Investment (military)

Investment is the military process of surrounding an enemy fort (or town) with armed forces to prevent entry or escape.[1][2] It serves both to cut communications with the outside world and to prevent supplies and reinforcements from being introduced.

Reconstructed section of the investment fortifications at Alesia

A circumvallation is a line of fortifications, built by the attackers around the besieged fortification facing towards an enemy fort (to protect the besiegers from sorties by its defenders and to enhance the blockade).[3][4] The resulting fortifications are known as "lines of circumvallation". Lines of circumvallation generally consist of earthen ramparts and entrenchments that encircle the besieged city. The line of circumvallation can be used as a base for launching assaults against the besieged city or for constructing further earthworks nearer to the city.

A contravallation may be constructed in cases where the besieging army is threatened by a field army allied to an enemy fort.[5] This is a second line of fortifications outside the circumvallation, facing away from an enemy fort. The contravallation protects the besiegers from attacks by allies of the city's defenders and enhances the blockade of an enemy fort by making it more difficult to smuggle in supplies.[6]

History

Antiquity
Schematic view of the circumvallation during the Siege of Groenlo in 1627

Thucydides notes the role circumvallation played in the Sicilian Expedition and in the Spartan siege of Plataea during the initial stages of the Peloponnesian War in 429 BC.

Julius Caesar in his Commentaries on the Gallic War describes his textbook use of the circumvallation and contravallation to defeat the Gauls under their chieftain Vercingetorix at the Siege of Alesia in September 52 BC.

Middle Ages

Another example from the pre-modern period is the siege of Constantinople in AD 717–718. The leaders of the Islamic Empire took advantage of the violent anarchy within the Byzantine state to prepare a huge host, comprising more than 100,000 troops and 1,800 ships, to take them to the capital Constantinople. Upon arriving outside the Theodosian walls, the Arab host had some knowledge that the Emperor Leo III the Isaurian had allied with Bulgaria under their khan Tervel, and so in preparation for the Bulgarian army, built a set of stone walls against the city and against the countryside, with the Arab camp in between.[7]

King Pepin the Short of Francia built a number of fortified camps during his Siege of Bourbon (761) to completely surround the town.[8] He built a complete set of lines of circumvallation and contravallation during the Siege of Bourges (762).[9]

Modern era

The basic objectives and tactics of a military investment have remained the same in the modern era. During the Second World War there were many sieges and many investments. One of the best known sieges of World War II, which demonstrated the tactical use of investment, was the siege of Stalingrad. During the first half of the siege the Germans were unable to fully encircle the city, so the Soviets were able to get men and supplies in across the Volga River. In the second half of the battle, the complete investment of Stalingrad by the Soviets (including air space which prevented the construction by the Germans of an adequately large airbridge) eventually forced the starving Germans inside the city to surrender.

In modern times, investments and sieges of cities are often combined with intensive shelling and air strikes.

See also

References
  1. invest Merriam-Webster
  2. "4. Milit. The surrounding or hemming in of a town or fort by a hostile force so as to cut off all communication with the outside; beleaguerment; blockade" (Oxford English Dictionary: investment, n. Second edition, 1989; online version December 2011. Entry/99052. Earlier version first published in New English Dictionary, 1900).
  3. Definition of circumvallation www.yourdictionary.com
  4. Oxford English Dictionary: circumvallation, n. Second edition, 1989; online version December 2011. Entry/33402. Earlier version first published in New English Dictionary, 1889.
  5. Definition of contravallation www.yourdictionary.com
  6. Oxford English Dictionary: contravallation, n. Second edition, 1989; online version December 2011. Entry/40491. Earlier version first published in New English Dictionary, 1893.
  7. Petersen 2013, pp. 703–708.
  8. Petersen 2013, p. 729.
  9. Petersen 2013, pp. 730–731.

Sources
  • Petersen, Leif Inge Ree (2013). Siege Warfare and Military Organization in the Successor States (400-800 AD): Byzantium, the West and Islam. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-25199-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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