Stronghold facts for kids

Stronghold is a cool word for a place that's built to be super strong and hard to attack. Think of it like a giant, super-protected building or area. Castles are a great example of strongholds, but they can be many other kinds of fortified places too!

People have been building strongholds for thousands of years, from ancient times all the way up to today. In the Middle Ages, especially in Europe, castles were the most common type of stronghold. They were often where kings or powerful lords lived and ruled from. A more modern example is the Maginot Line, which was a huge line of defenses built in the 20th century.

Did you know "Stronghold" is also the name of a popular video game series? These games let you build and manage your own castles and armies!

What is a Stronghold?

A stronghold is any place that has been made very strong to protect people or things inside it. It's built to be hard for enemies to get into. This could be a single building, like a tower, or a whole area with walls and defenses.

Why Were Strongholds Built?

Strongholds were built for many important reasons:

• Protection: To keep people safe from attacks by enemies or invaders.
• Control: To control an area or an important route, like a river or a mountain pass.
• Power: To show the power and wealth of a ruler or a kingdom.
• Storage: To protect valuable goods, food, or weapons.

Strongholds Through History

People have been building strong defenses for a very long time.

Ancient Strongholds

In ancient times, early strongholds were often simple walls around villages. Over time, they became more complex. For example, the ancient Egyptians built huge fortresses like Buhen to protect their borders. The famous city of Babylon had massive walls and gates, making it a very strong city. In Greece, places like Mycenae had strong stone walls to protect their people.

Medieval Castles

During the Middle Ages, castles became the most famous type of stronghold. They were built all over Europe and the Middle East. Castles often had tall walls, deep moats (ditches filled with water), and strong gates. They were designed to withstand long sieges, where enemies would try to starve out the people inside.

Some famous medieval strongholds include:

• Krak des Chevaliers in Syria, a huge Crusader castle.
• Spiš Castle in Slovakia, one of the biggest castles in Central Europe.
• Malbork Castle in Poland, the world's largest brick castle.

Modern Fortifications

Even with new weapons like cannons and airplanes, people still build strongholds.

• In the 17th and 18th centuries, new designs like star forts became popular. These forts had pointed shapes that helped defend against cannon fire. Fort Bourtange in the Netherlands is a great example.
• During the World Wars, countries built huge lines of defenses. The Maginot Line in France was a massive system of bunkers and tunnels.
• Today, strongholds can be smaller, like bunkers, or even temporary defenses built by soldiers in war zones using things like Hesco bastions.

See also

• Fortification

Images for kids

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  Krak des Chevaliers is one of the best-preserved Crusader castles.

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  Fort Bourtange star fort, restored to 1750 situation, Groningen (province), Netherlands.

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  Blast pen protecting a Supermarine Spitfire in Italy, circa 1944

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  Fortifications on the Iraq-Iran Border, viewed from the ISS, 2014

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  Srebrenik Fortress in Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the Bosnia's best-preserved medieval castles dating from at least 1333.

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  A model of the prehistoric town of Los Millares 3000 BC Spain, with its walls.

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  Artists impression of the battlements at Buhen fortress in Egypt about 1800BC

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  Model of Ishtar Gate and part of the walls of Babylon built by Nebuchadnezzar

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  The Lion Gate at Mycenae, Greece (1600 BC)

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  Heuneburg, a Celtic fort in Germany 600 BC, with mudbrick walls

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  Oppidum of Manching Germany 200 BC with its 7.2 km walls

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  Aurelian Walls Rome, with up to 16 meters tall walls

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  The Great Wall of China.

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  The defensive wall of Hispanic Colonial Intramuros in Manila, Philippines.

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  Spiš Castle in Slovakia - one of the largest castles in Central Europe. An aerial photography documents its enlargement in the course of 11th - 17th centuries.

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  Genoese fortress in Sudak, Ukraine

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  Rumelihisarı, İstanbul, Turkey

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  Jajce is a walled city in Bosnia and Herzegovina, protected by two rivers and long walls.

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  Narva castle and bastions (Estonia) from the 13th century and part of Ivangorod stronghold (Russia) on the left

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  Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork: the world’s largest brick gothic castle, in Poland

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  The fortified city of Valença, Portugal as seen from across the Minho River (Portugal's northern border with Spain)

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  The well preserved Bulgarian medieval fort Baba Vida.

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  Table of Fortification, from the 1728 Cyclopaedia.

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  Austro-Hungarian Fort 31 Benedykt of Kraków fortress

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  Austro-Hungarian Fort I "Salis Soglio" of Przemyśl fortress

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  Entry, Fort d'Uxegney

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  Aerial photograph, Fort de Douaumont, Verdun (1916).

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  Dragon's teeth—tank traps in the Eifel

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  Bunkers in Albania

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  Engineers fill Hesco bastions at a forward operating base in Afghanistan.

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  This historical reconstruction, of an American frontier fort, featured a log stockade, with a sturdy blockhouse built, as a temporary, defensive structure, on the western frontier.

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  Fort Snelling on, the confluence of, the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers, in 1844, in a painting by John Caspar Wild (1804-1846).

See also

In Spanish: Fortificación para niños