A History of Fortification from 3000 BC to Ad 1700

by Sidney Toy

The necessity to defend territory from strong points has been a fact of life since mankind first settled into agricultural communities. Sidney Toy traces the development of the art of fortification from the period of earliest historical examples down to the forts designed for defense by artillery, noting the salient features of the military works as well as the siege operations mounted against them. The castle is considered in its military aspect, as a fortress, and its domestic arrangements only in so far as they are ancillary to its function as a fortification and are necessary in its residence.

This book is a product of a lifetime of travel, exploration and architectural study. The author himself surveyed most of the places described, and has drawn clear and fascinating ground maps and cross sections. There are also 200 superb photographs, maps and plans.

Genres: History, Reference, Nonfiction

286 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Mark]

Req via Summit 14 June 2019

[S. R. Carroll · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thorough and interesting overview of the the topic, but definately not for the causal reader. Toy assumes that anyone reading this already knows the terminology, so he doesn't bother to explain or provide a decent glossary. Also, because this book is a bit out of date, many of the place names he uses are confusing for a modern reader. On the whole, this is a decent book for a student or lover of historic fortification, but not a fast, fun read.

Note: the paperback version (Sword & Pen) that I was reading had many editing problems- many words were misspelled (some in several different ways), some names were switched around, and the punctuation was mutilated. It looks like a bad transcribing job. I'm not including this in the rating, however, because it's not the author's fault.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as part of my research for a novel and found it to be a great resource, as well as an interesting read. The author spells everything out clearly and is clearly very knowledgeable on the subject.