Defensive wall

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A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates for access to the city. [1] From ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements. Generally, these are referred to as city walls or town walls, although there were also walls, such as the Great Wall of China, Walls of Benin, Hadrian's Wall, Anastasian Wall, and the Atlantic Wall, which extended far beyond the borders of a city and were used to enclose regions or mark territorial boundaries. In mountainous terrain, defensive walls such as letzis were used in combination with castles to seal valleys from potential attack. Beyond their defensive utility, many walls also had important symbolic functions  representing the status and independence of the communities they embraced.

Contents

Existing ancient walls are almost always masonry structures, although brick and timber-built variants are also known. Depending on the topography of the area surrounding the city or the settlement the wall is intended to protect, elements of the terrain such as rivers or coastlines may be incorporated in order to make the wall more effective.

Walls may only be crossed by entering the appropriate city gate and are often supplemented with towers. The practice of building these massive walls, though having its origins in prehistory, was refined during the rise of city-states, and energetic wall-building continued into the medieval period and beyond in certain parts of Europe.

Simpler defensive walls of earth or stone, thrown up around hillforts, ringworks, early castles and the like, tend to be referred to as ramparts or banks.

History

9th century BC relief of an Assyrian attack on a walled town Assyrian Attack on a Town.jpg
9th century BC relief of an Assyrian attack on a walled town
The lakeside wall of the Yueyang Tower, Yuan dynasty Yuan Yi Ming Fang Xia Yong Lu Dong Bin Guo Yue Yang Lou Ce Ye -The Immortal Lu Dongbin Appearing over the Yueyang Pavilion MET DP153541.jpg
The lakeside wall of the Yueyang Tower, Yuan dynasty
Medieval defensive walls and towers in Szprotawa, Poland, made of field stone and bog iron Mury obronne Szprotawa.jpg
Medieval defensive walls and towers in Szprotawa, Poland, made of field stone and bog iron

Mesopotamia

From very early history to modern times, walls have been a near necessity for every city. Uruk in ancient Sumer (Mesopotamia) is one of the world's oldest known walled cities. Before that, the proto-city of Jericho in the West Bank had a wall surrounding it as early as the 8th millennium BC. The earliest known town wall in Europe is of Solnitsata, built in the 6th or 5th millennium BC.

The Assyrians deployed large labour forces to build new palaces, temples and defensive walls. [2]

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.

The Persians built defensive walls to protect their territories, notably the Derbent Wall and the Great Wall of Gorgan built on the either sides of the Caspian Sea against nomadic nations.

South Asia

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 neighboring communities quarreled constantly about the control of prime agricultural land. [3] Mundigak (c.2500 BC) in present-day south-east Afghanistan has defensive walls and square bastions of sun dried bricks. [4]

Southeast Asia

The concept of a city fully enclosed by walls was not fully developed in Southeast Asia until the arrival of Europeans. However, Burma serves an exception, as they had a longer tradition of fortified walled towns; towns in Burma had city walls by 1566. Besides that, Rangoon in 1755 had stockades made of teak logs on a ground rampart. The city was fortified with six city gates with each gate flanked by massive brick towers. [5] [6]

In other areas of Southeast Asia, city walls spread in the 16th and 17th century along with the rapid growth of cities in this period as a need to defend against European naval attack. Ayutthaya built its walls in 1550 and Banten, Jepara, Tuban and Surabaya all had theirs by 1600; while Makassar had theirs by 1634. A sea wall was the main defense for Gelgel. For cities that did not have city walls, the least it would have had was a stockaded citadel. This wooden walled area housed the royal citadel or aristocratic compounds such as in Surakarta and Aceh. [6]

China

Large rammed earth walls were built in ancient China since the Shang dynasty (c.1600–1050 BC), as 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). Sections of the Great Wall had been built prior to the Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and subsequently connected and fortified during the Qin dynasty, although its present form was mostly an engineering feat and remodeling of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644 AD). The large walls of Pingyao serve as one example. Likewise, the walls of the Forbidden City in Beijing were established in the early 15th century by the Yongle Emperor. According to Tonio Andrade, the immense thickness of Chinese city walls prevented larger cannons from being developed, since even industrial era artillery had trouble breaching Chinese walls. [7] [8]

Korea

Dangjin-myeoncheon-eupseong (Tang Jin Mian Chuan Yi Cheng ) dangjin myeonceoneubseong.jpg
Dangjin-myeoncheon-eupseong (唐津沔川邑城)

Eupseongs (Hangul: 읍성), 'city fortresses', which served both military and administrative functions, have been constructed since the time of Silla until the end of the Joseon dynasty. Throughout the period of the Joseon dynasty eupseongs were modified and renovated, and new eupseongs were built, but in 1910 Japan (the occupying power of Korea) issued an order for their demolition, resulting in most being destroyed. [10] Studies of the ruins [9] and reconstructions of the ancient city walls [11] are currently being undertaken at some sites.

Europe

The medieval Walls of Avila (Spain) are one of Europe's best preserved walls. Avila - Murallas, Paseo de la Ronda Vieja 02.JPG
The medieval Walls of Avila (Spain) are one of Europe's best preserved walls.

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 a long set of parallel stone walls called the Long Walls that reached their guarded seaport at Piraeus. Exceptions were few, but neither ancient Sparta nor ancient Rome had walls for a long time, choosing to rely on their militaries for defense 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 Romans later fortified their cities with massive, mortar-bound stone walls. Among 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.

In Central Europe, the Celts built large fortified settlements which the Romans called oppida, whose walls seem partially influenced by those built in the Mediterranean. The fortifications were continuously expanded and improved.

Apart from these, the early Middle Ages also 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 AD hundreds of settlements of all sizes were founded all across Europe, which very often obtained the right of fortification soon afterwards. Several medieval town walls have survived into the modern age, such as the walled towns of Austria, walls of Tallinn, or the town walls of York and Canterbury in England, as well as Nordlingen, Dinkelsbühl and Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Germany. In Spain, Avila and Tossa del Mar hosts surviving medieval walls while Lugo has an intact Roman wall.

The founding of urban centers was an important means of territorial expansion and many cities, especially in central and eastern Europe, were founded for this purpose during the period of Eastern settlement. 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.

Gunpowder era

Chinese city walls

Remains of a defensive wall of Prince Qin Mansion, a citadel within Xi'an Defensive Wall of Prince Qin Mansion 03 2016-01.jpg
Remains of a defensive wall of Prince Qin Mansion, a citadel within Xi'an
The Stone City is a wall in Nanjing dated to the Six Dynasties (220~589). Almost all of the original city is gone, but portions of the city wall remain. Not to be confused with the City Wall of Nanjing. Nanjing ShitouCheng.jpg
The Stone City is a wall in Nanjing dated to the Six Dynasties (220~589). Almost all of the original city is gone, but portions of the city wall remain. Not to be confused with the City Wall of Nanjing.

While gunpowder and cannons were invented in China, China never developed wall breaking artillery to the same extent as other parts of the world. Part of the reason is probably because Chinese walls were already highly resistant to artillery and discouraged increasing the size of cannons. [12] In the mid-twentieth century a European expert in fortification commented on their immensity: "in China … the principal towns are surrounded to the present day by walls so substantial, lofty, and formidable that the medieval fortifications of Europe are puny in comparison." [12] Chinese walls were thick. The eastern wall of Ancient Linzi, established in 859 BC, had a maximum thickness of 43 metres and an average thickness of 20–30 metres. [13] Ming prefectural and provincial capital walls were 10 to 20 metres (33 to 66 ft) thick at the base and 5 to 10 metres (16 to 33 ft) at the top.

In Europe the height of wall construction was reached under the Roman Empire, whose walls often reached 10 metres (33 ft) in height, the same as many Chinese city walls, but were only 1.5 to 2.5 metres (4 ft 11 in to 8 ft 2 in) thick. Rome's Servian Walls reached 3.6 and 4 metres (12 and 13 ft) in thickness and 6 to 10 metres (20 to 33 ft) in height. Other fortifications also reached these specifications across the empire, but all these paled in comparison to contemporary Chinese walls, which could reach a thickness of 20 metres (66 ft) at the base in extreme cases. Even the walls of Constantinople which have been described as "the most famous and complicated system of defence in the civilized world," [14] could not match up to a major Chinese city wall. [15] Had both the outer and inner walls of Constantinople been combined they would have only reached roughly a bit more than a third the width of a major wall in China. [15] According to Philo the width of a wall had to be 4.5 metres (15 ft) thick to be able to withstand ancient (non-gunpowder) siege engines. [16] European walls of the 1200s and 1300s could reach the Roman equivalents but rarely exceeded them in length, width, and height, remaining around 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) thick. When referring to a very thick wall in medieval Europe, what is usually meant is a wall of 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) in width, which would have been considered thin in a Chinese context. [17] There are some exceptions such as the Hillfort of Otzenhausen, a Celtic ringfort with a thickness of 40 metres (130 ft) in some parts, but Celtic fort-building practices died out in the early medieval period. [18] Andrade goes on to note that the walls of the marketplace of Chang'an were thicker than the walls of major European capitals. [17]

Aside from their immense size, Chinese walls were also structurally different from the ones built in medieval Europe. Whereas European walls were mostly constructed of stone interspersed with gravel or rubble filling and bonded by limestone mortar, Chinese walls had tamped earthen cores which absorbed the energy of artillery shots. [19] Walls were constructed using wooden frameworks which were filled with layers of earth tamped down to a highly compact state, and once that was completed the frameworks were removed for use in the next wall section. Starting from the Song dynasty these walls were improved with an outer layer of bricks or stone to prevent erosion, and during the Ming, earthworks were interspersed with stone and rubble. [19] Most Chinese walls were also sloped rather than vertical to better deflect projectile energy. [20]

The defensive response to cannon in Europe was to build relatively low and thick walls of packed earth, which could both withstand the force of cannon balls and support their own, defensive cannon. Chinese wall-building practice was, by happenstance, extremely resistant to all forms of battering. This held true into the twentieth century, when even modern explosive shells had some difficulty in breaking through tamped earth walls. [7]

Peter Lorge

The Chinese Wall Theory essentially rests on a cost benefit hypothesis, where the Ming recognized the highly resistant nature of their walls to structural damage, and could not imagine any affordable development of the guns available to them at the time to be capable of breaching said walls. Even as late as the 1490s a Florentine diplomat considered the French claim that "their artillery is capable of creating a breach in a wall of eight feet in thickness" [21] to be ridiculous and the French "braggarts by nature". [21] In fact twentieth century explosive shells had some difficulty creating a breach in tamped earthen walls. [7]

We fought our way to Nanking and joined in the attack on the enemy capital in December. It was our unit which stormed the Chunghua Gate. We attacked continuously for about a week, battering the brick and earth walls with artillery, but they never collapsed. The night of December 11, men in my unit breached the wall. The morning came with most of our unit still behind us, but we were beyond the wall. Behind the gate great heaps of sandbags were piled up. We 'cleared them away, removed the lock, and opened the gates, with a great creaking noise. We'd done it! We'd opened the fortress! All the enemy ran away, so we didn't take any fire. The residents too were gone. When we passed beyond the fortress wall we thought we had occupied this city. [22]

Nohara Teishin, on the Japanese capture of Nanjing in 1937

Bastions and star forts

17th-century map of the city of Palmanova, Italy, an example of a Venetian star fort Palmanova1600.jpg
17th-century map of the city of Palmanova, Italy, an example of a Venetian star fort
Chinese angled bastion fort, 1638 Shouyuquanshu 1638.jpg
Chinese angled bastion fort, 1638

As a response to gunpowder artillery, European fortifications began displaying architectural principles such as lower and thicker walls in the mid-1400s. [23] Cannon towers were built with artillery rooms where cannons could discharge fire from slits in the walls. However, this proved problematic as the slow rate of fire, reverberating concussions, and noxious fumes produced greatly hindered defenders. Gun towers also limited the size and number of cannon placements because the rooms could only be built so big. Notable surviving artillery towers include a seven layer defensive structure built in 1480 at Fougères in Brittany, and a four layer tower built in 1479 at Querfurth in Saxony. [24]

The star fort, also known as the bastion fort, trace italienne, or renaissance fortress, was a style of fortification that became popular in Europe during the 16th century. The bastion and star fort was developed in Italy, where the Florentine engineer Giuliano da Sangallo (1445–1516) compiled a comprehensive defensive plan using the geometric bastion and full trace italienne that became widespread in Europe. [25]

The main distinguishing features of the star fort were its angle bastions, each placed to support their neighbor with lethal crossfire, covering all angles, making them extremely difficult to engage with and attack. Angle bastions consisted of two faces and two flanks. Artillery positions positioned at the flanks could fire parallel into the opposite bastion's line of fire, thus providing two lines of cover fire against an armed assault on the wall, and preventing mining parties from finding refuge. Meanwhile, artillery positioned on the bastion platform could fire frontally from the two faces, also providing overlapping fire with the opposite bastion. [26] Overlapping mutually supporting defensive fire was the greatest advantage enjoyed by the star fort. As a result, sieges lasted longer and became more difficult affairs. By the 1530s the bastion fort had become the dominant defensive structure in Italy. [27]

Outside Europe, the star fort became an "engine of European expansion," [23] and acted as a force multiplier so that small European garrisons could hold out against numerically superior forces. Wherever star forts were erected the natives experienced great difficulty in uprooting European invaders. [23]

In China, Sun Yuanhua advocated for the construction of angled bastion forts in his Xifashenji so that their cannons could better support each other. The officials Han Yun and Han Lin noted that cannons on square forts could not support each side as well as bastion forts. Their efforts to construct bastion forts, and their results, were limited. Ma Weicheng built two bastion forts in his home county, which helped fend off a Qing incursion in 1638. By 1641, there were ten bastion forts in the county. Before bastion forts could spread any further, the Ming dynasty fell in 1644, and they were largely forgotten as the Qing dynasty was on the offensive most of the time and had no use for them. [28]

Decline

Multiple barbicans of Tongji Gate, Nanjing Tongji Gate of Nanjing city wall.jpeg
Multiple barbicans of Tongji Gate, Nanjing

In the wake of city growth and the ensuing change of defensive strategy, focusing more on the defense of forts around cities, many city walls were demolished. Also, the invention of gunpowder rendered walls less effective, as siege cannons could then be used to blast through walls, allowing armies to simply march through. Today, the presence of former city fortifications can often only be deduced from the presence of ditches, ring roads or parks.

Furthermore, some street names hint at the presence of fortifications in times past, for example when words such as "wall" or "glacis" occur.

In the 19th century, less emphasis was placed on preserving the fortifications for the sake of their architectural or historical value  on the one hand, complete fortifications were restored (Carcassonne), on the other hand many structures were demolished in an effort to modernize the cities. One exception to this is the "monument preservation" law by the Bavarian King Ludwig I of Bavaria, which led to the nearly complete preservation of many monuments such as the Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Nördlingen and Dinkelsbühl. The countless small fortified towns in the Franconia region were also preserved as a consequence of this edict.

Modern era

Walls and fortified wall structures were still built in the modern era. They did not, however, have the original purpose of being a structure able to resist a prolonged siege or bombardment. Modern examples of defensive walls include:

Additionally, in some countries, different embassies may be grouped together in a single "embassy district", enclosed by a fortified complex with walls and towers this usually occurs in regions where the embassies run a high risk of being target of attacks. An early example of such a compound was the Legation Quarter in Beijing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Most of these modern city walls are made of steel and concrete. Vertical concrete plates are put together so as to allow the least space in between them, and are rooted firmly in the ground. The top of the wall is often protruding and beset with barbed wire in order to make climbing them more difficult. These walls are usually built in straight lines and covered by watchtowers at the corners. Double walls with an interstitial "zone of fire", as the former Berlin Wall had, are now rare.

In September 2014, Ukraine announced the construction of the "European Rampart" alongside its border with Russia to be able to successfully apply for a visa-free movement with the European Union. [30]

Composition

A model of a typical Chinese city wall Chinese wall model.jpg
A model of a typical Chinese city wall

At its simplest, a defensive wall consists of a wall enclosure and its gates. For the most part, the top of the walls were accessible, with the outside of the walls having tall parapets with embrasures or merlons. North of the Alps, this passageway at the top of the walls occasionally had a roof.

In addition to this, many different enhancements were made over the course of the centuries:

The defensive towers of west and south European fortifications in the Middle Ages were often very regularly and uniformly constructed (cf. Ávila, Provins), whereas Central European city walls tend to show a variety of different styles. In these cases the gate and wall towers often reach up to considerable heights, and gates equipped with two towers on either side are much rarer. Apart from having a purely military and defensive purpose, towers also played a representative and artistic role in the conception of a fortified complex. The architecture of the city thus competed with that of the castle of the noblemen and city walls were often a manifestation of the pride of a particular city.

Urban areas outside the city walls, so-called Vorstädte, were often enclosed by their own set of walls and integrated into the defense of the city. These areas were often inhabited by the poorer population and held the "noxious trades". In many cities, a new wall was built once the city had grown outside of the old wall. This can often still be seen in the layout of the city, for example in Nördlingen, and sometimes even a few of the old gate towers are preserved, such as the white tower in Nuremberg. Additional constructions prevented the circumvention of the city, through which many important trade routes passed, thus ensuring that tolls were paid when the caravans passed through the city gates, and that the local market was visited by the trade caravans. Furthermore, additional signaling and observation towers were frequently built outside the city, and were sometimes fortified in a castle-like fashion. The border of the area of influence of the city was often partially or fully defended by elaborate ditches, walls and hedges. The crossing points were usually guarded by gates or gate houses. These defenses were regularly checked by riders, who often also served as the gate keepers. Long stretches of these defenses can still be seen to this day, and even some gates are still intact. To further protect their territory, rich cities also established castles in their area of influence. An example of this practice is the Romanian Bran Castle, which was intended to protect nearby Kronstadt (today's Braşov).

The city walls were often connected to the fortifications of hill castles via additional walls. Thus the defenses were made up of city and castle fortifications taken together. Several examples of this are preserved, for example in Germany Hirschhorn on the Neckar, Königsberg and Pappenheim, Franken, Burghausen in Oberbayern and many more. A few castles were more directly incorporated into the defensive strategy of the city (e.g. Nuremberg, Zons, Carcassonne), or the cities were directly outside the castle as a sort of "pre-castle" (Coucy-le-Chateau, Conwy and others). Larger cities often had multiple stewards  for example Augsburg was divided into a Reichstadt and a clerical city. These different parts were often separated by their own fortifications.

Dimensions of famous city walls

WallMax width (m)Minimum width (m)Max Height (m)Lowest Height (m)Length (km)
Aurelian Walls 3.516819
Ávila 3122.5
Baghdad 451230187
Beijing (inner)20121524
Beijing (outer)154.57628
Carcassonne 3863
Chang'an 16121226
Dubrovnik 61.5251.9
Forbidden City 8.66.68
Harar 53.5
Itchan Kala 65102
Jerusalem 2.5124
Khanbaliq 10.6
Linzi 4226
Luoyang 251112
Marrakech 2920
Nanjing 19.7572625.1
Nicaea 3.795
Pingyao 1231086
Seoul (Hanyang doseong)
Servian Wall 43.610611
Suwon (Hwaseong) 53.5
Suzhou 1157
Theodosian Walls (inner)5.25126
Theodosian Walls (outer)298.56
Vatican 2.583
Xi'an 18121214
Xiangyang 10.87.3
Zhongdu 1224

Africa

Americas

Asia

China

Europe

Roman

Archaeological Erbil Citadel wall

See also

Notes

  1. Caves, R. W. (2004). Encyclopedia of the City. Routledge. p. 756. ISBN   978-0415862875.
  2. Banister Fletcher's A History of Architecture By Banister Fletcher, Sir, Dan Cruickshank. Published 1996 Architectural Press. Architecture. 1696 pages. ISBN   0-7506-2267-9. p. 20.
  3. The Encyclopedia of World History: ancient, medieval, and modern, chronologically arranged By Peter N. Stearns, William Leonard Langer. Compiled by William L Langer. Published 2001 Houghton Mifflin Books. History / General History. ISBN   0-395-65237-5. p. 17.
  4. Banister Fletcher's A History of Architecture By Banister Fletcher, Sir, Dan Cruickshank. Published 1996 Architectural Press. Architecture. 1696 pages. ISBN   0-7506-2267-9. p. 100.
  5. Hla, U Kan (1978). "Traditional Town Planning in Burma". Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. 37 (2): 92, 97–98. doi:10.2307/989177. ISSN   0037-9808. JSTOR   989177.
  6. 1 2 Reid, Anthony (1993). "Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450–1680. Vol. 2: Expansion and Crisis". The Journal of Economic History. Yale University Press. 54 (4): 78, 84, 86–88. doi:10.1017/S0022050700015679. S2CID   154715462.
  7. 1 2 3 Lorge 2008, p. 43.
  8. Andrade 2016, p. 103.
  9. 1 2 "당진 Dangjin Myeoncheon-eupseong". encykorea.aks.ac.kr (in Korean). Retrieved 2023-08-10.
  10. "Eupseong 읍성(邑城)". encykorea.aks.ac.kr (in Korean). Retrieved 2023-08-10.
  11. 손대성 (2018-11-08). "경주읍성 일부·향일문 복원…2030년까지 정비 마무리 (Restoration of part of Gyeongju Eupseong and Hyangilmun Gate…Maintenance completed by 2030)". 연합뉴스 (in Korean). Retrieved 2023-08-10.
  12. 1 2 Andrade 2016, p. 96.
  13. Chang, Kwang-Chih; Xu, Pingfang; Lu, Liancheng; Pingfang, Xu; Wangping, Shao; Zhongpei, Zhang; Renxiang, Wang (January 2005). The Formation of Chinese Civilization: An Archaeological Perspective. Yale University Press. ISBN   0300093829.
  14. Andrade 2016, p. 92.
  15. 1 2 Andrade 2016, p. 97.
  16. Purton 2009, p. 363.
  17. 1 2 Andrade 2016, p. 98.
  18. Andrade 2016, p. 339.
  19. 1 2 Andrade 2016, p. 99.
  20. Andrade 2016, p. 100.
  21. 1 2 Andrade 2016, p. 101.
  22. Cook 2000, p. 32.
  23. 1 2 3 Andrade 2016, p. 211.
  24. Arnold 2001, p. 37.
  25. Nolan 2006, p. 67.
  26. Arnold 2001, p. 40.
  27. Arnold 2001, p. 45.
  28. Andrade 2016, p. 214.
  29. Davis, Julie Hirschfeld (25 January 2017). "Trump Orders Mexican Border Wall to Be Built and Plans to Block Syrian Refugees". The New York Times .
  30. "Yatseniuk: Project Wall to allow Ukraine to get visa-free regime with EU". Interfax-Ukraine.
  31. Seka Brkljača (1996). Urbano biće Bosne i Hercegovine (in Serbo-Croatian). Sarajevo: Međunarodni centar za mir, Institut za istoriju. p. 27. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  32. "The natural and architectural ensemble of Stolac". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 28 October 2021.

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A bastion fort or trace italienne is a fortification in a style that evolved during the early modern period of gunpowder when the cannon came to dominate the battlefield. It was first seen in the mid-fifteenth century in Italy. Some types, especially when combined with ravelins and other outworks, resembled the related star fort of the same era.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forts in India</span>

The existence of the earliest forts in India have been substantiated by documentation and excavation. In the medieval times, the architecture of the forts had both Hindu and Muslim influence. The forts constructed by the British initially opted for simple designs. The existing castles are continually modified and many of them are privately owned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinese city wall</span>

Chinese city walls refer to defensive walls built to protect important towns and cities in pre-modern China. In addition to walls, Chinese city defenses also included fortified towers and gates, as well as moats and ramparts around the walls.

Castles in Portugal were crucial components of the military throughout its history. The Portuguese learned the art of building fortifications from the Romans and the Moors. The Romans, who ruled and colonized the territory of current-day Portugal for more than four centuries, built forts with high walls and strong towers to defend their populations. The Moors, who invaded the Iberian Peninsula in the year 711 A.D., brought new stonework and heavily fortified gates to the peninsula.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curtain wall (fortification)</span> Defensive wall between two bastions of a fortification

A curtain wall is a defensive wall between fortified towers or bastions of a castle, fortress, or town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bridge castle</span>

A bridge castle is a type of castle that was built to provide military observation and security for a river crossing. In the narrower sense it refers to castles that are built directly on or next to a bridge. Sometimes, however, castles close to a bridge are referred to as bridge castles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fortifications of Rhodes</span> Historical fortifications of Greek city

The fortifications of the town of Rhodes are shaped like a defensive crescent around the medieval town and consist mostly of a fortification composed of a huge wall made of an embankment encased in stone, equipped with scarp, bastions, moat, counterscarp and glacis. The portion of fortifications facing the harbour is instead composed of a crenellated wall. On the moles, towers and defensive forts are found.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walls of Amsterdam</span> Series of historic walls built around the city of Amsterdam, Netherlands

The walls of Amsterdam were built in the Middle Ages to protect the city against attack. The Medieval walls were replaced with a series of bastions in the 17th century. In the 19th century, the walls were torn down and replaced with the Defence Line of Amsterdam, a fortification line which encircled Amsterdam at a distance from the city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fortifications of Gibraltar</span> Defensive military constructions at the Rock of Gibraltar

The Gibraltar peninsula, located at the far southern end of Iberia, has great strategic importance as a result of its position by the Strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. It has repeatedly been contested between European and North African powers and has endured fourteen sieges since it was first settled in the 11th century. The peninsula's occupants – Moors, Spanish, and British – have built successive layers of fortifications and defences including walls, bastions, casemates, gun batteries, magazines, tunnels and galleries. At their peak in 1865, the fortifications housed around 681 guns mounted in 110 batteries and positions, guarding all land and sea approaches to Gibraltar. The fortifications continued to be in military use until as late as the 1970s and by the time tunnelling ceased in the late 1960s, over 34 miles (55 km) of galleries had been dug in an area of only 2.6 square miles (6.7 km2).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Austrian walled towns</span> History of walled towns in Austria

The earliest Austrian walled towns started to appear in the late 11th century to the early 13th century. Their establishment was closely connected with the development of Austria as a march of the Holy Roman Empire and in particular by the Hohenstaufen emperors and their Marcher Lords, the Babenbergs. In present-day Austria, there are 106 towns or cities that were walled. The walls of Radstadt, Freiburg, Hainburg and Drosendorf survive almost intact, and Austria has some of the most impressive walled towns in Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roundel (fortification)</span> Form of medieval defensive structure

The roundel is an artillery fortification with a rounded or circular plan of a similar height to the adjacent defensive walls. If the fortification is clearly higher than the walls it is called a battery tower.

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