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Investment (military)
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<h2 id="antiquity">Antiquity</h2> <p><a href="/facts/Thucydides/oec8VKJz">Thucydides</a> notes the role circumvallation played in the <a href="/facts/Sicilian_Expedition/k871AAF0">Sicilian Expedition</a> and in the Spartan <a href="/facts/Siege/7RAugQoD">siege</a> of <a href="/facts/Plataea/GE3lXI70">Plataea</a> during the initial stages of the <a href="/facts/Peloponnesian_War/Dgbc4cCE">Peloponnesian War</a> in 429 BC. </p><p><a href="/facts/Julius_Caesar/ptR603Gv">Julius Caesar</a> in his <i><a href="/facts/Commentaries_on_the_Gallic_War/FQaJPwF9">Commentaries on the Gallic War</a></i> describes his textbook use of the circumvallation<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> to defeat the <a href="/facts/Gauls/r8nFrHmV">Gauls</a> under their chieftain, <a href="/facts/Vercingetorix/mgKlwosp">Vercingetorix</a>, at the <a href="/facts/Siege_of_Alesia/cb6w7lHT">Siege of Alesia</a> in September 52 BC. </p><p>During the <a href="/facts/Siege_of_Jerusalem_(70_CE)/vKDgJMBp">Siege of Jerusalem</a>, Titus and his Roman legions built a circumvallation, cutting down all trees within fifteen kilometres (9 miles). </p> <h2 id="middle-ages">Middle Ages</h2> <p>Another example from the pre-modern period is the <a href="/facts/Siege_of_Constantinople_(717%25E2%2580%2593718)/HMnUtnCI">Siege of Constantinople (717–718)</a>. </p><p>The <a href="/facts/Caliph/qQ6hCspe">caliph</a> of the <a href="/facts/Umayyad_Empire/gdW8JwoK">Umayyad Empire</a> took advantage of the violent anarchy in the <a href="/facts/Byzantine_Empire/njEELXWF">Byzantine Empire</a> to prepare a huge host, comprising more than 100,000 troops and 1,800 ships, to take them to the Byzantine capital, <a href="/facts/Constantinople/fLcY371n">Constantinople</a>. Upon arriving outside the city's <a href="/facts/Walls_of_Constantinople/A5rAaatE">Theodosian walls</a>, the Arab army had some knowledge that Emperor <a href="/facts/Leo_III_the_Isaurian/V8zhxbSK">Leo III the Isaurian</a> had allied with <a href="/facts/First_Bulgarian_Empire/3RCq0kUp">Bulgaria</a> under <i><a href="/facts/Khan_(title)/ICwa6Blk">Khan</a></i> <a href="/facts/Tervel_of_Bulgaria/LU3BBamS">Tervel</a>, and so, in preparation for the <a href="/facts/Medieval_Bulgarian_army/mlyBgpe4">Bulgarian army</a>, built a set of stone walls against the city and against the countryside, with the Arab camp in between.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> </p><p>King <a href="/facts/Pepin_the_Short/oKJwXb04">Pepin the Short</a> of <a href="/facts/Francia/0fNvWt3n">Francia</a> built a number of fortified camps during his <a href="/facts/Siege_of_Bourbon_(761)/w6ej3orH">Siege of Bourbon (761)</a> to surround the town completely.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> He built a complete set of lines of circumvallation and contravallation during the <a href="/facts/Siege_of_Bourges_(762)/cwht8FsA">Siege of Bourges (762)</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="modern-era">Modern era</h2> <p>The basic objectives and tactics of a military investment have remained the same in the modern era. During the <a href="/facts/Second_World_War/2efV5L1U">Second World War</a>, there were many sieges and many investments. One of the best-known sieges of the war, which demonstrated the tactical use of investment, was the <a href="/facts/Battle_of_Stalingrad/Xc0okJKQ"> Siege of Stalingrad</a>. During the first half of the siege, the Germans were unable to fully encircle the city and so the Soviets got men and supplies in across the <a href="/facts/Volga_River/B96tkIJj">Volga River</a>. During the second half of the battle, the complete investment of Stalingrad by the Soviets, including airspace, which prevented the construction by the Germans of an adequately large <a href="/facts/Airbridge_(logistics)/SxVCTlf1">airbridge</a>, eventually forced the starving Germans in the city to surrender. </p><p>In modern times, investments and <a href="/facts/Sieges/7RAugQoD">sieges</a> of cities are often combined with intensive <a href="/facts/Shell_(projectile)/a51oDRdu">shelling</a>, <a href="/facts/Air_strikes/FehKpSt5">air strikes</a> and extensive use of <a href="/facts/Land_mines/D5AkxUF9">land</a> and/or <a href="/facts/Sea_mines/jo9uVY9U">sea</a> mines. </p> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Encirclement/qS3fbETj">Encirclement</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/List_of_established_military_terms/I2lNAqDg">List of established military terms</a></li></ul> <h2 id="sources">Sources</h2> <ul><li>Petersen, Leif Inge Ree (2013). <i>Siege Warfare and Military Organization in the Successor States (400–800 AD): Byzantium, the West and Islam</i>. Leiden: <a href="/facts/Brill_Publishers/UwYwgUu0">Brill</a>. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 978-90-04-25199-1.</li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>invest Merriam-Webster <a href="http://m-w.com/dictionary/invest" target="_blank">http://m-w.com/dictionary/invest</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>"4. Milit. The surrounding or hemming in of a town or fort by a hostile force so as to cut off all communication with the outside; beleaguerment; blockade" (Oxford English Dictionary: investment, n. Second edition, 1989; online version December 2011. Entry/99052. Earlier version first published in New English Dictionary, 1900). <a href="/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary" target="_blank">/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Oxford English Dictionary: circumvallation, n. Second edition, 1989; online version December 2011. Entry/33402. Earlier version first published in New English Dictionary, 1889. <a href="http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/33402" target="_blank">http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/33402</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Harry Pratt Judson (1961), Caesar's Army: A Study of the Military Art of the Romans in the Last Days of the Republic, New York: Biblo & Tannen, p. 87, ISBN 9780819601131, If an attempt at relief from without was to be feared, another line of works must be created, outside the first, and facing outwards. In modern warfare this latter line is called the circumvallation, and the inner one the contravallation. {{citation}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) <a href="9780819601131" target="_blank">9780819601131</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>[verification needed] Oxford English Dictionary: contravallation, n. Second edition, 1989; online version December 2011. Entry/40491. Earlier version first published in New English Dictionary, 1893. <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability" target="_blank">/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Julius Caesar. Commentaries on the Gallic War/Book 7 – via Wikisource. <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Commentaries_on_the_Gallic_War/Book_7" target="_blank">https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Commentaries_on_the_Gallic_War/Book_7</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Petersen 2013, pp. 703–708. - Petersen, Leif Inge Ree (2013). Siege Warfare and Military Organization in the Successor States (400–800 AD): Byzantium, the West and Islam. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-25199-1. <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Petersen 2013, p. 729. - Petersen, Leif Inge Ree (2013). Siege Warfare and Military Organization in the Successor States (400–800 AD): Byzantium, the West and Islam. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-25199-1. <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>Petersen 2013, pp. 730–731. - Petersen, Leif Inge Ree (2013). Siege Warfare and Military Organization in the Successor States (400–800 AD): Byzantium, the West and Islam. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-25199-1. <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>