THE KING AND HIS FORTRESSES

Grzegorz Podruczny Helion & Company (2024) £35.00 388 pages (softback) ISBN:9781804514351 www.helion.co.uk

Number 127 in Helion’s

From Reason to Revolution 1721-1815 series is subtitled Frederick the Great and Prussian Permanent Fortifications 1740-1786. It is a translation of the author’s post-doctoral work presented at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan in 2014.

A five-page Glossary appears before the first chapter. Even readers familiar with the late Professor Christopher Duffy’s excellent book on fortresses and siege warfare, Fire and Stone, recently republished by Helion, will find many additional technical terms explained here.

The Prussian State During the Reign of Frederick the Great commences with a brief history of Prussia up to 1740, then offers an overview of the wars waged by him, gives a brief description of the Prussian economy and society, and ends by describing the army. Wargamers who have already read Duffy’s books on the army of Frederick the Great may choose to skip this chapter.

Eighteenth Century Defensive Architecture, focuses on Vauban’s influence upon fortress design and siegecraft, but also describes the ideas of his successors, Louis de Cormontaigne and Marc Rene de Montalembert, and those of Dutch engineer Menno van Coehoorn. Again, those who have read Fire and Stone will find little they do not already know.

The real value of this book lies in the remaining chapters. Prussian Defensive Architecture Before 1740 explains that though Frederick inherited thirteen fortresses and a dozen fortified places, only a few of these were modern structures.

Frederick the Great’s Experience of Fortress Warfare describes his Education in Fortification; Peacetime Siege Exercises and Experiments; and Siege Warfare provides accounts of the