Vauban, Sébastien Le Prestre de

Vauban, Sébastien Le Prestre de

(born May 15, 1633, Saint-Léger-de-Foucherest, France—died March 30, 1707, Paris) French military engineer. After fighting with the forces of the Condé family (1651–53), he switched to the royalist side and joined the newly formed engineer corps, becoming engineer in chief at the siege of Gravelines (1658). He designed fortifications for numerous French towns and outposts and devised tactics that led to many successes in the French wars of Louis XIV's reign; his innovations revolutionized the art of siege tactics and defensive fortification. He also introduced the tactic of ricochet gunfire and invented the socket bayonet. His treatises on fortification and siege-craft were studied for more than 100 years. He was made a marshal of France in 1703.