SÉBASTIEN LE PRESTRE, MARQUIS DE VAUBAN

THE INFLUENTIAL MILITARY ENGINEER WHO REDEFINED SIEGE WARFARE 1633-1707 FRANCE

Born into a minor noble family in Burgundy, Vauban walked to join the regiment of the Grand Condé of France aged 17. His engineering skills were recognised, and Vauban began a long career directing sieges for Louis XIV and constructed highly advanced fortifications. The War of the Grand Alliance was only one of several fruitful periods in Vauban’s military career, but it included several innovations. Promoted to lieutenant general in 1688, Vauban introduced ricochet gunfire that allowed a cannonball to bounce over parapets and hit several objects before its force was spent. He also invented and advocated the use of the socket bayonet, which did not need to be removed when firing a musket. Vauban’s victories included the Siege of Mons and the first Siege of Namur in the presence of Louis XIV, and he commanded an infantry division at the Siege of Charleroi.

The prodigious engineer concluded the war with his siege ‘masterpiece’ victory at Ath in 1697.

Vauban’s 12 groups of fortified buildings and sites along the coast and borders of France are now listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites