Sword and Spade

The growing effectiveness of siege artillery in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was the driving force behind one of architecture's more radical responses to technological change. It also provided the impetus for one of Europe's periodic "great rebuildings". To begin to understand the achievement of the military architectural revolution it is often more helpful to look at the processes by which eventual solutions evolved, and at the range of participants involved. In short, it may be helpful here to employ the methods and agendas of construction history as well as those of conventional art and architectural history, and to ask some basic questions about the nature of the fortification building operations. In the meantime, many Italian and northern European states looked favourably on the construction of self-contained fortresses at strategic points which contributed to the defence of the city without complete reconstruction of the walls

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