Bastions
The Walls of Florence
Machiavelli begins the seventh (and last) book of The Seven Books of the Art of War with the recommendation that builders of fortresses should ‘... make the walls twisted and full of turned recesses; which pattern results in the enemy not being able to approach them, as they will be able to be attacked easily not only from the front, but on the flanks.’* In other words, he recommends that walls be provided with bastions, features that allow defenders to bring flanking fire to bear upon attackers. (As attackers are most likely to be in a linear formation perpendicular to the wall, this fire will catch many of them in enfilade.)
*Niccolò Machiavelli (Henry Neville, translator) The Seven Books on the Art of War (London: 1675), Book Seven
Source for illustration: Eugène Emmanuel Violet le Duc, Dictionnaire raisonné de l'architecture française du XIème au XVIème siècle, (Paris: B. Bance, 1858) Volume I page 416
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