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[[File:AlesiaFortifications.JPG|thumb|Reconstructed section of the investment fortifications at [[Alesia (city)|Alesia]]]]
A '''contravallation'''
A '''circumvallation''' may be constructed if the besieging army is threatened by a field army allied to an enemy fort. It is a second line of fortifications outside the contravallation that faces away from an enemy fort. The circumvallation protects the besiegers from attacks by allies of the city's defenders and enhances the [[blockade]] of an enemy fort by making it more difficult to smuggle in supplies.<ref>{{vs|date=January 2022}} Oxford English Dictionary: ''contravallation'', n. Second edition, 1989; online version December 2011. [http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/40491 Entry/40491]. Earlier version first published in New English Dictionary, 1893.</ref>
Lines of contravallation and circumvallation generally consist of earthen [[defensive wall|ramparts]] and [[trench warfare|entrenchments]] that encircle the besieged city.
==Antiquity==
[[File:Siege of Grol (Groenlo) 1627 - Grolla Obsessa et Expugnata (J.Blaeu).jpg|thumb|Schematic view of the circumvallation during the [[Siege of Groenlo (1627)|Siege of Groenlo]] in 1627]]
[[Thucydides]] notes the role circumvallation played in the [[Sicilian Expedition]] and in the Spartan [[siege]] of [[Plataea]] during the initial stages of the [[Peloponnesian War]] in 429 BC.
[[Julius Caesar]] in his ''[[Commentaries on the Gallic War]]'' describes his textbook use of the circumvallation<ref>[[Julius Caesar]], ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' [[Wikisource:Commentaries on the Gallic War/Book 7]]</ref> to defeat the [[Gauls]] under their chieftain, [[Vercingetorix]], at the [[Siege of Alesia]] in September 52 BC.
During the [[Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE)|Siege of Jerusalem]], Titus and his Roman legions built a circumvallation, cutting down all trees within {{convert|15|km|mi|0|spell=in|abbr=off}}.
==Middle Ages==
Another example from the pre-modern period is the [[Siege of Constantinople (717–718)]].
The [[caliph]] of the [[Umayyad Empire]] took advantage of the violent anarchy in the [[Byzantine Empire]] to prepare a huge host, comprising more than 100,000 troops and 1,800 ships, to take them to the Byzantine capital, [[Constantinople]]. Upon arriving outside the city's [[Walls of Constantinople#Theodosian Walls|Theodosian walls]], the Arab host had some knowledge that Emperor [[Leo III the Isaurian]] had allied with [[First Bulgarian Empire|Bulgaria]] under ''[[Khan (title)|Khan]]'' [[Tervel of Bulgaria|Tervel]], and so, in preparation for the [[Medieval Bulgarian army|Bulgarian army]], built a set of stone walls against the city and against the countryside, with the Arab camp in between.{{sfn|Petersen|2013|pp=703–708}}
King [[Pepin the Short]] of [[Francia]] built a number of fortified camps during his [[Siege of Bourbon (761)]] to surround the town completely.{{sfn|Petersen|2013|p=729}} He built a complete set of lines of circumvallation and contravallation during the [[Siege of Bourges (762)]].{{sfn|Petersen|2013|pp=730–731}}
==Modern era==
The basic objectives and tactics of a military investment have remained the same in the modern era. During the [[Second World War]], 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 [[Battle of Stalingrad|
Siege of Stalingrad]]. 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 [[Volga River]]. 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 [[airbridge (logistics)|airbridge]], eventually forced the starving Germans in the city to surrender.
In modern times, investments and [[sieges]] of cities are often combined with intensive [[shell (projectile)|shelling]], [[air strikes]] and extensive use of [[land mines|land]] and/or [[sea mines|sea]] mines.
==See also==
* [[Encirclement]]
* [[List of established military terms]]
==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
==Sources==
* {{cite book |last=Petersen |first=Leif Inge Ree |title=Siege Warfare and Military Organization in the Successor States (400–800 AD): Byzantium, the West and Islam |year=2013 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |location=Leiden |isbn=978-90-04-25199-1 }}
[[Category:Siege tactics]]
[[Category:Ancient Roman siege warfare]]
[[Category:Military strategy]]
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