Civil vs Military Engineering in Urban Building\Construction

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[CoconutKid]

While not a 'blog,' this is somewhat the result a personal thought-process. Some years ago I tried to search out the difference between civil and military engineering. I think it had to do with my job requirement of trying to understand what the hell "engineers" really did that made their work different. This was back in the day when 'Janitors' thought their pay should go up if their title changed to 'Maintenance Engineer.'

The term engineering itself has a recent etymology, deriving from the word engineer, which itself dates back to 1325, when an engine’er (literally, one who operates an engine) originally referred to “a constructor of military engines.” In this context, now obsolete, an “engine” referred to a military machine, i.e., a mechanical contraption used in war (for example, a catapult). Later, as the design and execution of civilian structures such as bridges and buildings matured as a technical discipline, the term civil engineering entered the lexicon as a way to distinguish between those specializing in the construction of such non-military projects and those involved in the older discipline of military engineering (the original meaning of the word “engineering,”) now largely obsolete.

The "branches" or specializations of engineering have propagated to near infinity due to the false attraction of increased pay to the word "engineer" in a job title.

Meanwhile, as cities formed, division of labor and professional crafts like masonry, metalworking and woodworking emerged. In ancient Rome, concrete was invented. In the Middle Ages of Europe fortifications, castles and cathedrals were the greatest construction projects. Craftsmen became organized in guilds. Sébastien Le Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban and later Marquis de Vauban (15 May 1633 – 30 March 1707), commonly referred to as Vauban, was a Marshal of France and the foremost military engineer of his age, famed for his skill in both designing fortifications and breaking through them. Less recognized is his impact on urban design. He wrote for the commandants of Verdun and Le Quesnoy, valuable Instructions pour la défense. In 1675 Vauban bought the Château de Bazoches. In 1676 he was made marechal de camp. He took Condé, Bouchain and other places in that year, Valenciennes and Cambrai in 1677, Ghent and Ypres in 1678.

It was at this time that Vauban synthesized the methods of attacking strong places, on which his claim to renown as an engineer rests far more than on his systems of fortification. The introduction of a systematic approach by parallel series of trenches (said to have been suggested by the practice of the Turks at Candia in 1668) dates from the siege of Maastricht, and in principle remained until the 20th century the standard method of attacking a fortress.

After the peace of Ryswick Vauban rebuilt or improved other fortresses, and finally Neuf-Brisach, fortified on his "third system " which was in fact a modification of the second and was called by Vauban himself système de Landau perfectionné. In it you can see the integration of the civil living area with the military fortification.

Now I have to draw this post to a close.

[MaxKos]

You seem to know your onions

I'm glad that you're taking an interest in History and your enthusiasm certainly shows, it will stand you in good stead in later life because if we do not know where we came from how can we know where we are going.

[CoconutKid]

... it will stand you in good stead in later life ...

I certainly hope so since at age 76, later life is typically "My Alzhemimer's Years."

Now I have to draw this post to a close.

But not the Thread.

That was a very brief preface to commentary about what city building game designers and players should use as background knowledge depending upon the era that they choose to portray.

In another thread I have mentioned my interest in city design and layout for the period 1750 to 1850 as portrayed by the US Capital City as intended to be built from scratch.

One of the reasons for the New US Federal Government to undertake to build a new city as the seat of its government was secure it from the horrible example that Paris had provided in the French Revolution. The new Federal City would be designed and administered to insure that an unemployed, uneducated and easily swayed rabble would NOT dominate the governance of the whole nation. It can be supposed that Jefferson's experience in France during the Revolution may have "warped" his attitude about what was a "proper" democracy. One has to use some caution about the date of his quotes.

Therefore, a major part of the design of the location of the major government buildings and the pattern of the streets had more to do with the then-current state of military technology than with the grandios monuments which have filled the descriptions published.

The brutal reality of street width and layout was efficient movement of infantry & cavalry formations and the field of fire for artillery. The circles with radiating avenues super-imposed on the civil grid pattern had to do with the space to deploy an artillery battery and the length of the gun's effective range.

I suspect that "reconstruction" of some cities during the late 19th and early 20th centuries had such military technology in mind.

Now -- does anyone who is a fan of the classic periods of antiquity care to comment about the engineering basis of their cities?

[CoconutKid]

CITY WALLS NOT FOR DEFENSE
An Example:

Wall of the Farmers-General
around Paris.

The politically disastrous Wall of the Farmers-General was built between 1784 and 1791 by the Ferme Générale, the corporation of tax farmers. It was one of the several city walls of Paris built between the early Middle Ages to the mid 19th century. It was 24 kilometers long and roughly followed the route now occupied by the line 2 and line 6 of the metro. It crossed the districts of the Place de l'Étoile, Batignolles, Pigalle, Belleville, Nation, the Place d'Italie, Denfert-Rochereau, Montparnasse and the Trocadéro.

Unlike earlier walls, the Farmers-General Wall was not aimed at defending Paris from invaders but intended to ensure the payment of a toll on goods entering Paris ("octroi") to the Ferme Générale. The wall's tax-collection function made it very unpopular, it was said, "Le mur murant Paris rend Paris murmurant" ("The wall walling Paris keeps Paris murmuring".

The architect Claude Nicolas Ledoux designed its 62 toll barriers in a neo-classic or even classical style. The architectural value of these buildings, "dens of the Tax Department metamorphosed into palaces with columns" according to Louis-Sebastien Mercier, highlighted the oppression which the wall represented for Parisians. The wall was bordered by a boulevard outside and a chemin de ronde (a raised protected walkway) inside, except between the barrière d'Italie (now the Place d'Italie) and the barrière d'Enfer (now the Place Denfert-Rochereau) where the Boulevards of Gobelins, Saint-Jacques and d'Enfer replaced the chemin de ronde inside the wall.

In 1787, Loménie de Brienne, Minister for Finance, worried about the very high cost of the work and considered stopping construction but never actually stopped it because the work was too far advanced.

The toll on goods was removed on 1 May 1791 in the early stages of the French Revolution, but was restored in 1798 by the Directory. The perception of the tolls improved under Napoleon. The majority of the toll barriers were destroyed during the expansion of Paris in 1860. At the same time the octroi that had been collected at the wall was abolished.

http://wapedia.mobi/en/Wall_of_the_Farmers-General
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_of_the_Farmers-General


The concept of "tax-farming" may not be familiar to many people. Very briefly, it is when the government turns over tax collection to a private organization in return for a prepayment of a percentage of the expected gross collections. It is somewhat similar to the use of private, specialized debt collectors by firms who extend credit and do not get prompt payments. It doesn't make more friends than doing it yourself.

[MaxKos]

The redesign of London and especially the widening of Paris streets in the 1870's under Napolean 111 and Housmann was to prevent the peasants building barricades so easily so the military could take punitive action in the event of rioting which later social reforms mitigated.

There are some games out now - download from Steam:- ref your earlier Blog

In the X111 Century Crusaders: Thy Kingdom Come series, with two sequels set in the 100 years Wars: Blood and Glory, which is exceptionally good and realistic in the Total Wars vain but more manageable and without that interminable Civilisation wannabee campaign.