Menno, baron van Coehoorn (March 1641 – March 17, 1704), was a
DutchThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
soldier and
military engineerA military engineer is primarily responsible for the design and construction of offensive, defensive, and logistical structures for warfare. Other duties include the layout, placement, maintenance and dismantling of defensive minefields and the clearing of enemy minefields and the construction...
of
SwedishSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
extraction. He made a number of influential
weaponA weapon is a tool used to apply force for the purpose of hunting, attack, self-defense, or defense in combat.Weapons can be as simple as a club, or as complex as an intercontinental ballistic missile, and include those that damage individual or group morale.-Prehistoric weapons:Very simple weapon...
ry innovations in siege warfare and
fortificationFortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defense in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
techniques. He was also known as the "
HollandRotterdam
The Hague
Haarlem
Dordrecht |} Holland is a name in common usage given to a region in the western part of the Netherlands. The name 'Holland' is also often informally used to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands...
ish Vauban" (
Hollandse Vauban), after his famous
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
counterpart
Sébastien Le Prestre de VaubanSébastien Le Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban and later Marquis de Vauban , commonly referred to as Vauban, was a Marshal of France and the foremost military engineer of his age, famed for his skill in both designing fortifications and in breaking through them...
.
Coehoorn was born in the city of
LeeuwardenLeeuwarden is the capital city of the Dutch province of Friesland. It is situated in the north of the country.-History:...
in the Dutch province of
FrieslandFriesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the bigger region known as Frisia. In order to distinguish it from the other Frisian regions, it is commonly specified as Westerlauwer Frisia, Westerlauwer Friesland, West Frisia or West Friesland...
.
Menno, baron van Coehoorn (March 1641 – March 17, 1704), was a
DutchThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
soldier and
military engineerA military engineer is primarily responsible for the design and construction of offensive, defensive, and logistical structures for warfare. Other duties include the layout, placement, maintenance and dismantling of defensive minefields and the clearing of enemy minefields and the construction...
of
SwedishSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
extraction. He made a number of influential
weaponA weapon is a tool used to apply force for the purpose of hunting, attack, self-defense, or defense in combat.Weapons can be as simple as a club, or as complex as an intercontinental ballistic missile, and include those that damage individual or group morale.-Prehistoric weapons:Very simple weapon...
ry innovations in siege warfare and
fortificationFortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defense in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
techniques. He was also known as the "
HollandRotterdam
The Hague
Haarlem
Dordrecht |} Holland is a name in common usage given to a region in the western part of the Netherlands. The name 'Holland' is also often informally used to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands...
ish Vauban" (
Hollandse Vauban), after his famous
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
counterpart
Sébastien Le Prestre de VaubanSébastien Le Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban and later Marquis de Vauban , commonly referred to as Vauban, was a Marshal of France and the foremost military engineer of his age, famed for his skill in both designing fortifications and in breaking through them...
.
Early life
Coehoorn was born in the city of
LeeuwardenLeeuwarden is the capital city of the Dutch province of Friesland. It is situated in the north of the country.-History:...
in the Dutch province of
FrieslandFriesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the bigger region known as Frisia. In order to distinguish it from the other Frisian regions, it is commonly specified as Westerlauwer Frisia, Westerlauwer Friesland, West Frisia or West Friesland...
. He received an excellent military and general education, and at the age of sixteen became a captain in the Dutch army. During the
Anglo-Dutch WarsThe Anglo–Dutch Wars were fought in the 17th and 18th centuries between England and the United Provinces for control over the seas and trade routes...
, he took part in the defence of
MaastrichtMaastricht is a city and a municipality in the southern part of the Dutch province of Limburg, of which it is the capital. The city is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...
in 1673 and in the siege of
GraveGrave is a municipality and a city in the southern Netherlands. Grave is a fortified city, in the province Brabant.- Popular attractions :Near to Grave lies the John S. Thompson Bridge, the northern connection to Gelderland, spanning the river the Maas...
in 1674, where he used the small
mortarA mortar is a muzzle-loading indirect fire weapon that fires shells at low velocities, short ranges, and high-arcing ballistic trajectories. It typically has a barrel length less than 15 times its caliber.- Function :...
s (called coehorns) invented by him to great effect against the French garrison. He was promoted to the rank of
colonelColonel is a military rank of a commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every country in the world. It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
for his gallant conduct at the
battle of SeneffeThe Battle of Seneffe was fought on August 11, 1674 and resulted in a draw.The armies were under the command of Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé and the Dutch-German-Spanish army under William III of Orange....
(1674), and was also present at the Battle of Cassel (1677) and the
Battle of Saint DenisThe Battle of Saint-Denis was fought on August 14-15 1678 between a French army commanded by the Marshal Luxembourg and a Dutch army under William III near Saint-Denis, a village outside Mons, then part of the Spanish Netherlands...
(1678).
Military Innovations
The circumstances of the time and the country turned Coehoorn's attention to the art of fortification, and the events of the late war showed him that existing methods could no longer be relied upon. Coehoorn gained most of his knowledge and insights on the building of fortification by having to capture many of them himself. His first published work,
Versterchinge de Vijfhoeks met alle syne Buytenwerken (Leeuwarden, 1682), at once aroused attention, and involved the author in a lively controversy with a rival engineer, Louys Paan (Leeuwarden, 1682, 1683; copies are in the library of the Dutch Ministry of Defence). The military authorities were much interested in his work, and entrusted Coehoorn with the reconstruction of several fortresses in the Netherlands. This task he continued throughout his career and his experience made him the worthy rival of his great contemporary
VaubanSébastien Le Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban and later Marquis de Vauban , commonly referred to as Vauban, was a Marshal of France and the foremost military engineer of his age, famed for his skill in both designing fortifications and in breaking through them...
. He formulated his ideas a little later in his chief work,
New fortress Construction (
Nieuwe Vestingbouw op een natte of lage horisont, Leeuwarden, 1685), in which he laid down three systems, the characteristic feature of which was the multiplicity and great saliency of the works, which were calculated and in principle are still eminently suited for, flat and almost
marshIn geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland which is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, and other herbaceous plants. Woody plants will be low-growing shrubs. A marsh is different from a swamp,...
y sites such as those in the
Low CountriesThe Low Countries, the historical region of de Nederlanden, are the countries on low-lying land around the delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers...
. Essential to his new approach was the ability to fight an active defence on the outer shores of the enveloping ditch, made possible by constructing an extra protective wall around the fortification.
He borrowed many of the details from the works of his Dutch predecessor
FreytagPeople with the surname Freytag include:* Arny Freytag, American photographer* Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Freytag , German philologist* Gustav Freytag , German dramatist**Freytag's pyramid...
, of
Albrecht DürerAlbrecht Dürer was a German painter, printmaker and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since...
, and of the German engineer Speckle, and in general he aimed rather at the adaptation of his principles to the requirements of individual sites than at producing a geometrically and theoretically perfect fortress. Throughout his career he never hesitated to depart from his own rules in dealing with exceptional cases, such as that of Groningen. Subsequent editions of
Nieuwe Vestingbouw appeared in Dutch (1702, and frequently afterwards), English (London, 1705), French (Wesel, 1705), and German (Düsseldorf, 1709). Coehoorn's individual assessment of each fortification and focus on existing natural advantages and disadvantages is the main difference in thinking from Vauban, who adhered more strictly to mathematics and standard fortifications.
In the
War of the Grand AllianceThe Nine Years' War , also known as the War of the Grand Alliance, the War of the League of Augsburg, formerly the War of the Palatine Succession or the War of the English Succession, and also the Williamite War and King William's War – was fought in the late 17th century primarily on mainland...
(1689–1697) Coehoorn served as a
brigadierBrigadier is a military rank, the meaning of which has a considerable variation.-Officer rank:In many countries, especially those formerly part of the former British Empire, a Brigadier is either the highest field rank or most junior General appointment, nominally commanding a brigade...
. At the
battle of FleurusThe Battle of Fleurus, fought on 1 July 1690, was a major engagement of the Nine Years' War. In a bold envelopment the Duc de Luxembourg, commanding Louis XIV’s army of some 35,000 men, soundly defeated Prince Waldeck’s Allied force of approximately 38,000 men comprising mainly Dutch, German, and...
he greatly distinguished himself, and he defended
NamurNamur is a city and municipality in Wallonia, in southern Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia....
, a fortress of his own creation, when it was
besieged by the French in 1692The Siege of Namur, 25 May–30 June 1692, was a major engagement of the Nine Years' War, and was part of the French grand plan to defeat the forces of the Grand Alliance and bring a swift conclusion to the war...
. Namur was taken by Vauban; but the Dutch engineer had his revenge three years later in the
Siege of Namur of 1695The Siege of Namur, 2 July–1 September 1695, was the second siege of the city of Namur in the Nine Years' War. The Allied forces of the Grand Alliance retook the city from the French, who had captured it in the first siege in 1692...
, when van Coehoorn retook Namur, despite Vauban having spent the interval improving the defences with his skill. Coehoorn became lieutenant-general and inspector-general of the Netherlands fortresses, and the high-German peoples as well as his own countrymen honored him. He commanded a
corpsA Corps is either a large formation, or an administrative grouping of troops within an armed force with a common function such as Artillery or Signals representing an arm of service...
in the army of the
Duke of MarlboroughJohn Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough was a prominent English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reigns of five monarchs throughout the late 17th and early 18th centuries...
from 1701 to 1703, and in the constant siege warfare of these campaigns in the
Low CountriesThe Low Countries, the historical region of de Nederlanden, are the countries on low-lying land around the delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers...
his technical skill was of the highest value. The swift reduction of the fortress of
BonnBonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 20 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990...
and the siege of
HuyHuy is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region and Province of Liege. Huy lies along the river Meuse, at the mouth of the small river Hoyoux. It is in the sillon industriel, the former industrial backbone of Wallonia, home to about two-thirds of the Walloon population...
in 1703 were his crowning successes. At the opening of his following campaign he was on his way to confer with Marlborough when he died of
apoplexyApoplexy is an outdated medical term, which can be used to mean 'bleeding'. It can be used non-medically to mean a state of extreme rage or excitement...
at Wijkel.
Applications of the Coehoorn-system
His first system was applied to numerous places in the Netherlands, notably
NijmegenNijmegen is a municipality and a city in the east of the Netherlands, near the German border. It is considered to be the oldest city in the Netherlands and celebrated its 2000th year of existence in 2005.- History :...
, Breda and
Bergen op ZoomBergen op Zoom is a municipality and a city in the south of the Netherlands.-History:Bergen op Zoom was granted city status probably in 1266. In 1287 the city and its surroundings became a lordship as it was separated from the lordship of Breda. The lordship was elevated to a margraviate in 1559...
.
MannheimMannheim is a city in Germany. With 327,318 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in the state of Baden-Württemberg after the capital Stuttgart....
in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
was also fortified in this way, while the second system was applied to
BelgradeBelgrade Belgrade Belgrade (Serbian Cyrillic: Београд, Serbian Latin: Beograd (meaning "White City" in Serbian) is the capital and largest city of Serbia. The city lies on two international waterways, at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where Central Europe's Pannonian Plain meets...
and Temesvar in eastern Europe.
Trivia
- Coehoorn's son, Gosewijn Theodor van Coehoorn, wrote a biography
A biography is a description or account of someone's life and the times, which is usually published in the form of a book or essay, or in some other form, such as a film. An autobiography is a biography of a person's life written or told by that same person...
(re-edited Syperstein, Leeuwarden, 1860).
- Andrzej Sapkowski
Andrzej Sapkowski, born June 21, 1948 in Łódź, is a Polish fantasy writer. Sapkowski studied economics, and before turning to writing, he had worked as a senior sales representative for a foreign trade company...
, Polish fantasy writer, used Menno van Coehoorn's name for one of the Nilfgaard marchals in the five book "Saga" about The Hexer.
External links