsknechte (Heerwesen der Neuzeit, Abt. 1, Bd. 1) Koblenz 1984. Ostwald, J., Vauban under Siege. Engineering Efficiency and Martial Vigor in the War of the Spanish Succession, Leiden/Boston 2007. Unterberger, L., Tagebuch der Belagerung und Bombardirung der französischen Festung Valenciennes 1793, Vienna 1815. Van Nimwegen, O., The Dutch Army and the Military Revolutions, 1588-1688. Vauban, Sebastien le Prestre de, A Manual of Siegecraft and Fortification, trans. G.A. Rothrock, Ann Arbor 1968.