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Ravelijn

Ravelin in Goes

Bergen op Zoom Panorama 6

Ravelin in the Dutch Town 'Bergen op Zoom'

Old Venetian Fortress on Corfu island, Greece (47818446002)

Old Venetian Fortress with Ravelin at Corfu (47818446002)

Star-Spangled Banner, Fort McHenry National Monument, Baltimore, Maryland (14311492319)

Ravelin protecting the entrance of Fort McHenry, Baltimore, Maryland

Moers 1604

The Moers fortifications, designed by Simon Stevin, where ravelins appear as triangular shapes surrounded by water, with wall (shown in dark green) facing outwards with no wall on the inner side.

A ravelin is a triangular fortification or detached outwork, located in front of the innerworks of a fortress (the curtain walls and bastions). Originally called a demi-lune, after the lunette, the ravelin is placed outside a castle and opposite a fortification curtain.

The outer edges of the ravelin are so configured that it divides an assault force, and guns in the ravelin can fire upon the attacking troops as they approach the curtain. It also impedes besiegers from using their artillery to batter a breach in the curtain wall. The side of the ravelin facing the inner fortifications has at best a low wall, if any, so as not to shelter attacking forces if they have overwhelmed it or the defenders have abandoned it. Frequently ravelins have a ramp or stairs on the curtain-wall side to facilitate the movement of troops and artillery onto the ravelin.

The first example of a ravelin appears in the fortifications of the Italian town of Sarzanello, and dates from 1497. The first ravelins were built of brick, but later, during the sixteenth century in the Netherlands, they were earthen (perhaps faced by stone or brick), the better to absorb the impact of cannonballs. The Italian origins of the system of fortifications (the star forts) of which ravelins were a part gave rise to the term trace Italienne. The French 17th-century military engineer Vauban made great use of ravelins in his design of fortifications for Louis XIV, and his ideas were still being used in 1761 by Major William Green at Gibraltar.[1]

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  1. Fa & Finlayson (2006). The Fortifications of Gibraltar 1068-1945. Osprey Publishing. p. 25. ISBN 978-1-84603-016-1. https://books.google.com/books?id=BC5QBR0oB04C&pg=PA61. Retrieved 30 March 2013. 
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The original article can be found at Ravelin and the edit history here.
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