View of the stronghold

In his concern to protect the frontiers of France, Vauban devised in 1678 a double line of fortified towns extending from Dunkerque to Metz (the fronti�re de fer) and around the perimeter of the kingdom: south to Entrevaux and Antibes, along the south coast to Perpignan and up to Camaret along the Bay of Biscay. This was the first time that France’s defences had been treated as a whole. The addition of a citadel built at some distance from the town - Arras (Pas-de-Calais; 1668), Besan�on (Doubs; 1674–87) and Strasbourg (1681) - involved the creation of new districts, hence towns modernized by Vauban tended to expand in order to embrace all their defences within the same bastioned wall-line. An esplanade, where construction was prohibited, divided the citadel from the urban sector.

Vauban created nine complete fortified towns for the defence of the French frontier. Of these, there remain today Sarrelouis (Sarre, Germany; 1680), Huningue (Haut-Rhin; 1679), Longwy (Meurthe-et-Moselle; 1679), Phalsbourg (Haut-Rhin; 1679), Neuf-Brisach (Bas-Rhin; 1698), Mont-Dauphin (Hautes-Alpes, south of Brian�on; 1692) and Mont-Louis (south-west of Perpignan; 1681).

The photo shows the stronghold built by Vauban at Mont-Dauphin.