Battle Stations! : Fortifications Through the Ages

Ten ingenious fortifications from human history.

Keep out! Since the earliest civilizations, people have built strongholds needed to protect themselves from invasion. Battle Stations! vividly explores ten of these ingeniously designed structures and the strategies and equipment used for further defense.

Some fortifications are impressive for their sheer size. The Great Wall of China is huge, yet its extraordinary length made this defense only as effective as the troops who manned it. Other fortresses are remarkable for their complexity. Sixteenth century Japanese castles had winding courtyards to hinder invading troops, and secret rooms to foil ninja assassins.

When gunpowder changed the nature of battle, defenses responded accordingly. Eighteenth century European fortresses developed bastions: pentagonal towers without blind spots to conceal attackers. Invading armies also adapted, digging zigzag trenches to disrupt the trajectories of incoming cannon balls.

Other forts and defense strategies include:

• An Egyptian frontier fort, 1800 BC
• Caesar's Siege of Alesia, 50 BC
• A Martello Tower, 1805
• A coastal defense battery, 1900
• Fort Drum, Manila, 1942
• The Maginot Line, France, 1935
• Continental defense, 1960 to present day
• Armor, siege engines, camouflage, and more.

Each chapter features a dramatic full-color spread depicting the layout of the featured fortress, including some cross-sections of important structures and explanations of their ingenious designs. With over a dozen chapters outlining ten forts and even more defensive strategies, Battle Stations! is sure to capture the attention of any reader.

Stephen Shapiro is a lifelong aficionado of military history, and a recipient of the Canadian War Museum History Award for his essay The Battle for Queenston Heights: A Critical Point for Canada.

Mei Tsao is a successful artist with over twelve years of experience in animation, including work on several Disney features. She made the transition to children's book illustration two years ago.

Ken Nice is an accomplished sculptor and architectural illustrator. He lives on a farm north of Toronto.