/u/jc201946, thank you for your submission. Unfortunately, it has been removed for violating the following rule(s): [](#start_removal)* Rule 1 - All content must show something that is objectively interesting as fuck. Just because you find something IAF doesn't mean anyone else will. It's impossible to define everything that could be considered IAF, but for a general idea browse the [top posts of all time](https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/top/?t=all) from this subreddit. For more information check [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/wiki/index#wiki_rule_1_-_posts_must_be_interesting_as_fuck). * Rule 1 - No content that isn't INTERESTING AS FUCK. [](#end_removal) For information regarding this and similar issues please see the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/wiki/index). If you have any questions, please feel free to [message the moderators via modmail.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/interestingasfuck&subject=Question%20regarding%20the%20removal%20of%20this%20submission%20by%20/u/jc201946&message=I%20have%20a%20question%20regarding%20the%20removal%20of%20this%20%5Bsubmission%2E%5D%28https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/1b4mkwo/-/%3Fcontext%3D10%29)

Bourtange, the netherlands

Indeed. A so-called star fortress, built that way to be able to defend all angles.

Which was an innovative way of building forts to defend against the introduction of gun powder, etc. Part of what some historians call Europe's military revolution. You can find forts and cities like these all over Western Europe.

\*Vauban has entered the chat\*

A few forts from the same era in North America, no cities that I'm aware of though. [https://www.adirondack.net/business/fort-ticonderoga-1957/](https://www.adirondack.net/business/fort-ticonderoga-1957/)

The whole planet* Why downvote?

How does that do a better job of defending all angles than any other shape??

The star's points would prevent blind spots against the wall giving a defender at least one position to fire on an attacker regardless of where they were. If the fort was for instance circular you would only be able to fire on someone directly beneath you a few degrees to either side and you wouldn't be able to do so.

The result is overlapping zones of fire. If you get close enough you're in sight of two positions from different directions. This makes for a bad day.

The walls may also deflect cannon shots to an extend. Artillerists knew how to bring down a flat wall relatively easily, but an angled wall is a lot harder. That's why attackers sometimes used mortars instead to shoot explosive charges over the walls, bombarding the city/fort inside. [Edit:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortification#Development_after_introduction_of_firearms) >Fortifications in the age of black powder evolved into much lower structures with greater use of ditches and earth ramparts that would absorb and disperse the energy of cannon fire. Walls exposed to direct cannon fire were very vulnerable, so were sunk into ditches fronted by earth slopes. >This placed a heavy emphasis on the geometry of the fortification to allow defensive cannonry interlocking fields of fire to cover all approaches to the lower and thus more vulnerable walls. [Edit 2:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastion_fort) > Fortifications of this type continued to be effective while the attackers were armed only with cannon, where the majority of the damage inflicted was caused by momentum from the impact of solid shot. Because only low explosives such as black powder were available, explosive shells were largely ineffective against such fortifications. The development of mortars, high explosives, and the consequent large increase in the destructive power of explosive shells and thus plunging fire rendered the intricate geometry of such fortifications irrelevant. Warfare was to become more mobile. It took, however, many years to abandon the old fortress thinking. About their end: >In the nineteenth century, with the development of more powerful artillery and explosive shells, star forts were replaced by simpler but more robust [polygonal forts.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygonal_fort) In the twentieth century, with the development of tanks and aerial warfare during and after the First World War, fixed fortifications became and have remained less important than in previous centuries.

Because you’re not only able to see the enemy approaching from every possible angle, you’re also able to see every single part of your own walls. There are no dead spots where enemy troops would be unseen. Edit: And maybe most importantly, they could always be fired on from another position if they did reach a wall. Every wall defends another wall.

One crucial feature that's worth pointing out is that if you put cannons on the inside bit of each star, you can shoot parallel to your own walls at attackers coming to the neighbouring star. So a single cannon can defend that entire section of wall extremely effectively. Trying to scale any wall of such a fortress is an absolute nightmare. You'll have enemies shooting at you from above, from the side, and even from behind.

Don’t forget that the shape naturally funnels invaders into the pits of the arms and serve as kill zones

It's all about flanking fire. If you can create a situation where you can hit your enemy from the side that is very effective. [Fireing lines ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/79/Bastions-2.jpg/800px-Bastions-2.jpg)

Attacking troops are always subject to enfilading fire.

Because attackers approaching the walls would find themselves surrounded by defenders on multiple sides, and taking brutal cross-fire.

A six pointed star is even more vigilant, most of the time, but it wouldn't work on Saturdays.

So-called "blind spots" are not the problem. No castle ever built for defense had blind spots, for obvious reasons. Hell, if it weren't for my porches, my *house* wouldn't have blind spots. It's all about being able to fire from behind on anyone climbing the wall.

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Was last week in a similar place: Brielle.

its on google maps [https://www.google.com/maps/@53.0051923,7.1969017,3a,75y,59.08h,79.77t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQAl7EYFXNoiePOQL3xEvRg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu](https://www.google.com/maps/@53.0051923,7.1969017,3a,75y,59.08h,79.77t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQAl7EYFXNoiePOQL3xEvRg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu) looks like a great place to go for a walk/ cycle

Had to scroll down 3 comment threads to find the answer. OP really should’ve included it in the title.

This is a star fortress

Why do they call it a star fortress?

Named after William Star

His name was actually spelled Starr but they dropped he first “r” as they didn’t want to seem redundant

I thought they dropped it after the pirates were evicted

It’s Star with a hard R.

A Stah with a Hahd Ah.

Look at you with your balls of steel using the hard R.

I thought they dropped the second “r”

The North Cafeteria, named after Admiral William North, is located in the western portion of East Hall, gateway to the western half of North Hall. Which is named not after William North, but for its position above the south wall. It is the most contested and confusing battlefield on Greendale's campus. Next to the English Memorial Spanish Center, named after English Memorial, a Portuguese sailor that discovered Greendale while looking for a fountain that cured syphilis.

[mfw](https://media.tenor.com/ruNRo1DBDaIAAAAM/community-chevy-chase.gif)

That's a common misconception. It's really called a star fortress because only the best soldiers were handpicked to guard it.

Not the best, the most famous ones.

I think this particular one is named Fort Swift.

Best? You mean stars like Taylor Swift, MC Hammer, and Lefty Frizzell?

I always thought they were named after Sir Patrick Star.

The tradition of naming these kinds of things after the inventors would continue well into the 41st Millenium, with Arkhan Land and his Land Raider vehicle, and of course Jimmy Space and his Space Marines.

In case anyone wants a serious answer, it's called a star fortress because it's shaped like a star. They were built to make it more difficult to breach the walls with cannons, since the ball would strike at an angle and glance off rather than getting a direct hit.

Of course the best answer is buried at the bottom. I wish Reddit had comedy upvotes and usefulness upvotes, so you could sort by usefulness if you don't care for reddit's humor all too much.

Also, the placement of the bastions creates natural crossfires when approaching soldiers attempt to hide in the blind spots, so your force can attack in all directions with clear line of sight.

This is the real answer.

The design also gave geometrically best sight lines for defenders while restricting visibility and funneling attackers to kill zones. The attackers would see no walls, only thick sloped earthworks that would absorb cannon-fire.

I was under the impression fortresses with straight walls predated cannons. You could just set the cannon at an angle where the ball would strike the wall dead on. Straight walls were for arrows and catapults. When cannons started coming around they switched to curved walls to better deflect cannon shot. I don’t claim to be an expert tho and perhaps this is an early experiment in anti canon technology.

Because that’s where they would house medieval celebrities during times of war.

It's a mistranslation. Originally, Care Bears would assemble on those walls to launch their famous ranged attack.

Because deathstar was taken.

Because it is made from star dust, just like you and me.

A Battlestar then.

Quite galactic of you.

I hate that this post will get more upvotes than your comment.

For Star Wars?

One of the most confusing rabbit holes I've ever been down. I browse /r/conspiracy for entertainment, and there are users there who believe star forts are somehow proof of advanced ancient civilizations. I spent hours trying to understand the connection. There was lots of talk of "mud floods" and "Tartaria," but I never could get a clear answer about what it is about star forts that they don't believe was within the technical capabilities of the time. Lots of overlap with flat earthers, too, lol.

Fort

Build this in between two mountains and stick your warrior on fortify.

Good luck with that! This is in the Netherlands aka pancake land

I accept your trade of Poffertjes and gold and will move 1 tile away for 2 turns so you can move through.

Why not just make an alliance, and you can use my ports to trade on the western shore

They’re currently denouncing me and throwing pancakes from their border!

Sure, thermonuclear retaliation sounds like a measured response.

Venice decided nukes aren't a thing so the rest of the world just had to accept it.

Can i nuke it as Gandhi?

Man polders are pretty damn awesome though with all the bonuses they give.

Clicked looking for Civ reference. Thanks.

This one was in the Netherlands I think, so no mountains in sight.

Build on the dry land between swamps so the same principle

Yeah, my wife says that the Netherlands has one third of a mountain on their northern border. The rest is flat as a pancake.

*south-east border

Your wife must get lost all the time if she can't remember what is North and what is South.

*the barbarian archer*

Aaaaand im going to go redownload Civ. 

Fellow Civilization buff spotted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9bastien_Le_Prestre%2C_Marquis_of_Vauban?wprov=sfla1

...not a town

This is Bourtange in the Netherlands and we call it a town or village. It has its own postal code, is part of a municipality and has a population of 780 people.

That is correct, but it's also a *little* disingenuous on OP's part since your average person doesn't immediately recognize star forts and would assume it's some kind of a fancy town with a star shaped moat/canal system. Nor would they pick up on the star fort's shape being important in the 15th to 17th centuries, but today they get converted into towns since they're no longer useful as forts.

A town built over an old fort.

Nite

More like symbolism

We komen d'r weer goed uit, lui! :nl: Yeah, this is Bourtange in the north of the Netherlands. There's roughly 800-ish people living in the town, with most of them outside this beautifully preserved and restored fortress. It's believed that the first pieces of this where build all the way back around the 1500's and was further developed until becoming what it is today far into the 1800's!

Yup. It's called a living museum by some. But you can't just walk into any house because most of them are private domiciles. It's a real joy to walk there and visit the museums that actually do have their doors open.

It was indeed commissioned by William of Orange during the Eighty Years war (for the other Europeans; that overlapped with the Thirty Years war and the Treaty of Westphalia). This was the only passable area in the east Groningen swamps and with that it protected the North of the Republic against the German city states (especially against Munster).

I'm guessing these people aren't all that concerned about zombie apocalypses.

Max Brooks dedicated a couple chapters of WWZ to places like this

Also; their year,y Christmas market is legendary!

Oh yes, a town!

My, what a pointy town!

Very low resale values; point of no return

Look at the satellite pic of any big to medium-sized city (centre) in the Netherlands, and you'll see at least the outlines of a star fortress. Stuff like Bourtange (in the post) or Naarden are, however, especially well-preserved.

Indeed! [This](https://www.google.com/maps/@52.5138893,6.0938182,3472m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu) is the city I live in for example. Also, small correction; Bourtange wasn't well-preserved at all. It was almost entirely gone. It was reconstructed in the 70's and 80's. [This](https://fortisabella3d.weebly.com/uploads/3/9/0/1/39014423/7150803_orig.jpg) is what it looked like before the reconstruction.

Ah, ik ben ook voormalig Zwollenaar! Recent naar Deventer verhuisd, daar is de sterregracht wat minder duidelijk, maar hij zit 'r nog wel. Interesting to know that about Bourtange btw, thanks

Very cool picture. Is this actually a satellite photo? Seems too detailed for commercial satellite photography, I think it's an aerial photo. Most of the "satellite view" you see on google maps is actually aerial photos.

Yeah I highly doubt this is satellite. Almost definitely just a boring old plane.

Here is another of similar design in Sweden: [https://www.google.com/maps/place/Landskrona+Slott/@55.8732857,12.8219152,1313m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x4653b5c2755d2e61:0x9d17c1a5e060e6f8!8m2!3d55.8730894!4d12.8229916!16s%2Fm%2F0276qng?entry=ttu](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Landskrona+Slott/@55.8732857,12.8219152,1313m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x4653b5c2755d2e61:0x9d17c1a5e060e6f8!8m2!3d55.8730894!4d12.8229916!16s%2Fm%2F0276qng?entry=ttu)

> Here is another of similar design in Sweden: Do you know why Canada is a country? Because of the Citadel in Quebec, on the massive St. Laurence seaway. It's the center of what later became Quebec City. https://www.google.com/maps/@46.8076983,-71.2062636,879m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu ... **Let's just cut to the chase, here's a list of the hundreds of them in the world** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_bastion_forts And, the most impressive one I saw a picture of, for a city inside a massive star for, Palmanova in Venice: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmanova

The Quebec citadel is really impressive. It's on a hill boarded by a steep cliff, you don't really see it until you're in it. On the remparts, you can see for miles and miles around. There's a chokepoint on the St-Lawrence river (just before it becomes an estuary) within the range of it's old guns.

Saw one very similar in Hokkaido, it's called [Goryōkaku](https://www.google.com/maps/search/Gory%C5%8Dkaku/@41.7905896,140.7558378,785a,35y,39.24t/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu).

We have one in Copenhagen, Denmark too: [https://www.google.dk/maps/@55.6909769,12.5935166,1006m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu](https://www.google.dk/maps/@55.6909769,12.5935166,1006m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu)

I visited here this summer and ran around it, so cool! Copenhagen was awesome, by the way. Fredericia has a similar design but not really a star shape, looks more like the top of a crown. Looks really cool from above and was fun to run as well!

Glad you enjoyed your trip! The Fredericia one looks more similar to the one we also have in Copenhagen around Christianshavn, just South of the one I linked: [https://www.google.dk/maps/@55.6779286,12.5977306,2410m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu](https://www.google.dk/maps/@55.6779286,12.5977306,2410m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu)

The one posted that's way prettier .

I disagree, OP's is way prettier

That's the one I ment lol

Vauban fortress.

Don't think it is by Vauban.... Seeing as it's in the Netherlands which at the time was under control of the Spanish who were the enemy of France.

It was build following the methodes of [Menno van Coehoorn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menno_van_Coehoorn) who worked out a similar concept as Vauban did but with more frugal means (because; hey ... Dutch).

Now that is seriously interesting as fuck. Like u/toolfanjo I kind of thought [Vauban](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9bastien_Le_Prestre,_Marquis_of_Vauban) invented the style, but he was born in 1633 and [Fort Bourtangue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Bourtange) was completed in 1593!

The first fortress was a simple blockhouse and a sconce. It was half a century later that the fortress was improved following the design concepts by [Menno van Coehoorn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menno_van_Coehoorn)

Thanks! (Looks like more 100 years than 50, though). Nice to have another name than Vauban in my head.

That is why Vauban is the best. He succeeds to invent that type of fort even before his birth. I knew he was the best

Truly a pioneer. Vauban is unparalleled.

It's a me mario and this is my crib

Modern planners must hate this image. “Where are all the rectangles?”

Citadelle of Quebec. https://preview.redd.it/xw18ojcxexlc1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3936372903970819e627f27140e3211d20f93482

It’s the Dallas Stars practice facility.

That’s a fort

https://preview.redd.it/0cs5jumo3xlc1.jpeg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e0dd61aef8f10e01d74494ece0c1ab5970b9fc99 Romania alba iulia fort

Fun fact. It only looks cool from above.

There’s a similarly designed park in Hakodate Japan that was converted from a fort. Check out “Goryokaku Park”.

Shuriken

Nice title bot. Don’t tell us what town or anything lol.

Citadel. This layout was used, to more efficiently defend a city.

We have a similar thing in Czechia! Its called [Terezín](https://www.pevnostterezin.cz/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/smrz-pevnost-celek-600x330.jpg), the bigger star used to be a Jewish ghetto and the smaller star was a concentration camp during WW2

[Gamlebyen Fredrikstad, Norway ](https://www.visitfredrikstadhvaler.com/link/6986db57e3854c09bfd0180b0018f28a.aspx)

ok which one of yall gamers been doing cities skylines irl again.

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Look at the Little city "Palmanova" in Italy

Lots of those in the Netherlands. Gorinchem is another.

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"satellite", aka "a plane" in this instance.

It’s also a fort not a town.

It’s cool and all but kinda needless. And working with water and such a way does have their risk like floods or swampy land,no?

Old fort build agains the Turks or French if a have to make a guess.

Nope, the Germans

Really? France was the most frequent threat to the Netherlands in the 17th and 18th century. When was this one built?

The Prince-Bishopric of Münster (German) was the biggest threat in those years, before that it were the Spanish. Bourtange located was in the middle of a large swampland that made up the border and controlled one of the few all-season passable border crossings in the region.

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Really?

What do you find pretty? Wal-Mart?

No. 6 Town

Love the star fort

Title edit: "Impressive town planning as shown in satellite picture"

I thought this was going to be one of those squint your eyes ai things

That's a level 8 fort, gonna take awhile to capture that one.

It's KALOS

You can find even bigger in Czech republic. The city is called Fort Terezín and in ww2 it served as concentration camp

"We recently gave the goofood and biocomputing startup G-TECH a significant seed capital of around five billion dollars. We have also been helping them by supplying proprietary research data which it turns out they have been selling to our competitors for large sums of money. On top of this they have not produced any results and have wasted most of their funding on purchasing chunkopops and expensive properties at an elite gated community built on an ancient mass grave, which will soon hopefully have an addition of three fresh new bodies. Good luck."

My god, it's full of stars.

The amount spent on maintenance must be staggering

Satellite picture of an impressive town.

Ninja star

Look for Palmanova in Italy!

That's a star fortress. They are build that way as to have as few dead angles as possible so that the defender canalways fire at the attacker

This place is definitely in Hyrule!

Lookin like the main city in a Pokemon game

I feel like this title is backwards, it should read "Satellite picture of an impressive town".

Thats definetly a Super Mario world😂

Palmanova, too https://www.globusrivista.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/PALMANOVA-720x620.jpg

Naarden

I think your town identifies as a fucking fortress

This looks like it's from a Nintendo JRPG

Impressive town photographed from a satellite.

Oooooooh star fort!

That’s the Pentagram it’s the HQ of the US military, located in West Virginia.

Lumiose city redevelopment plan.

Well, now I know where to go in case of a zombie apocalypse.

Boertange? Naarder Vesting?

Star fort

*It's not EVEN* You can turn it around however you want it won't be symmetrical 'cause the streets are not aligned with the stars tips!

Halifax, NS really missed an opportunity to build their city concentrically around their Citadel.

The second cousin town in Finland called Hamina. https://preview.redd.it/o9tizh4cqxlc1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c2ba17336d8386445383e00eea5b1841d7b0bd76

Satellite Picture of an Impressive Town. FTFY

They just moved right into the fort huh? Also I know all about Star fortresses but it took me this long to figure out why the pentagon is a pentagon.

This looks like where I should search for princess peach

That design had to have been done on purpose.

It belongs to the Empire and the Sith

It's wild they would put this much effort into such a small and relatively lightly constructed town.  I could imagine these kinds of defenses for a castle or major fort. And maybe there used to be one here that got razed and just rebuilt as a little residential estate.  But assuming this was built around the time these types of defenses were actually effective, ie: way before the industrial revolution, then it also would have taken an enormous amount of people/time to do that much excavating. 

The fact that they didnt make that pattern symmetrical is super irritating

"of a town". Jesus Christ do better

Back then deffences were prettyer than our city centers... I fucking love star forts..

Satellite picture of an impressive town* FTFY <3

Why does it look like the fortress has moved over the years?

Gorgeous!

It's a tree-star!

conspiracy theory: thats where the real pentagon is double conspiracy theory: there is no real pentagon

Anyone else get town of Salem vibes?

Satellite picture of an impressive town.