Fortifications created during the Eighty Years War

In the Middle Ages important defensive sites were often surrounded by high stonewalls featuring battlements, towers and gates as protection against the enemy trying to assault the city with multiple besieging devices.

The use of gunpowder in initially rather primitive guns caused a compulsory change in defensive tactics. Stonewalls proved to be no longer strong enough and were replaced by earthen walls with bastions that could catch the bullets that were fired.

A wide moat with ravelins and ramparts made it even harder for the assaulters to conquer the fortress. In this way, dozens of locations in the Netherlands were protected during the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648). The fortifications of Stevensweert were erected in 1633 when the Spaniards reconquered the island in the Meuse. The system, geometrically drawn by the fortress builders, remained intact until 1874. Then the Dutch government sold the fortifications to the municipality of Stevensweert. Their demolition took several decades.