History
article | Reading time5 min
Meet the Marquis de Vauban, a tireless traveller and renowned military strategist who left his mark on his era!
From military leader to engineer
Sébastien Le Prestre, Marquis de Vauban, was born in 1633 in Saint-Léger-de-Foucheret, into the lower nobility of Burgundy.
At the age of 17, he joined the Prince de Condé's regiment, which led the Fronde against Cardinal Mazarin and the regent Anne of Austria. In 1653, Vauban was taken prisoner and entered the service of Louis XIV. He remained there for 53 years!
At the age of 22, he obtained his brevet d'ingénieur ordinaire du roi (King's Ordinary Engineer's Licence)and, drawing on his military experience in the field, studied attack methods and developed a 12-stage method for laying siege to strongholds. This work was published thirty years after his death in the Traité d'attaque des places.
Vauban also improved fortifications by advocating adapting them to the terrain and staggering the defence in depth.
Philippe Berthé - Centre des monuments nationaux
A humanist before his time
Vauban was not only a fortifier, but also a city seizer. He knew that no stronghold was impregnable. However, it should be used as little as possible, as its role was above all to act as a deterrent.
After the sieges of Tournai, Douai and Lille, which confirmed the engineer's reputation, Louis XIV commissioned him to build the citadel of Lille, known as "the queen of citadels".
From 1668, Vauban was in competition with the Chevalier de Clerville. It was a battle for influence between two of the king's ministers: Louvois, Vauban's protector, at War, and Colbert, Clerville's protector, at the Navy.
At the time, Vauban was only working on the fortifications in Louvois's department, i.e. land fortifications. In 1673, he persuaded Louis XIV to set up his "pré carré" on the north-eastern border: the aim was to create a double line of fortified towns by reducing their number and keeping only the strongest.
Philippe Berthé - Centre des monuments nationaux
General Commissioner for Fortifications
In 1678, on the death of the Chevalier de Clerville, Vauban became Commissaire général aux fortifications du royaume (General Commissioner for the kingdom's fortifications), overseeing and deciding on all fortification projects. In the service of Louis XIV, he consolidated the protection of the kingdom, starting with the borders of Flanders and Alsace.
He travelled the equivalent of 4,000 kilometres a year, either to conduct sieges or to design fortifications. His extensive travels made Vauban one of the greatest travellers of Louis XIV's time.
Considering each project to be unique because of its interdependence with its context, Vauban always refused to write a treatise on fortifications, so much in demand by the king.In 1703, Louis XIV made him Marshal of France for his services to the kingdom.
Vauban died in Paris in 1707, aged 74. His body was buried in the parish church of Bazoches. In 1808, his heart was transferred to the Invalides church in Paris.
Between 1653 and 1703, Vauban took part in 48 sieges, redesigned 130 strongholds, built around thirty strongholds from scratch and left around thirty plans, which were implemented after his death.
Pascal Lemaître - Centre des monuments nationaux
