Fortification

Krak des Chevaliers is one of the best-preserved Crusader castles.^[1]

Bourtange star fort, restored to 1750 situation, Groningen (province), Netherlands.

The well preserved Bulgarian medieval fort Baba Vida.

Fortifications on the Iraq-Iran Border, viewed from the ISS, 2014

Blast pen protecting a Supermarine Spitfire in Italy, circa 1944

Fortifications are military constructions or buildings designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and also used to solidify rule in a region during peace time. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs. The term is derived from the Latin fortis ("strong") and facere ("to make").

From very early history to modern times, walls have been a necessity for cities to survive in an ever changing world of invasion and conquest. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were the first small cities to be fortified. In ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae (famous for the huge stone blocks of its 'cyclopean' walls). A Greek Phrourion was a fortified collection of buildings used as a military garrison, and is the equivalent of the Roman castellum or English fortress. These construction mainly served the purpose of a watch tower, to guard certain roads, passes, and lands that might threaten the kingdom. Though smaller than a real fortress, they acted as a border guard rather than a real strongpoint to watch and maintain the border.

The art of setting out a military camp or constructing a fortification traditionally has been called "castramentation" since the time of the Roman legions. Fortification is usually divided into two branches: permanent fortification and field fortification. There is also an intermediate branch known as semi-permanent fortification. Castles are fortifications which are regarded as being distinct from the generic fort or fortress in that they are a residence of a monarch or noble and command a specific defensive territory.

Roman forts and hill forts were the main antecedents of castles in Europe, which emerged in the 9th century in the Carolingian Empire.The Early Middle Ages saw the creation of some towns built around castles. Medieval-style fortifications were largely made obsolete by the arrival of cannons in the 14th century. Fortifications in the age of black powder evolved into much lower structures with greater use of ditches and earth ramparts that would absorb and disperse the energy of cannon fire. Walls exposed to direct cannon fire were very vulnerable, so were sunk into ditches fronted by earth slopes.

The arrival of explosive shells in the 19th century led to yet another stage in the evolution of fortification. Star forts did not fare well against the effects of high explosive, and the intricate arrangements of bastions, flanking batteries and the carefully constructed lines of fire for the defending cannon could be rapidly disrupted by explosive shells. Steel-and-concrete fortifications were common during the 19th and early 20th centuries. However the advances in modern warfare since World War I have made large-scale fortifications obsolete in most situations.

Demilitarized zones along borders are arguably another type of fortification, although a passive kind, providing a buffer between potentially hostile militaries.

Nomenclature

Many military installations are known as "forts", although they are not always fortified. Larger forts may be called "fortresses"; smaller ones were once known as "fortalices". The word "fortification" can also refer to the practice of improving an area's defence with defensive works. City walls are fortifications but are not necessarily called fortresses.

The art of setting out a military camp or constructing a fortification traditionally has been called "castramentation" since the time of the Roman legions. The art/science of laying siege to a fortification and of destroying it is commonly called "siegecraft" or "siege warfare" and is formally known as poliorcetics. In some texts this latter term also applies to the art of building a fortification.

Fortification is usually divided into two branches: permanent fortification and field fortification. Permanent fortifications are erected at leisure, with all the resources that a state can supply of constructive and mechanical skill, and are built of enduring materials. Field fortifications—for example breastworks— and often known as fieldworks or earthworks, are extemporized by troops in the field, perhaps assisted by such local labour and tools as may be procurable and with materials that do not require much preparation, such as earth, brushwood and light timber, or sandbags (see sangar). An example of the "Field Fortification" was the construction of "Fort Necessity" by George Washington in 1754.

There is also an intermediate branch known as semi-permanent fortification. This is employed when in the course of a campaign it becomes desirable to protect some locality with the best imitation of permanent defences that can be made in a short time, ample resources and skilled civilian labour being available. An example of this is the construction of Roman forts in England and in other Roman territories where camps were set up with the intention of staying for some time, but not permanently.

Castles are fortifications which are regarded as being distinct from the generic fort or fortress in that it describes a residence of a monarch or noble and commands a specific defensive territory. An example of this is the massive medieval castle of Carcassonne.

History

Ancient

From very early history to modern times, walls have been a necessity for many cities. In Bulgaria, near the town of Provadia a walled fortified settlement today called Solnitsata starting from 4700 BC had a diameter of about 300 feet (100 meters), was home to 350 people living in two-storey houses, and was encircled by a fortified wall. The huge walls around the settlement, which were built very tall and with stone blocks which are 6 feet (2 meters) high and 4.5 feet (1.5 meters) thick, make it one of the earliest walled settlements in Europe^[2][3] but it is younger than the walled town of Sesklo in Greece from 6800 BC.^[4][5] Uruk in ancient Sumer (Mesopotamia) is one of the world's oldest known walled cities. The Ancient Egyptians also built fortresses on the frontiers of the Nile Valley to protect against invaders from neighbouring territories. Many of the fortifications of the ancient world were built with mud brick, often leaving them no more than mounds of dirt for today's archaeologists.

A model of the prehistoric town of Los Millares 3000 BC Spain, with its walls.

Artists impression of the battlements at Buhen fortress in Egypt about 1800BC

A massive prehistoric stone wall surrounded the ancient temple of Ness of Brodgar 3200 BC in Scotland. Named the "Great Wall of Brodgar" it was four metres thick and four metres tall. The wall had some symbolic or ritualistic function.^[6][7] The Assyrians deployed large labour forces to build new palaces, temples and defensive walls.^[8]

Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were also fortified. By about 3500 BC, hundreds of small farming villages dotted the Indus floodplain. Many of these settlements had fortifications and planned streets. The stone and mud brick houses of Kot Diji were clustered behind massive stone flood dykes and defensive walls, for neighbouring communities bickered constantly about the control of prime agricultural land.^[9] Mundigak (c. 2500 BC) in present-day south-east Afghanistan has defensive walls and square bastions of sun dried bricks.^[10]

In Bronze Age Malta, some settlements also began to be fortified. The most notable surviving example is Borġ in-Nadur, where a bastion built in around 1500 BC was found.

Model of Ishtar Gate and part of the walls of Babylon built by Nebuchadnezzar

Babylon was one of the most famous cities of the ancient world, especially as a result of the building program of Nebuchadnezzar, who expanded the walls and built the Ishtar Gate.

Exceptions were few—notably, ancient Sparta and ancient Rome did not have walls for a long time, choosing to rely on their militaries for defence instead. Initially, these fortifications were simple constructions of wood and earth, which were later replaced by mixed constructions of stones piled on top of each other without mortar.

The Lion Gate at Mycenae, Greece (1600 BC)

In ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae (famous for the huge stone blocks of its 'cyclopean' walls). In classical era Greece, the city of Athens built two parallel stone walls, called the Long Walls, that reached their fortified seaport at Piraeus a few miles away.

Heuneburg, a Celtic fort in Germany 600 BC, with mudbrick walls

In Central Europe, the Celts built large fortified settlements known as oppida, whose walls seem partially influenced by those built in the Mediterranean. The fortifications were continuously being expanded and improved. Around 600 BC, in Heuneburg, Germany, forts were constructed with a limestone foundation supported by a mudbrick wall approximately 4 metres tall, probably topped by a roofed walkway, thus reaching a total height of 6 metres. The wall was clad with lime plaster, regularly renewed. Towers protruded outwards from it.^[11][12]

Oppidum of Manching Germany 200 BC with its 7.2 km walls

The Oppidum of Manching (German: Oppidum von Manching) was a large Celtic proto-urban or city-like settlement at modern-day Manching (near Ingolstadt), Bavaria (Germany). The settlement was founded in the 3rd century BC and existed until c. 50-30 BC. It reached its largest extent during the late La Tène period (late 2nd century BC), when it had a size of 380 hectares. At that time, 5,000 to 10,000 people lived within its 7.2 km long walls.

Aurelian Walls Rome, with up to 16 meters tall walls

The Aurelian Walls (Italian: Mura aureliane) are a line of city walls built between 271 AD and 275 AD in Rome, Italy, during the reign of the Roman Emperors Aurelian and Probus. The walls enclosed all the seven hills of Rome plus the Campus Martius and, on the right bank of the Tiber, the Trastevere district. The river banks within the city limits appear to have been left unfortified, although they were fortified along the Campus Martius. The full circuit ran for 19 kilometres (12 mi) surrounding an area of 13.7 square kilometres (5.3 sq mi). The walls were constructed in brick-faced concrete, 3.5 metres (11 ft) thick and 8 metres (26 ft) high, with a square tower every 100 Roman feet (29.6 metres (97 ft)). In the 5th century, remodelling doubled the height of the walls to 16 metres (52 ft). By 500 AD, the circuit possessed 383 towers, 7,020 crenellations, 18 main gates, 5 postern gates, 116 latrines, and 2,066 large external windows.^[13]

The Romans fortified their cities with massive, mortar-bound stone walls. The most famous of these are the largely extant Aurelian Walls of Rome and the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople, together with partial remains elsewhere. These are mostly city gates, like the Porta Nigra in Trier or Newport Arch in Lincoln. Hadrian's Wall was built by the Roman Empire across the width of what is now northern England following a visit by Roman Emperor Hadrian (AD 76–138) in AD 122.

China

The Great Wall of China.

Large tempered earth (i.e. rammed earth) walls were built in ancient China since the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600-1050 BC); the capital at ancient Ao had enormous walls built in this fashion (see siege for more info). Although stone walls were built in China during the Warring States (481-221 BC), mass conversion to stone architecture did not begin in earnest until the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). The Great Wall had been built since the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC), although its present form was mostly an engineering feat and remodelling of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD). The large walls of Pingyao serve as one example. Likewise, the famous walls of the Forbidden City in Beijing were established in the early 15th century by the Yongle Emperor.

Filipino

Idjang in Savidug Batanes, Philippines.

The defensive wall of Intramuros in Manila, Philippines.

Main Article: Ivatan people
Main Article: Architecture of the Philippines
The Ivatan people of the northern islands of Batanes often built fortifications to protect themselves during times of war. They built their so-called idjangs on hills and elevated areas.^[14] These fortifications were likened to European castles because of their purpose. Usually, the only entrance to the castles would be via a rope ladder that would only be lowered for the villagers and could be kept away when invaders arrived.

The Igorots built forts made of stone walls that averaged several meters in width and about two to three times the width in height around 2000 BC.^[15]

With the arrival of Muslim scholars from nearby Indonesia, the native Filipinos were introduced to the concept of the Kota or fort. The Muslim Filipinos of the south built strong fortresses called kota or moong to protect their communities. Usually, many of the occupants of these kotas are entire families rather than just warriors. Lords often had their own kotas to assert their right to rule, it served not only as a military installation but as a palace for the local Lord. It is said that at the height of the Maguindanao Sultanate's power, they blanketed the areas around Western Mindanao with Kotas and other fortifications to block the Spanish advance into the region. These kotas were usually made of stone and bamboo or other light materials and surrounded by trench networks. As a result, some of these kotas were burned easily of destroyed. With further Spanish campaigns in the region, the Sultanate was subdued and majority of Kotas dismantled or destroyed. Kotas were not only used by the Muslims as defense against Spaniards and other foreigners, renegades and rebels also built fortifications in defiance of other chiefs in the area.^[16] During the American occupation, rebels built strongholds and the Datus, Rajahs or Sultans often built and reinforced their kotas in a desperate bid to maintain rule over their subjects and their land.^[17] Many of these forts were also destroyed by American expeditions, as a result, very very few kotas still stand to this day. Notable Kotas:

• Kota Selurong: an outpost of the Bruneian Empire in Luzon, later became the City of Manila.
• Kuta Wato/Kota Bato: Literally translates to "stone fort" the first known stone fortification in the country, its ruins exist as the "Kutawato Cave Complex" ^[18]
• Kota Sug/Jolo: The capital and seat of the Sultanate of Sulu. When it was occupied by the Spaniards in the 1870s they converted the kota into the world's smallest walled city.

And during the Spanish Era, The Intramuros is the old walled city of Manila located along the southern bank of the Pasig River.^[19] The historic city was home to centuries-old churches, schools, convents, government buildings and residences, the best collection of Spanish colonial architecture before much of it was destroyed by the bombs of World War II. Of all the buildings within the 67-acre city, only one building, the San Agustin Church, survived the war.

Islamic

During Muhammad's era in Arabia, many tribes made use of fortifications. In the Battle of the Trench. The largely outnumbered defenders of Medina, mainly Muslims led by Islamic prophet Muhammad, dug a trench, which together with Medina's natural fortifications, rendered the confederate cavalry (consisting of horses and camels) useless, locking the two sides in a stalemate. Hoping to make several attacks at once, the confederates persuaded the Medina-allied Banu Qurayza to attack the city from the south. However, Muhammad's diplomacy derailed the negotiations, and broke up the confederacy against him. The well-organized defenders, the sinking of confederate morale, and poor weather conditions caused the siege to end in a fiasco.^[20]

During the Siege of Ta'if in January 630,^[21] Muhammad ordered his followers to attack enemies who fled from the Battle of Hunayn and sought refuge in the fortress of Taif.^[22]

Medieval Europe

Spiš Castle in Slovakia - one of the largest castles in Central Europe. An aerial photography documents its enlargement in the course of 11th - 17th centuries.

Genoese fortress in Sudak, Ukraine

Roman forts and hill forts were the main antecedents of castles in Europe, which emerged in the 9th century in the Carolingian Empire.

Rumelihisarı, İstanbul, Turkey

Narva castle and bastions (Estonia) from the 13th century and episode of Ivangorod stronghold (Russia) at left

The Early Middle Ages saw the creation of some towns built around castles. These cities were only rarely protected by simple stone walls and more usually by a combination of both walls and ditches. From the 12th century hundreds of settlements of all sizes were founded all across Europe, which very often obtained the right of fortification soon afterwards.

Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork: the world’s largest brick gothic castle, in Poland

The fortified city of Valença, Portugal as seen from across the Minho River (Portugal's northern border with Spain)

Table of Fortification, from the 1728 Cyclopaedia.

Austro-Hungarian Fort 31 Benedykt of Kraków fortress

Austro-Hungarian Fort I "Salis Soglio" of Przemyśl fortress

The founding of urban centres was an important means of territorial expansion and many cities, especially in eastern Europe, were founded precisely for this purpose during the period of Eastern Colonisation. These cities are easy to recognise due to their regular layout and large market spaces. The fortifications of these settlements were continuously improved to reflect the current level of military development.

During the Renaissance era, the Venetians raised great walls around cities threatened by the Ottoman Empire. The finest examples are, among others, in Nicosia (Cyprus) and Chania (Crete), which proved to be futile but still stand to this day.

Development after introduction of firearms

Medieval-style fortifications were largely made obsolete by the arrival of cannons on the 14th century battlefield. Fortifications in the age of black powder evolved into much lower structures with greater use of ditches and earth ramparts that would absorb and disperse the energy of cannon fire. Walls exposed to direct cannon fire were very vulnerable, so were sunk into ditches fronted by earth slopes.

This placed a heavy emphasis on the geometry of the fortification to allow defensive cannonry interlocking fields of fire to cover all approaches to the lower and thus more vulnerable walls.

The evolution of this new style of fortification can be seen in transitional forts such as Sarzanello^[23] in North West Italy which was built between 1492 and 1502. Sarzanello consists of both crenellated walls with towers typical of the medieval period but also has a ravelin like angular gun platform screening one of the curtain walls which is protected from flanking fire from the towers of the main part of the fort. Another example are the fortifications of Rhodes which were frozen at 1522 so that Rhodes is the only European walled town that still shows the transition between the classical medieval fortification and the modern ones.^[24]

Fortifications also extended in depth, with protected batteries for defensive cannonry, to allow them to engage attacking cannon to keep them at a distance and prevent them bearing directly on the vulnerable walls.

The result was star shaped fortifications with tier upon tier of hornworks and bastions, of which Fort Bourtange is an excellent example. There are also extensive fortifications from this era in the Nordic states and in Britain, the fortifications of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the harbour archipelago of Suomenlinna at Helsinki being fine examples.

19th century

The arrival of explosive shells in the 19th century led to yet another stage in the evolution of fortification. Star forts did not fare well against the effects of high explosive and the intricate arrangements of bastions, flanking batteries and the carefully constructed lines of fire for the defending cannon could be rapidly disrupted by explosive shells.

Worse, the large open ditches surrounding forts of this type were an integral part of the defensive scheme, as was the covered way at the edge of the counter scarp. The ditch was extremely vulnerable to bombardment with explosive shells.

In response, military engineers evolved the polygonal style of fortification. The ditch became deep and vertically sided, cut directly into the native rock or soil, laid out as a series of straight lines creating the central fortified area that gives this style of fortification its name.

Wide enough to be an impassable barrier for attacking troops, but narrow enough to be a difficult target for enemy shellfire, the ditch was swept by fire from defensive blockhouses set in the ditch as well as firing positions cut into the outer face of the ditch itself.

The profile of the fort became very low indeed, surrounded outside the ditch covered by caponiers by a gently sloping open area so as to eliminate possible cover for enemy forces, while the fort itself provided a minimal target for enemy fire. The entrypoint became a sunken gatehouse in the inner face of the ditch, reached by a curving ramp that gave access to the gate via a rolling bridge that could be withdrawn into the gatehouse.

Much of the fort moved underground. Deep passages and tunnels now connected the blockhouses and firing points in the ditch to the fort proper, with magazines and machine rooms deep under the surface.

The guns, however, were often mounted in open emplacements and protected only by a parapet; both in order to keep a lower profile and also because experience with guns in closed casemates had seen them put out of action by rubble as their own casemates were collapsed around them.

Gone were citadels surrounding towns: forts were to be moved to the outside of the cities some 12 km to keep the enemy at a distance so their artillery could not bombard the city center. From now on a ring of forts were to be built at a spacing that would allow them to effectively cover the intervals between them.

The new forts abandoned the principle of the bastion, which had also been made obsolete by advances in arms. The outline was a much simplified polygon, surrounded by a ditch. These forts, built in masonry and shaped stone, were designed to shelter their garrison against bombardment. One organizing feature of the new system involved the construction of two defensive curtains: an outer line of forts, backed by an inner ring or line at critical points of terrain or junctions (see, for example, Séré de Rivières system in France).

Entry, Fort d'Uxegney

Traditional fortification however continued to be applied by European armies engaged in warfare in colonies established in Africa against lightly armed attackers from amongst the indigenous population. A relatively small number of defenders in a fort impervious to primitive weaponry could hold out against high odds, the only constraint being the supply of ammunition.

20th and 21st centuries

Aerial photograph, Fort de Douaumont, Verdun (1916).

St. David's Battery, housing coastal artillery in Bermuda, was placed below ground level, except its guns, obscuring it from view and protecting it from return fire. Defending against landward attack was not a consideration, consequently the rear of the battery is exposed, and there is no defensive wall or ditch.

Steel-and-concrete fortifications were common during the 19th and early 20th centuries. However the advances in modern warfare since World War I have made large-scale fortifications obsolete in most situations. In the 1930s and 1940s, some fortifications were built with designs taking into consideration the new threat of aerial warfare, for example Fort Campbell in Malta.^[25] Despite this, only underground bunkers are still able to provide some protection in modern wars. Many historical fortifications were demolished during the modern age, but a considerable number survive as popular tourist destinations and prominent local landmarks today.

Dragon's teeth—tank traps in the Eifel

The downfall of permanent fortifications had two causes:

• The ever escalating power, speed, and reach of artillery and air power meant that almost any target that could be located could be destroyed, if sufficient force were massed against it. As such, the more resources a defender devoted to reinforcing a fortification, the more combat power that fortification justified being devoted to destroying it, if the fortification's destruction was demanded by an attacker's strategy. From World War II, bunker busters were used against fortifications. By 1950, nuclear weapons were capable of destroying entire cities, and produced dangerous radiation. This led to the creation of civilian nuclear air raid shelters.
• The second weakness of permanent fortification was its very permanency. Because of this it was often easier to go around a fortification and, with the rise of mobile warfare in the beginning of World War II, this became a viable offensive choice. When a defensive line was too extensive to be entirely bypassed, massive offensive might could be massed against one part of the line allowing a breakthrough, after which the rest of the line could be bypassed. Such was the fate of the many defensive lines built before and during World War II, such as the Siegfried Line, the Stalin Line and the Atlantic Wall. This was not the case with the Maginot Line; it was designed to force the Germans to invade other countries (Belgium or Switzerland) to go around it, and was successful in that sense.^[26]

Bunkers in Albania^[27]

Instead field fortification rose to dominate defensive action. Unlike the trench warfare which dominated World War I, these defences were more temporary in nature. This was an advantage because since it was less extensive it formed a less obvious target for enemy force to be directed against.

If sufficient power were massed against one point to penetrate it, the forces based there could be withdrawn and the line could be re-established relatively quickly. Instead of a supposedly impenetrable defensive line, such fortifications emphasized defence in depth, so that as defenders were forced to pull back or were overrun, the lines of defenders behind them could take over the defence.

Because the mobile offensives practised by both sides usually focused on avoiding the strongest points of a defensive line, these defences were usually relatively thin and spread along the length of a line. The defence was usually not equally strong throughout however.

The strength of the defensive line in an area varied according to how rapidly an attacking force could progress in the terrain that was being defended—both the terrain the defensive line was built on and the ground behind it that an attacker might hope to break out into. This was both for reasons of the strategic value of the ground, and its defensive value.

This was possible because while offensive tactics were focused on mobility, so were defensive tactics. The dug in defences consisted primarily of infantry and antitank guns. Defending tanks and tank destroyers would be concentrated in mobile "Fire Brigades" behind the defensive line. If a major offensive was launched against a point in the line, mobile reinforcements would be sent to reinforce that part of the line that was in danger of failing.

Thus the defensive line could be relatively thin because the bulk of the fighting power of the defenders was not concentrated in the line itself but rather in the mobile reserves. A notable exception to this rule was seen in the defensive lines at the Battle of Kursk during World War II, where German forces deliberately attacked into the strongest part of the Soviet defences seeking to crush them utterly.

The terrain that was being defended was of primary importance because open terrain that tanks could move over quickly made possible rapid advances into the defenders' rear areas that were very dangerous to the defenders. Thus such terrain had to be defended at all cost.

In addition, since in theory the defensive line only had to hold out long enough for mobile reserves to reinforce it, terrain that did not permit rapid advance could be held more weakly because the enemy's advance into it would be slower, giving the defenders more time to reinforce that point in the line. For example, the battle of the Hurtgen Forest in Germany during the closing stages of World War II is an excellent example of how difficult terrain could be used to the defenders' advantage.

After World War II, ICBMs capable of reaching much of the way around the world were developed, and so speed became an essential characteristic of the strongest militaries and defenses. Missile silos were developed, so missiles could be fired from the middle of a country and hit cities and targets in another country, and airplanes (and air carriers) became major defenses and offensive weapons (leading to an expansion of the use of airports and airstrips as fortifications). Mobile defenses could be had underwater, too, in the form of nuclear submarines capable of firing missiles. Some bunkers in the mid to late 20th century came to be buried deep inside mountains and prominent rocks, such as Gibraltar and the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. On the ground itself, minefields have been used as hidden defences in modern warfare, often remaining long after the wars that have produced them have ended.

Demilitarized zones along borders are arguably another type of fortification, although a passive kind, providing a buffer between potentially hostile militaries.

Counter-insurgency

Just as in colonial periods, comparatively obsolete fortifications are still used for low-intensity conflicts. Such fortifications range in size from small patrol bases or forward operating bases up to huge airbases such as Camp Bastion/Leatherneck in Afghanistan. Much like in the 18th and 19th century, because the enemy is not a powerful military force with the heavy weaponry required to destroy fortifications, walls of gabion, sandbag or even simple mud can provide protection against small arms and anti-tank weapons - although such fortifications are still vulnerable to mortar and artillery fire.

Forts

Engineers fill Hesco bastions at a forward operating base in Afghanistan.

Forts in modern usage often refer to space set aside by governments for a permanent military facility; these often do not have any actual fortifications, and can have specializations (military barracks, administration, medical facilities, or intelligence). In the United States usage, forts specifically refer to US Army bases; US Marine Corps bases are referred to as camps.

However, there are some modern fortifications that are referred to as forts. These are typically small semi permanent fortifications. In urban combat they are built by upgrading existing structures such as houses or public buildings. In field warfare they are often log, sandbag or gabion type construction.

Such forts are typically only used in low level conflict, such as counterinsurgency conflicts or very low level conventional conflicts, such as the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation, which saw the use of log forts for use by forward platoons and companies. The reason for this is that static above ground forts can not survive modern direct or indirect fire weapons larger than mortars, RPGs and small arms.

North America

Fort Snelling on the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers, 1844. Image painted by John Caspar Wild (1804-1846).

In British North America, and subsequently in the frontiers of the United States, prior to the 20th century the term fort was increasingly used for any military base of operations regardless of how fortified it was. Military forts in the American Old West during the Indian Wars were often lightly fortified enclosures with log or adobe walls. In many areas the term fort was used to refer to any European or U.S. outpost, military, para-military, or civilian, that was located in an undeveloped region. Many of these outposts were simply trading posts or a combination of a trading post and an Army post.

Some famous U.S. military forts included Fort Laramie and Fort Bridger on the Emigrant Trail and Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River.

The most famous Canadian military fort is Fort York in Toronto, Ontario

India

Ranikot Fort in Sindh, one of the largest forts in the world.

India has more forts than any other country in the world, which were built in all periods between the late stone age and the British Raj. "Fort" is the word used in India for all old fortifications. India currently has over 180 forts, with the state of Maharashtra alone having over 70 forts, which are also known as durg,^[28] many of them built by Shivaji, founder of the Maratha state. Among all forts in India the most famous forts are the Red Fort at Delhi, the Red Fort at Agra, the Chittorgarh Fort in Rajasthan, the Ranthambhor Fort in Rajasthan and Gwalior Fort in Madhya Pradesh.^[29]

Prisons and others

Fortifications designed to keep the inhabitants of a facility in rather than out can also be found, in prisons, concentration camps, and other such facilities, with supermaxes having some of the strongest of those. Those are covered in other articles, as most prisons and concentration camps are not primarily military forts (although forts, camps, and garrison towns have been used as prisons and/or concentration camps; see Theresienstadt, Guantanamo Bay detention camp, and the Tower of London for examples).

See also

Captain John Smith's 1624 map of Bermuda, showing important sites, including the Castle Islands Fortifications.

The Kumbhalgarh Fort in Rajasthan, India. For more than three centuries, the fort remained impregnable.

The effect of thirty years evolution in the design of coastal fortifications, between the 1790s and 1822, can be discerned between Ferry Island Fort (in the foreground), with multiple guns arrayed to cover the water westward, and the Martello tower in the background, which used a single gun with 360° traverse to cover all of the surrounding area. Ferry Reach, Bermuda, 2011.

• Border fence
• Castra
• Citadel
• Coastal fortification
• Defensive wall
• Hesco bastion
• List of fortifications
• List of forts
• Military camp

Fort components

• Abatis
• Banquette
• Barbed wire, Razor wire, Wire entanglement, and Wire obstacle
• Bartizan
• Bastion
• Berm
• Caponier
• Casemate
• Curtain
• Czech hedgehog
• Defensive fighting position (aka a "foxhole")
• Ditch
• Embrasure
• Glacis
• Gun turret
• Keep
• Palisade
• Parapet
• Pillbox
• Postern
• Ravelin
• Revetment
• Sandbag
• Sangar
• Scarp and Counterscarp
• Turret
• Zwinger

Types of forts and fortification

• Blockhouse
• Bunker
• Castle
• Chinese city wall
• Compound
• Defensive wall
• Diaolou
• Fire support base
• Flak tower
• Fortress church or fortified church
• Grad, a Slavic wooden fortified settlement
• Hill fort
• Land battery
• Martello tower
• Medieval fortification
• Missile silo
• Pā a 19th-century Māori fortification
• Peel tower
• Planetary fortress
• Polygonal fort
• Promontory fort
• Redoubt
• Stockade
• Star fort

Fortification and siege warfare

• Medieval warfare
• Military engineering
• Military history
• Siege
• Siege engine

Famous experts

• Henri Alexis Brialmont
• César Cui
• Bernard de Gomme
• Francesco Laparelli
• Mozi
• Diades of Pella
• James of Saint George
• Fritz Todt
• Menno van Coehoorn
• Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban

Gallery

• 

  Ruins of an 1800-year-old Sialkot Fort bastion in Sialkot, Pakistan.

• 

  Remnants of the Slavic ring fortress Jaromarsburg at Cape Arkona (Rügen Island, Germany)

• 

  Klis Fortress in Croatia, built into the south face of a rocky mass. Lost and re-conquered several times over more than two thousand years.

• 

  St. Angelo Fort, Kannur, Kerala, India built by Portuguese in 1505.

• 

  Forte dos Reis Magos in Natal, Brazil, built in 1599.

• 

  Marienberg Fortress in Würzburg, Germany

• 

  View of Alamghiri Gate of Lahore Fort.

• 

  Fort St Angelo in Birgu, Malta

• 

  Petrovaradin Fortress "Gibraltar on the Danube" - Austrian fortress from the 18th century and one of the best preserved fortifications in Serbia.

• 

  Fortaleza de Santa Teresa - Fortress in Eastern Uruguay built in 1762 by Portugal, later occupied by Spain and finally by Uruguay garrisons alternatively.

• 

  Fortifications of Edinburgh Castle used the natural volcanic landscape to best advantage. Image painted by Alexander Nasmyth (~1780).

• 

  Fort Tigné in Sliema, Malta. It is one of the oldest polygonal forts in the world.

• 

  Aerial view of Mohammed Abdullah Hassan's main fort in Taleh, the capital of his Dervish State.

• 

  Rödberget fort, a part of the modern Boden Fortress in Sweden, seen from the north. The moat and the armored turrets are clearly visible.

Notes

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links

Look up fortification in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fortifications.

• Fortress Study Group
• MilitaryArchitecture.com