Earthworks in Warfare

At a glance:

A protection against enemy fire, formed of earth and used for both defensive and offensive maneuvers. Simple earthen breastworks were first erected in antiquity and continued in use into the twentieth century. Soil has also been used for creating more complex fortifications. In early medieval Europe, the motte, a conical earthen mound topped with a wooden tower and surrounded by a palisade, was the dominant defensive work. Even the more complex trace italienne, a low-lying fortification with angular bastions, which was the basis of Western fortresses between about 1500 and 1860, was...

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