Fortress

High school (ages 12+)
Making & Design

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/fortress

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the key architectural feature?Bastions and sloped walls, particularly in post-gunpowder designs like star forts
2. Why were fortresses built on high ground or near rivers?Builders chose high places or natural barriers so enemies could not easily attack. The height and water made it harder to reach the walls.
3. How did fortresses change when guns were invented?When people started using cannon, old walls were too weak. New forts were built with thick, sloped walls and star shapes to stop cannonballs.

Siege Warfare: Military tactics focused on surrounding and capturing a fortified place by blockade or assault.
Trace Italienne: A style of fortification characterized by angular bastions, developed in response to gunpowder artillery.
Bastion: A projecting part of a fortification built at an angle to the line of the wall, so as to allow defensive fire in several directions.