An outwork is a minor

fortification A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

built or established outside the principal fortification limits, detached or semidetached. Outworks such as ravelins,

lunette A lunette (French ''lunette'', "little moon") is a half-moon shaped architectural space, variously filled with sculpture, painted, glazed, filled with recessed masonry, or void. A lunette may also be segmental, and the arch may be an arc take ...

s (demilunes),

flèche Flèche or Fleche may refer to: *Flèche (architecture), a type of church spire *Flèche (cycling), a team cycling competition *Flèche (fencing) The flèche is an aggressive offensive fencing technique used with foil and épée. Background ...

s and

caponier A caponier is a type of defensive structure in a fortification. Fire from this point could cover the ditch beyond the curtain wall to deter any attempt to storm the wall. The word originates from the French ', meaning "chicken coop" (a ''capon'' ...

s to shield

bastion A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fi ...

s and fortification curtains from direct battery were developed in the 16th century. Later, the increasing scale of warfare and the greater resources available to the besieger accelerated this development, and systems of outworks grew increasingly elaborate and sprawling as a means of slowing the attacker's progress and making it more costly. When taken by an enemy force, their lack of rear-facing ramparts left them totally open to fire from the main works.''A Dictionary of Military Architecture Fortification and Fieldworks from the Iron Age to the Eighteenth Century''
by Stephen Francis Wyley. Retrieved 23 May 2015. An advanced work, a fortification detached and forward of the main castle or fortification, is sometimes referred to as a type of outwork or 'advanced outwork'. The

hornwork A hornwork is an element of the Italian bastion system of fortification. Its face is flanked with a pair of demi-bastions. It is distinguished from a crownwork, because crownworks contain full bastions at their centers. They are both outwork ...

and

crownwork A crownwork is an element of the trace italienne system of fortification and is effectively an expanded hornwork (a type of outwork). It consists of a full bastion A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wa ...

are subtypes of outworks.

References

{{Fortifications Fortification (architectural elements) Castle architecture

See also

References