Flashcards on The Gunpowder Revolution in Warfare
The Gunpowder Revolution in Warfare: A Student's Guide
Tap to flip · Swipe to navigate
Fortifications
22 cards
Card 1
Question: By 1550 where had the new fortification style predominated?
Answer: In the Italian peninsula and along the Franco-Netherlands border.
Card 2
Question: How many miles of bastioned defences were constructed in the Netherlands between 1529 and 1572, and what did this include?
Answer: About 26 miles, including four citadels, twelve entirely new circuits of walls, and 18 substantially new circuits.
Card 3
Question: By 1610 how many artillery fortresses defended France's land frontier and along which stretch?
Answer: 53 artillery fortresses defended France's 600-mile land frontier between Calais and Marseilles.
Card 4
Question: Name three non-European regions or colonial outposts that had artillery fortresses by 1610.
Answer: Examples include Havana and Cartagena in the Caribbean; Mombasa, Diu, and Melaka around the Indian Ocean; and Manila, Macao, and Callao on the Pacific
Card 5
Question: What was the effect of bastioned fortifications on the pace and yield of campaigning (taking enemy strongpoints)?
Answer: Campaigns slowed: where bastions existed, only 1 or at most 2 fortresses could usually be taken, unlike earlier times when 70+ strongpoints could be s
Card 6
Question: What siegeworks were typically required to reduce an artillery fortress?
Answer: A double chain of siegeworks: a circumvallation facing the town and a contravallation to repel relief forces, maintained until surrender by starvation
Card 7
Question: According to Vauban, what besieger-to-defender ratio and minimum troop number were essential to successfully besiege an artillery fortress?
Answer: A ratio of 10 besiegers per defender, with a minimum of 20,000 men.
Card 8
Question: How did the proliferation of artillery fortresses affect the number of troops states had to commit to garrisons?
Answer: Multiple fortresses required many garrisons that cumulatively could tie down almost half of a state's forces.
Card 9
Question: Give an example of how many places the Spanish Army of Flanders planned to garrison in 1640 and how many soldiers that required.
Answer: They planned to garrison 208 places in the South Netherlands, which together accounted for 33,399 soldiers out of an envisaged army strength of 77,000
Card 10
Question: How many men did Louis XIV commit to manning France’s bastions in 1688 and how did that change by 1705?
Answer: About 166,000 men in 221 strongholds in 1688, rising to 173,000 men in 297 fortresses by 1705.