Raymond Adolphe Séré de Rivières

Raymond Adolphe Séré de Rivières (20 May 1815 – 16 February 1895) was a French military engineer and general whose ideas revolutionized the design of fortifications in France. He gave his name to the Séré de Rivières system of fortifications constructed after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Described as the Vauban of the 19th century, his Belgian counterpart was Henri Alexis Brialmont.

Raymond Adolphe Séré de Rivières was born on 20 May 1815 in Albi, France. His family had been part of the nobility as recently as the 17th century. Studying in Paris, he was admitted in 1833 to the École militaire de Saint-Cyr, but he chose not to enter, preferring to pursue the study of law. He entered the École polytechnique in 1835, where the students included Adolphe Thiers, the future Prime Minister. After two years at Polytechnique he left with the rank of sub-lieutenant. He enrolled at the École d'Application de l'Artillerie et du Génie at Metz where he became familiar with the principals of permanent fortification. In 1839 he joined the second regiment of engineers at Arras where he refined his studies, inspired by the ideas of the Marquis de Montalembert. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1841, then captain second class in January 1843, and was nominated to the engineering district of Toulon in April of the same year. At this post he showed his abilities with the design of fortifications. At Toulon his work included the Caserne du Centre and the Fort du Cap-Brun. While at Toulon he married the daughter of the mayor of Toulon in September 1847.

He was successively posted to:

His governing idea concerning fortifications - to defend a given place using detached forts arranged in a line - was first used in the places where Séré de Rivières worked: Toulon, as well as Nice (the Tête de Chien and the Drette et de la Revère works), Metz (Forts Saint-Quentin, Plappeville, Saint-Julien and Queuleu, and Lyon (encirclement linking the Caluire and Montessuy forts).

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