User:Acroterion/Maubeuge

The Fortifications of Maubeuge comprise a set of defended positions spanning a period from the 17th century to the 20th century in and around Maubeuge, France. Maubeuge was for much of that time a strategic city on a traditional marching route between France and the Low Countries. The city was extensively fortified in the 17th century by Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, Louis XIV's foremost military engineer. Following France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, France embarked on the construction of the Séré de Rivières system of fortifications, including a ring of detached forts around Maubeuge at a distance calculated to prevent an enemy from using artillery against the city. These forts were attacked and captured at the opening of World War I and were partly rebuilt and reinforced in the inter-war period, in part under the Maginot Line construction program. They were again captured by German forces in the opening weeks of World War II.

Vauban
Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban extensively fortified the city, encircling the town in a deep star-shaped belt of walls and supporting positions.

Séré de Rivières
From 1878 France built six large forts and six intermediate batteries or positions in a ring around Maubeuge at the limit of range for artillery of that time. Unfortunately, the construction of the fortifications coincided with a radical increase in the range and efficacy of artillery, so that the new forts were obsolete as soon as they were built.

The shortcomings of the Séré de Rivières forts were understood in the time leading up to World War I, and the forts were augmented by an extensive system of field fortifications and batteries, reinforced with metal pickets and barbed wire.

Siege of Maubeuge