FORTE CULTURA Tourist Guide Book

40 \\ TOURIST GUIDE BOOK EXPERIENCE CULTURAL HERITAGE TRAVEL ARCHITECTURE MAJOR FORTRESS SYSTEMS N apoleon literally got the war moving: his “galloping artillery” evadedmany compact bastion fortresses at the end of the 18th century and rendered them ineffective. The defenders in their solitary bulwarks could do little in the face of the great mobility and larger range of his artillery. A new generation of fortress construction was designed to counter that problem: the major fortress system for the defence of strategically important districts and cities. Several rings of forts with cannon positions and intermediate po- sitions were constructed in circles around the city, up to five kilo­ metres apart, in order to keep the enemy at bay. Owing to the ever growing range of the cannons, single forts were located up to 15 kilometres from the city centres. They protected important roads, rail lines and settlement areas. Prussia in particular used such fortresses in the east against its Russian neighbours, while Russia fortified the then Kingdom of Poland in such a manner against Prussia. The fascinating traces of these massive defences are still visible in many cities of central Europe. Poznán and Toruń, Kraków and Przemyśl [PL] , Ulm and Magdeburg [DE] are famous examples of this type of fortress. The Habsburg Monarchs built the Vero- na-Peschiera-Mantua-Legnago fortress quadrangle into one of Europe’s largest regional fortress systems in order to retain the occupied northern Italian territories – a tourist experience that is still little known. Major fortress Systems Napoleon’s victories encouraged the development of expansive defences Major fortress system of Posen / Poznań [PL] Central fortress with a ring of fortifications before it, such as forts and batteries to protect cities and places d’armes (defended areas where troops could gather for sorties etc.).