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MODERN FORTIFICATION AND WARFARE: GRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF THE SIEGE OF FUENTERRABIA (1638)
Abstract
Fuenterrabia, one of the most outstanding strongholds of the Basque Country, has historically been a strategic checkpoint on the land crossing between France and the Iberian Peninsula. Due to its military interest, it was many times besieged between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries for its possession and territorial control. The siege of Fuenterrabia of 1638 is framed within the Franco-Spanish War (1635-1659) fought parallel to the Thirty Years War (1618-1648). It had essentially a Religious character but it was used as a method of territorial expansion. This permanent state of war allowed a great development of the fortification, transforming the one existing in the Middle Ages by what is now known as Modern Fortification, adapted to the new defensive requirements. This paper attempts to analyse through the contemporary chronicles how the siege process was developed and the behaviour of the fortification as a war machine facing the enemy offensive. There is no profound analysis of this siege from a heritage point of view. The attacks caused different severity of damage, and the besieged tried to reconstruct their defences and build new elements that hinder the work of the enemy. By graphing the city walls, hypothesis of the consequences are suggested as well as the works the defenders built to compensate them.
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