Vauban, architecte de la modernité ?

Overview & Synopsis

The work of Vauban (1633-1707) can be seen as an essential contribution to the construction of modernity, understood as the period when rationality, in the various fields in which it was invested, came to occupy a predominant place. It is this modernity in Vauban's work that is examined here, both in its political and economic form, where it takes its place in the movement to rationalise political action that will mark the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and in its applications to military architecture and fortifications. The influences that Vauban underwent and exerted on his contemporaries, not only English and German but also American and Canadian, are presented and studied here, along with his possible relevance today. Historians, philosophers and specialists in fortification and urban planning from Europe and the United States have set out to assess Vauban's contribution to the construction of modern times.