DOI Artikel:
Głuszek, Cezary: Fortyfikacje na ziemiach Królestwa Polskiego w przededniu I wojny światowej
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.39127#0189
FORTYFIKACJE NA ZIEMIACH KRÓLESTWA POLSKIEGO W PRZEDEDNIU I WOJNY ŚWIATOWEJ 187
THE FORTIFICATIONS ON THE TERRITORY OF POLISH KINGDOM
ON THE EVE OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR
Abstract
Fortifications gradually ceased to be an architectural art during the nineteenth century, becoming on the threshold of the Great
War a separate, specialized area of military knowledge. Even at the end of the nineteenth century, the brick buildings were still designed
with an eye for form and architectural detail. At the turn of the twentieth century, advances in means of attack and defence, especially
the increase in rangę, precision and firepower of siege artillery, meant that thick walls, ceilings, embankments and concrete structures
were needed to replace earlier brick and stone ones. At the same time previously used architectural detail disappeared, as not capable
of withstanding fire. In artistic terms - the architecture became primarily utilitarian, simple by design.
The Polish Kingdom’s Russian fortifications are part of the uniąue “open air museum” of mighty fortifications built in Poland by
the partitioning powers - the leading empires of Europę at the time - and were also subject to the above changes. The role of Russian
defences during WWI was different from Galician and Prussian/German fortifications. It could be argued that as a result of the unstable
politics in the preceding few years, Russia would proceed to war with the most important section of the Western Front disorganized and
unprepared from an engineering point of view. The importance of Russian fortifications in the early hostilities of WWI was primarily
the passive role they played in 1914, relying on their mere existence and by providing the army’s protection, and to a lesser extent their
active role (from 1915 onwards), when they directly participated in the battlefront.
THE FORTIFICATIONS ON THE TERRITORY OF POLISH KINGDOM
ON THE EVE OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR
Abstract
Fortifications gradually ceased to be an architectural art during the nineteenth century, becoming on the threshold of the Great
War a separate, specialized area of military knowledge. Even at the end of the nineteenth century, the brick buildings were still designed
with an eye for form and architectural detail. At the turn of the twentieth century, advances in means of attack and defence, especially
the increase in rangę, precision and firepower of siege artillery, meant that thick walls, ceilings, embankments and concrete structures
were needed to replace earlier brick and stone ones. At the same time previously used architectural detail disappeared, as not capable
of withstanding fire. In artistic terms - the architecture became primarily utilitarian, simple by design.
The Polish Kingdom’s Russian fortifications are part of the uniąue “open air museum” of mighty fortifications built in Poland by
the partitioning powers - the leading empires of Europę at the time - and were also subject to the above changes. The role of Russian
defences during WWI was different from Galician and Prussian/German fortifications. It could be argued that as a result of the unstable
politics in the preceding few years, Russia would proceed to war with the most important section of the Western Front disorganized and
unprepared from an engineering point of view. The importance of Russian fortifications in the early hostilities of WWI was primarily
the passive role they played in 1914, relying on their mere existence and by providing the army’s protection, and to a lesser extent their
active role (from 1915 onwards), when they directly participated in the battlefront.