Marshal Vauban: Louis XIV's Engineer Genius

by James Falkner

Overview

“[A] vivid and well written account of the life of the man who built some of the most magnificent military structures known to man.”—Clayton Donnell, “Fortress Archaeologist”
 
Sebastien Le Prestre, Marshal Vauban, was one of the greatest military engineers of all time. His complex, highly sophisticated fortress designs, his advanced theories for the defense and attack of fortified places, and his prolific work as a writer and radical thinker on military and social affairs, mark him out as one of the most influential military minds of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Yet no recent study of this extraordinary man has been published in English.
 
James Falkner, in this perceptive and lively new account of Vauban’s life and work, follows his career as a soldier from a dashing and brave young cavalry officer to his emergence as a masterful military engineer. And he shows that Vauban was much more than simply a superlative builder of fortresses, for as a leading military commander serving Louis XIV, he perfected a method for attacking fortifications in the most effective way, which became standard practice until the present day. Falkner’s new study will add significantly to the understanding of Vauban’s achievements and the impact his work has had on the history of warfare.
 
“A very enjoyable read for those looking for a good, basic account of Vauban’s career and his role in the wars of Louis XIV and of fortification more generally. Its usefulness is enhanced by various maps and reproductions of portraits of key characters and of contemporary plans of fortresses.”—War in History

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781783031337
Publisher:	Pen & Sword Books Limited
Publication date:	01/31/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

James Falkner is a leading authority on eighteenth-century warfare and he has made a special study of the military exploits of the 1st Duke of Marlborough. His book, Great and Glorious Days: Marlborough's Battles 1704-1709, is one of the outstanding studies of the subject. His other books include Blenheim 1704, Ramillies 1706, Marlborough Goes to War: Eyewitness Accounts 1702-1713, Marlborough's Sieges, Marlborough's Battlefields, Fire Over the Rock: The Great Siege of Gibraltar 1779-1783, Marshal Vauban and the Defence of Louis XIVs France, Marlboroughs War Machine and The War of the Spanish Succession, 1701-1714.

Table of Contents

List of Maps and Illustrations vi

List of Plates vii

Introduction 1

1 Fence of Iron 10

2 Siege Warfare 21

3 A Typical Country Squire 46

4 The War of Devolution 59

5 War with the Dutch 71

6 An End to Glory 97

7 Nine Years War 113

8 The Long Campaign 150

9 The Greatest of His Services 170

10 Engraved on the Soil 182

Appendix I Vauban's Siege Operations 195

Appendix II Vauban's Fortresses 197

Appendix III Vauban's Idle Thoughts 201

Appendix IV Glossary of Siege Terms 202

Notes 205

Bibliography 217

Index 221