Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2023 August 13

= August 13 =

Sources for tactics in the Napoleonic Wars?
Hello! What would be a good source of info about tactics used to attack and defend fortresses and cities in the Napoleonic Wars? Ideally, something shorter / more focused than a full history of the wars. For instance, I'm guessing pouring boiling oil on attackers storming the walls was no longer used at this point, but perhaps there was an updated equivalent? Etc. Thanks! -- EmIsCurious (talk) 05:49, 13 August 2023 (UTC)
 * Have you tried the Napoleonic tactics article? Or...
 * And sources therein. -- 136.54.106.120 (talk) 06:18, 13 August 2023 (UTC)
 * And sources therein. -- 136.54.106.120 (talk) 06:18, 13 August 2023 (UTC)
 * And sources therein. -- 136.54.106.120 (talk) 06:18, 13 August 2023 (UTC)


 * Also, star trace fortresses evolved during this period to adapt to the vulnerabilities of Ringforts in the gunpowder age (i.e. cannons). 136.54.106.120 (talk) 06:34, 13 August 2023 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure you mean "ringforts" which are prehistoric. Alansplodge (talk) 11:58, 13 August 2023 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I forgot where I got that, but Enceinte would be a better link since it was referring to medieval fortifications. 136.54.106.120 (talk) 01:35, 14 August 2023 (UTC)
 * Category:Sieges of the Napoleonic Wars may have more information and links. MinorProphet (talk) 08:02, 13 August 2023 (UTC)


 * The principles of fortification and siegecraft had not changed much since the late 17th-century when the French engineer, Vauban had perfected the principles for both building fortifications and defeating them. Vauban's bastion forts were designed to cover every approach with converging fields of fire, while each element of the fort was supported by fire from another part. In a siege, Vauban's method was to encircle the fortress with three or four concentric rings of entrenchments called "parallels", the final and closest one would site guns which would be able to clear the enemy ramparts and then make an opening or "breach" in the walls, which could then be assaulted by infantry. A brief description of Vauban's siege method is at Bastion system deficiencies (it was so successful that it led to the abandonment of the whole bastion system during the mid-19th century). A fuller description of Vauban's masterful Siege of Ath (1697) is here.


 * By Napoleon's time, the main difference was that the guns were more powerful, so everything had to be done at longer range. Also the time-honoured convention that once a breach had been made, the defenders could surrender and march away with their dignity intact, was done away with by Napoleon ordering his garrisons to fight to the finish, resulting in much bloody urban warfare once the attackers had entered the fortress - see Fortresses of the Peninsular War 1808–14 Alansplodge (talk) 11:58, 13 August 2023 (UTC)
 * You’ll find plenty of sources here. Hope this helps! Jankrapper$ (talk) 03:59, 15 August 2023 (UTC)

Lines of Torres Vedras contains information which may be of interest... AnonMoos (talk) 12:42, 13 August 2023 (UTC)