FORTIFICATIONS OF PARIS: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY

Long demolished, the fortifications of Paris are scarcely mentioned in most guidebooks and histories, but their outline is still visible in highways, streets and boulevards. Moreover, since the fortifications were a result of political situations and military conditions in Paris, their story is the city's own. This history traces the development of the fortifications and of warfare, the history of Paris and that of France - all thickly entwined, from 400 BC (the establishment of a Celtic settlement) to August 1944 (the last time Paris was involved in a major war fought on French soil).