Bruce P. Lenman (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781845861209
- eISBN:
- 9781474406093
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781845861209.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Military History
The book examines the unique role of European military engineers in the service of both kingdoms and republics from the fifteenth to the early nineteenth century. They were usually the only servants ...
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The book examines the unique role of European military engineers in the service of both kingdoms and republics from the fifteenth to the early nineteenth century. They were usually the only servants of the state, apart from artillery or naval officers, with training in mathematics, which explains the frequent overlap between gunners, sailors, and the emerging profession of military engineering. Military engineers were natural polymaths who defended and empowered sovereign authority, especially after the development of artillery made the widespread construction of bastion-defended, low-lying fortifications essential. They also offered services ranging from town planning to basic cartography. They were active in European sovereignties from Lisbon to Istanbul, and also in the fortified port enclaves and dominions acquired by their employers overseas. Originally, as highly-paid, cosmopolitan denizens of an international market, their primary loyalty was a contractual one, often to an individual sovereign. Under the influence of men like the French Marshal Vauban, they became highly-trained elites in several European states, as well as the young United States of America. With the evolution of civilian professions such as civil engineering and pressure to specialise as combat engineers, they finally narrowed their scope, leading to underestimation of their wider earlier significance.Less
The book examines the unique role of European military engineers in the service of both kingdoms and republics from the fifteenth to the early nineteenth century. They were usually the only servants of the state, apart from artillery or naval officers, with training in mathematics, which explains the frequent overlap between gunners, sailors, and the emerging profession of military engineering. Military engineers were natural polymaths who defended and empowered sovereign authority, especially after the development of artillery made the widespread construction of bastion-defended, low-lying fortifications essential. They also offered services ranging from town planning to basic cartography. They were active in European sovereignties from Lisbon to Istanbul, and also in the fortified port enclaves and dominions acquired by their employers overseas. Originally, as highly-paid, cosmopolitan denizens of an international market, their primary loyalty was a contractual one, often to an individual sovereign. Under the influence of men like the French Marshal Vauban, they became highly-trained elites in several European states, as well as the young United States of America. With the evolution of civilian professions such as civil engineering and pressure to specialise as combat engineers, they finally narrowed their scope, leading to underestimation of their wider earlier significance.
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