BRIALMONT, Henri Alexis, distin guished Belgian military engineer: b. Venloo, 25 May 1821; d. 21 Sept. 1903. The son of a general, he studied at the Ecole Militaire under French officers and entered the Belgian army (engineer corps) in 1843. He devoted himself entirely to the theory and construction of for tifications and came to occupy in the modern history of fortifications the high place held by Marshal Vauban (q.v.) in the 17th century. By 1855, despite his French training, he had aban doned French models and leaned to the Ger man theories, rejecting the old star-shaped forts with bastioned ramparts and intricate outworks, for the German type of long front and detached forts. In 1847 he constructed the fort works at Diest and later served three years as secre tary to the War Minister, General Chazal. Brialmont's first great work was the fortifica tion of Antwerp, completed in 1868. His revo lutionary plans for fortifying vulnerable points in Belgium were unfavorably received during his term (from 1875) as inspector-general of fortifications and of sappers and miners in Belgium. Discouraged at meeting opposition, Brialmont accepted an invitation from the late King of Rumania to design the proposed gigan tic defenses of Bucharest, whither he went in 1883. Owing to representations made by Aus tria-Hungary to the Belgian government, Brial mont was retired from the Belgian army for undertaking foreign service without permission. In 1884, however, he was restored to his rank, and in the following year, when he had reached the age limit, his services were nevertheless retained to complete the defense works of the Meuse Valley in the forts of Liege and Namur. He achieved the task by 1892, while in the meantime he continued to direct the Rumanian defense works. Brialmont's typical fort is
adapted to meet long-range rifled guns and high-angled shell fire. Whereas the military engineer of pre-artillery days piled his towers and turrets high into the air, the advent of heavy guns compelled them to be built ever lower to earth. Brialmont's forts are buried underground with disappearing cupolas in which the guns are mounted. All that is nor mally visible is a low mound, surrounded by a deep ditch. The mound is cased in concrete and heavy masonry, roofed with concrete and covered with earth and sods. The top is broken by circular pits, in which the cupolas or gun turrets slide up and down with just enough movement to bring the gun muzzles above the level of the ground. Internally the mound re sembles a vast molehill containing numerous passakes and chambers, divided into quarters for the garrison, machine rooms and munition stores. An inclined tunnel forms the entrance to the fort. The German invasion of Belgium in 1914 demonstrated the futility of fortifica tions as a defense against modern long-range heavy guns. The Liege forts were reduced in two days and Namur fell in a few hours. Brial mont also wrote many works on military his tory and tactics. In 1850 he founded the Jour nal of the Belgian Army and published 'Précis d'art militaire' (1850);