Fort de Charenton

Fort de Charenton
Part of Thiers fortifications of Paris
Maisons-Alfort, France
Entry, Fort de Charenton
Fort de Charenton
Coordinates	48°48′32″N 2°25′44″E / 48.808927°N 2.428828°E / 48.808927; 2.428828
Type	Fort
Site information
Owner	Gendarmerie Nationale Française
Controlled by	France
Open to the public	no
Condition	Occupied
Site history
Built	1842 (1842)
Battles/wars	Siege of Paris
Garrison information
Occupants	Gendarmerie nationale

Fort de Charenton is a fortification built in 1842 in the community of Maisons-Alfort, and part of the Paris defences planned by Adolphe Thiers.

After the fall of Napoleon I in 1814, and again after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in 1815, Paris was occupied by foreign forces. To counter new invasion and occupation, defensive works were planned. In 1841 a new fortified enclosure of Paris was proposed, becoming known as the Thiers wall after its chief proponent, prime minister Adolphe Thiers. The plan involved the construction of a new fortified wall around an expanded Paris, the Thiers wall proper, and the building of sixteen new forts a few kilometers farther out. The Fort de Charenton was planned as part of this system. Presently occupied by the National Gendarmerie, the fort saw passing regiments as well as foreign occupation forces at the time of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 and the Second World War.

Before the Napoleonic Wars, Paris had not been invaded by an enemy army since the Hundred Years' War. Louis-Philippe, proclaimed king of the French in 1830, was convinced that the key to the defense of France was to prevent Paris from falling too easily into the hands of foreign armies, as in 1814. He conceived a project to build an enclosure of fortifications around the capital that would make the city impregnable. The first project was presented to the Chambre des Députés at the beginning of 1833 by Marshal Soult, President of the Council and Minister of War. The proposal was sharply opposed by the Left, which suspected, or pretended to suspect, ulterior motives on behalf of the government with respect to internal policy. The Left claimed that the fortifications were actually intended not to defend France, but to threaten Parisians if they revolted against the royal powers.