Henri Alexis Brialmont
| Henri-Alexis Brialmont | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
25 May 1821 Venlo, United Netherlands (modern-day Netherlands) |
| Died | 21 July 1903 (aged 82) Brussels, Belgium |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Known for | Contributions to military engineering and fortifications |
Henri-Alexis Brialmont (Venlo, 25 May 1821 – Brussels, 21 July 1903), nicknamed The Belgian Vauban after the French architect Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, was a Belgian army officer, politician and writer of the 19th century, best known as a military architect and designer of fortifications. Brialmont qualified as an officer in the Belgian army engineers in 1843 and quickly rose up the ranks. He served as a staff officer, and later was given command of the district of the key port of Antwerp. He finished his careers as Inspector-General of the Army. Brialmont was also an active pamphleteer and political campaigner and lobbied through his career for reform and expansion of the Belgian military and was also involved in the foundation of the Congo Free State.
Today, Brialmont is best known for the fortifications which he designed in Belgium and Romania and would influence another in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The fortifications he designed in Belgium at the end of the 1880s around the towns of Liège, Namur and Antwerp would play an important role during the early stages of the German invasion of Belgium during World War I.
Henri-Alexis Brialmont was born in Venlo in Dutch Limburg in 1821. His father, Mathieu Brialmont, had served in the French Grand Armée during the Napoleonic Wars and had reached the rank of Captain. During Dutch rule in Belgium, Mathieu served in the Dutch army and, after Belgian independence in 1830, joined the Belgian army. In 1849 he was made General, and was appointed Minister of War in 1850. Although Venlo is not situated in Belgium today, the whole of Limburg was a disputed territory over which the Belgian government claimed control after the Belgian Revolution. Belgium was forced to relinquish its claims at the Treaty of London in 1839 and today the whole of Limburg is in the Netherlands.
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