Following the advice of engineers such as Vauban, Louis XIV favored siege warfare over pitched battles and mobile warfare. According to Vauban sieges were more controlled than battles, whose outcome often depended in no small measure on chance. War thus came to be viewed increasingly as a question of arithmetic, and Vauban was accordingly able to develop precisely calculated methods for capturing fortified places.
Sieges resembled chess games in which, by gradually capturing fortifications by means of day-by-day assaults, the goal was to increase pressure on the besieged forces until they surrendered. Vauban believed that no city was truly impregnable; what mattered was time. If a siege lasted too long, relief armies could be summoned to break it.
Vauban devised techniques to hasten capture for attackers and to prolong resistance for defenders. Defenders aimed to avoid storming assaults, which usually meant the loss of all bargaining power. However, the growing number of fortifications outside city walls during the 17th century made assaults increasingly difficult to organise. Despite this, the musketeers were successful in storming Valenciennes in 1677, much to everyone’s surprise.
Under Louis XIV musketeers became masters of city assaults and, although he disliked their reckless boldness, Vauban regularly used them for this purpose. Typically, a city surrendered the very day, or even hour, that followed a musketeer-led charge. Assaults during sieges were often led by small groups of a few hundred men attacking specific fortifications, a manoeuvre in which musketeers excelled here by virtue of their small numbers and their exceptional zeal.
The assault force usually consisted of three groups: at the center were placed grenadiers, elite soldiers chosen for their strength and experience; on the left, a detachment of the second musketeer company; and on the right, in the place of honour, a detachment of the first company. Musketeers covered the grenadiers as they crossed the glacis (an artificial defensive slope) under enemy fire to reach the fortress walls, throwing five-kilo bombs to clear the way. The musketeers then climbed the broken walls and attacked the defenders with swords drawn.
The fighting was often bloody: at Lille in 1667, for example, sixty musketeers led by d’Artagnan killed two hundred Spanish soldiers in under ten minutes.
Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban 1633–1707
Born in Saint-Léger-de-Foucheret in Burgundy, Vauban joined the French army in 1651. He began his military career as a young soldier and quickly distinguished himself through his expertise in fortification and siege techniques. He participated in numerous campaigns in which he mastered the art of war, especially the siege and defense of fortresses. Vauban served in many military campaigns under Louis XIV, including the Dutch War and the War of the Spanish Succession. He took part in the capture of several cities and fortresses, including Maastricht and Luxembourg, and was appointed Chief Engineer of the Kingdom in 1678.
Vauban is best known for his innovations in fortification. He developed a system that strengthened fortresses while making their defense easier against enemy attacks. His designs, featuring bastions, ditches and ramparts, became models throughout Europe, earning him a reputation as one of the greatest military engineers of his time.
An Innovative Genius
Alongside his military achievements Vauban designed a series of citadels and fortifications that secured France’s borders, contributing to the expansion and consolidation of the French state. He also did much to modernize military science, advocating better military training and imprved artillery techniques.
Vauban’s ideas extended beyond military matters and, in his Memoir on Tax Reform and in his economic writings, he proposed social reforms such as land redistribution and the improvement of conditions for the peasantry, arguing for a fairer and less oppressive tax system.
Vauban died in 1707 at the age of seventy-four, leaving behind an impressive legacy. His career was marked by exceptional dedication to France’s defense and development, and his name remains synonymous with military genius and strategic vision.
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