Vauban

Sébastien Le Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban (May 15, 1633 - March 30, 1707), Marshal of France, was the foremost military engineer of his age, famed for both his ability to design fortifications and to break through them.

He was born in Saint-Léger-de-Foucheret (renamed Saint Léger Vauban in his honor), in the département of Yonne, in Burgundy, France, into a family of minor nobility.

Between 1667 to 1707, Vauban upgraded the fortifications of around 300 cities, including:

• Arras
• Belfort
• Briançon
• Brisach
• Landau
• Lille
• Maubeuge
• Sarrelouis

He built 37 new fortresses, and fortified military harbors, including:

• Toulon
• Perpignan
• Rochefort
• Brest
• Dunkerque
• Quebec (La Citadelle)

He died in Paris, of an inflammation of the lungs.

Works

• De l'attaque et de la défense des places ("On Siege and Fortification") (1737, many reprints since).
• A Manual of Siegecraft and Fortification, transl. George A. Rothrock, (Ann Arbor, 1968).

External Link

• Marshal Vauban Homepage (much detail)