Littell's Living Age/Volume 173/Issue 2232/The Fortifications of Paris

— In view of a possible, not to say probable, war between Germany and France, it will be interesting to consider the extent of the fortifications in and around Paris since 1871. A new line of forts far outside of the old ones has been erected. In all twenty-four forts have been built, and these contain all the improvements of modern warfare. Their barracks and magazines are all below the ground, and they form such a wide circle about the city that it will hardly be possible to besiege it in future. If it took three hundred thousand Germans to encircle the old line, it ought to require an almost incalculable force to invest the new. The walls of Paris have been demonstrated to be useless, and the French do not rely on them in any way as a means of defence.