We can find bastioned fortifications all over the world, built up to the 19th century, that were supposedly influenced by those Vauban designed along France’s borders. But Vauban himself always refused to theorize on his empiric practice – except for his method of relentless attack, which he codified for three centuries. Indeed, a close look at those fortifications indicates that their lineage with Vauban is generally not obvious, the culture of warfare in Europe of the Enlightenment being a shared culture.
We may thus wonder what models and paths of influence exist: The shapes and geometric outlines ? The fact that engineers trained in the Vauban school – or simply the French school – had scattered around the world ? The circulation of treaties, or even diplomatic relations ?
By publishing the proceedings of this seminar, the Vauban Network contributes to this international scientific debate, so as to suggest some responses and thereby hold out its hand to the world’s fortresses.
They contributed to this work : Michèle Virol, Nicolas Faucherre, Philippe Bragard, Alain Monferrand, Nicolaï Kopanev, Francisca Munoz Espejo, Pierre Cloutier, Philippe Prost, Victoria Sanger, Gilles-Antoine Langlois, Stephen Spiteri, Hermann Bonnici, Bernard Cros, Daria Shemelina, Tsutomu Takashima.
Format 26,1 x 21 cm, 178 p. couleur, français, 22€. Édité par les Amis de la Citadelle de Namur, ISBN 978-2-9538891-2-3 (France) - 978-2-87551-054-9 (Belgique), mai 2014.

Publication réalisée grâce au soutien du Crédit agricole Nord de France