Fortress : A History of Military Defense

Bought with Hogg’s Artillery as part of a pair, Fortress is a far further ranging book, covering the history of defensible spaces from the Iron Age to the 1970s. Hogg synthesizes for a popular audience a diverse topic. This book is euro centric. The Iron Age is treated stylistically between Celtic earthworks and the Roman limnes. Castles get chapters on Norman, Spanish, German, and Crusader forms. Hogg really comes into his own with the transition to gunpowder weapons, and the rise of the European star fort from the trace italienne to Vauban’s forts. Hogg has a keen eye for the difference between the idealized perfect geometries of interlocking enfilading fire prescribed by various systems, and the practical matter of sticking some bastions on a hill and calling it good. Post 1850, things get rather interesting with the return of masonry structures of various sorts, which command fire superiority through hardened gun emplacements, culminating in the technological masterpiece of the Maginot line. Of course, most fortifications are field fortifications, from the trenches of WW1 to the firebases of Vietnam.

The art in this book is a treat, with photos of forts supplemented by drawings. A smidge less good than the other book I read, but still a great general history.