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Attac and Defence of Fortified Places

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Warfare in the 17th and 18th century was dominated by fortifications. Field armies maneuvered around fortified cities, and sieges were common. In the 17th century, Marshal Vauban developed what is now known as the 'scientific siege,' whereby there were regular rules on how to fortify a place, how to besiege it, and how to defend it. The technology continued to develop, and numerous authors wrote upon the topic. In the 18th century, John Muller wrote this book, 'The Attac and Defence of Fortified Places', bringing Vauban's ideas up to date. This was not just an academic work - every British military engineer in the 1740s through the 1790s was trained with this book. This book was also used in America, both in the French and Indian War and during the Revolution.

The first section of the book contains information about how to invest a fortified place, approach it with minimal loss of life, and eventually take the place. The second section details how to defend a fortified place. Even though the besieger will ultimately win if he has enough manpower and materiel, a good defence can delay the inevitable weeks or months, which may allow the siege to be abandoned. The third section discusses mining, the art of digging underground galleries to place charges to blow up one's enemies. Although most people envision blowing holes in the fortification's walls, mining was even more useful in retarding the attackers progress and destroying their artillery.

This reprint is newly typeset to be a faithful copy of the original, including the exact font and pagination. Added to the original text and figures are extensive notes and figures. In addition to a short biography of Muller and comments on the reprint, these notes include both a written and illustrated vocabulary of siege-related terms. This allows one to quickly look up terms such as a tenallion and a tenaille, or how the tenallion differs from a lunette.

If you are curious about how fortifications worked in practice or why fortifications had such a profound effect on field armies, get this book.