Russians Learn the Art of French Fortifications

François Blondel (1618–1686)
Novaia manera, ukrepleniiu gorodov [The New Manner of Fortifying Cities]
Moscow: [Pechatnyi Dvor], 1711
NYPL, Slavic and Baltic Division

As a youth, Peter received much of his education from the men of the foreign quarter in Moscow. They taught him military and naval arts and convinced the future tsar that Russia lagged behind the other countries of Europe in this area and that it was his mission to end that backwardness. This task required the translation of the latest foreign treatises on all aspects of warfare. This copper-engraved frontispiece, for a text originally published in France, depicts Pallas Athena, surrounded by the accoutrements of modern warfare – calipers, a T square, maps, etc. – with a classical encampment in the background.