View source for Wagon fort

{{Short description|Military defense formation}}
{{Other uses|Wagenburg (disambiguation){{!}}Wagenburg}}
[[File:Wagenburg.jpg|thumb|upright=1.125|The Hussite wagenburg]]

A '''wagon fort''', '''wagon fortress''', '''wagenburg''', or '''corral''',<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PwN6DwAAQBAJ&q=%22wagon+fortress%22&pg=PP3|title=The Oxford History of the Crusades|author=Jonathan Simon|author2=Christopher Riley-Smith|year=2002|page=228|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780192803122}}</ref> often referred to as [[Circle the wagons|circling the wagons]], is a temporary [[fortification]] made of [[wagon]]s arranged into a rectangle, circle, or other shape and possibly joined with each other to produce an improvised [[military camp]]. It is also known as a '''laager''' (from [[Afrikaans]]), especially in historical African contexts,<ref name=collins>{{cite web|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/laager|title=laager|work=Collins Dictionary}}</ref><ref name=mw>{{cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/laager|title=laager|work=Merriam-Webster Dictionary}}</ref> and a '''tabor''' (from Polish/Ukrainian/Russian) among the [[Cossacks]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Davies|first=Brian|title=Warfare in Eastern Europe, 1500-1800|chapter-url=https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004221987/B9789004221987-s006.xml|chapter=Guliai-gorod, Wagenburg, and Tabor Tactics in 16th–17th Century Muscovy and Eastern Europe|date=2012-01-01|pages=93–108|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-22198-7|language=en|doi=10.1163/9789004221987_006}}</ref>

==Overview==
[[File:Circled wagons.jpg|thumb|Circled wagons]]

[[Ammianus Marcellinus]], a [[Roman Empire|Roman]] army officer and historian of the 4th century, describes a Roman army advancing "ad carraginem" as they approach a [[Goths|Gothic]] camp, notably during the [[Battle of Adrianople]].<ref>Ammianus Marcellinus, book 31, chapter 7, in the Latin.</ref> Historians interpret this as a wagon-fort.<ref name="MarcellinusWallace-Hadrill1986">{{cite book|author1=Ammianus Marcellinus|author2=Andrew Wallace-Hadrill|title=The Later Roman Empire: (A.D. 354-378)|url=https://archive.org/details/laterromanempire00ammi|url-access=registration|year=1986|publisher=Penguin Books Limited|isbn=978-0-14-044406-3|pages=[https://archive.org/details/laterromanempire00ammi/page/423 423]|quote=Hamilton translates "ad carraginem quam ita ipsi appellant" as "to what they call their wagon-fort".}}</ref> Notable historical examples include the [[Hungarians]] using it during the [[Hungarian invasions of Europe]],<ref>Magyar katolikus Lexikon, <nowiki>https://lexikon.katolikus.hu/S/szekérvár.html</nowiki></ref> the [[Hussite]]s, who called it ''vozová hradba'' ("wagon wall"), known under the German translation ''Wagenburg'' ("wagon fort/fortress"), ''tabors'' in the armies of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] and [[Cossacks]], and the ''laager'' of settlers in [[South Africa]].

Similar, ''ad hoc'', defensive formations used in the [[United States]] were called ''corrals''.<ref>{{cite dictionary|dictionary=Random House Unabridged Dictionary|title=Corral|quote=a circular enclosure formed by wagons during an encampment, as by covered wagons crossing the North American plains in the 19th century, for defense against attack}}</ref><ref name="Keenan2000">{{cite book|author=Jerry Keenan|title=The Wagon Box Fight: An Episode of Red Cloud's War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NIkyTm2LtJcC&pg=PA21|year=2000|publisher=Da Capo Press|isbn=1-882810-87-2|pages=21–|quote=The corral was composed of fourteen of these wagon boxes, placed end-to-end so as to form an oval-shaped enclosure. ... The corral was positioned so that both "pineries" were under visual control and was "well selected for defense ...}}</ref><ref name="Dickson1929">{{cite book|author=Albert Jerome Dickson|title=Covered Wagon Days: A Journey Across the Plains in the Sixties and Pioneer Days in the Northwest|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A19fVIfufswC&pg=PA106|year=1929|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|isbn=0-8032-6582-4|pages=106–|quote=Scattered trains, as before stated, were to be brought together and arrangements made for defense. ... Within an hour all the trains were merged in one immense corral, the wagons as they were driven into place being fastened together with four chains apiece.}}</ref><ref name="Monnett2008">{{cite book|author=John H. Monnett|title=Where a Hundred Soldiers Were Killed: The Struggle for the Powder River Country in 1866 and the Making of the Fetterman Myth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ppnpQIZKdu8C&pg=PA197|year=2008|publisher=UNM Press|isbn=978-0-8263-4503-5|pages=197–|quote=The Wagon Box fight has gained legendary status over the years as a tumultuous and successful defensive stand by woodcutters and their 27th Infantry escort. ... [T]he garrison at Phil Kearny had constructed a protective corral of wagon beds to protect livestock and serve as a defensive position in case of Indian attack.}}</ref> These were traditionally used by 19th-century [[European colonization of the Americas|American settlers]] traveling to the West in convoys of [[Conestoga wagon]]s.<ref name="Reid1871">{{cite book|author=Mayne Reid|title=The Wild Huntress; Or, Love in the Wilderness|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HeRDAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA411|year=1871|publisher=Carleton|pages=411–|quote=There were about a score of the large tilted wagons (Troy and Conestoga), with several smaller vehicles (Dearborns and Jerseys). ... With the larger wagons, a 'corral' had been formed, as is the usual custom of the prairie caravan.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Improvement Era|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2LntAAAAMAAJ|volume=60|year=1957|publisher=General Board, Y.M.M.I.A.|pages=719–|quote=Grain fields cover the land where oxen once pulled the huge Conestoga wagons. Once the wagons were well away from the water, the waiting Indians swooped down. Quickly the wagons were swung about to form a corral. Inside were three hundred men, women, and children, and all their animals.}}</ref>

==History==

===Chinese===
One of the earliest written claims of using conjoined mobile shields as fortification is described in the Chinese historical record ''[[Book of Han]]''. During the 119 BC [[Battle of Mobei]] of the [[Han–Xiongnu War]], the famous [[Han dynasty|Han]] general [[Wei Qing]] led his army through a fatiguing expeditionary march across the [[Gobi Desert]] only to find [[Yizhixie]] [[chanyu]]'s main force waiting to encircle them on the other side. Using armored heavy wagons known as "Wu Gang Wagon" ({{lang-zh|武剛車}}) in ring formations, which provided Chinese [[Archery|archers]], [[crossbowmen]], and [[infantry]] protection from the Xiongnu's powerful [[Charge (warfare)|cavalry charges]], and allowed Han troops to utilize their ranged weapons' advantages of [[Accuracy and precision|precision]]. Wei Qing neutralised the [[Xiongnu]]'s initial cavalry charges, forcing a [[stalemate]] and buying time for his troops to recover strength, before using the cover of a [[sandstorm]] to launch a counteroffensive which overran the [[nomad]]s.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Book of Han|author=Ban Gu|author-link=Ban Gu|year=111}}</ref>

===Czechs and Hussites===
[[File:Die Frauen der Teutonen verteidigen die Wagenburg by Heinrich Leutemann.jpg|thumb|"The Women of the [[Teutons]] Defend the Wagon Fort" (1882) by [[Heinrich Leutemann]].]]

In the 15th century, during the [[Hussite Wars]], the [[Hussite]]s developed tactics of using the tabors, called ''vozová hradba'' in Czech or ''Wagenburg'' by the [[Germans]], as mobile [[fortification]]s. It was first used in the [[Battle of Nekmíř]]. When the Hussite army faced a numerically superior opponent, the [[Bohemia]]ns usually formed a square of the armed wagons, joined them with iron chains, and defended the resulting fortification against charges of the enemy. Such a camp was easy to establish and practically invulnerable to enemy [[cavalry]]. The etymology of the word ''tabor'' may come from the Hussite fortress and modern day Czech town of [[Tábor]], which itself is a name derived from biblical [[Jezreel Valley|Jezreel]] mountain [[Mount Tabor|Tabor]] (in Hebrew תבור).

The crew of each wagon consisted of 18 to 21 soldiers: 4 to 8 crossbowmen, 2 handgunners, 6 to 8 soldiers equipped with pikes or flails, 2 shield carriers, and 2 drivers. The wagons would normally form a square, and inside the square would usually be the cavalry. There were two principal stages of the battle using the wagon fort: defensive and counterattack. The defensive part would be a pounding of the enemy with artillery. The Hussite artillery was a primitive form of a [[howitzer]], called in [[Czech language|Czech]] a ''houfnice'', from which the [[English language|English]] word howitzer comes. Furthermore, they called their guns the Czech word ''píšťala'' ([[hand cannon]]), in that they were shaped like a pipe or a [[fife (instrument)|fife]], from which the word [[pistol]] is possibly derived. When the enemy approached near enough, crossbowmen and hand-gunners emerge from the wagons and inflict more casualties at close range. There would even be stones stored in a pouch inside the wagons for throwing should the soldiers run out of ammunition. After this huge barrage, the enemy would be demoralized. The armies of the anti-Hussite crusaders were usually heavily armored [[knight]]s. Hussite tactics were to disable the knights' horses so that the dismounted (and ponderous) knights would be easier targets. Once the commander saw fit, the second stage of battle would begin. Men with [[sword]]s, [[flail (weapon)|flails]], and [[polearm]]s would spring out and attack the weary enemy. Alongside this infantry, cavalry would leave the square and strike. The enemy would be eliminated, or very nearly so.

The wagon fort was later used by the crusading anti-Hussite armies at the [[Battle of Tachov]] (1427). Anti-Hussite [[Holy Roman Empire|German]] forces, unfamiliar with this type of strategy, were defeated. The Hussite wagon fort strategy failed at the [[Battle of Lipany]] (1434), where the [[Utraquist]] faction of Hussites defeated the [[Taborite]] faction. On a hill within a wagon fort, they were drawn into charging out prematurely, when their enemy pretended to retreat. The Utraquists would be reconciled with the Catholic Church afterward. Thus, the wagon fort's impact on Czech history has ended. The first victory against the wagon fort at the Battle of Tachov showed that the best ways to defeat it were to prevent it from being erected in the first place or to get the men inside to charge out prematurely after a feint. Such solutions meant the fortification lost its prime advantage. The importance of the wagon fort in Czech history diminished, but the Czechs would continue to use the wagon forts in later conflicts. After the [[Hussite Wars]], foreign powers such as the [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungarians]] and [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Poles]] who had confronted the destructive forces of Hussites, hired thousands of Czech mercenaries (such as into the [[Black Army of Hungary]]). Hungarian general [[John Hunyadi]] studied the Hussites' tactics, he applied its featuring elements in his army during the [[Hungarian–Ottoman Wars]], including the use of war wagons as a mobile fortress called ''szekérvár'' in Hungarian.<ref name="Cartledge">{{cite book|last=Cartledge|first=Bryan|title=The Will to Survive: A History of Hungary|publisher=C. Hurst & Co.|year=2011|isbn=978-1-84904-112-6}}</ref><ref name="Teke">{{cite book|last=Teke|first=Zsuzsa|title=Hunyadi János és kora ''[John Hunyadi and his Times]''|publisher=Gondolat|year=1980|isbn=963-280-951-3|language=hu}}</ref>  At the [[Battle of Varna]] in 1444, it is said that 600 Bohemian handgunners (men armed with early shoulder arms) defended a wagon fortification. The Germans would also use wagons for fortification. They used much cheaper materials than the Hussites, and different wagons for infantry and artillery. The [[Tsardom of Russia|Russians]] also used a type of movable fortress, called a ''[[guliai-gorod]]'' in the 16th century.<ref>{{cite book|title=Random House The Hussite Wars (1419–36)|author=Stephen Turnbull|date=25 May 2004|publisher=Osprey Publishing|isbn=1-84176-665-8}})</ref>

A danish peasant rebellion in 1441, culminating in the battle of St. Jørgensbjerg also used the war fortresses. The leader of the danish peasants were led by [[Henrik Reventlow]] who had participated in the [[Hussite Wars]] and had learned of the war fortress by participating in [[Albert II of Germany#The Hussite Wars and Widespread Persecution|Albert II's war against the Hussite]]. There he saw what a formidable defence the war fortress was, and then used it in the peasant rebellion. While it is not certain how the fortress was built, it still played a crucial role in defending Husby against a more well equipped army under [[Christopher of Bavaria]]. While the fortress did defend Husby initially, Henrik's army was defeated after much of his army had left. The casualties of the peasant army is speculated to be 6,000-25,000. Henrik was executed shortly after by Christoffer. <ref>{{Cite book|last=Hau|first=Christian|title=Slaget på Sct. Jørgensbjerg|date=2016|pages=30–32|language=Danish|trans-title=Battle of Sct. Jørgensbjerg}}</ref>

Another use of this tactic was the very similar [[infantry square]]s deployed by [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Wellington]] at the [[Battle of Waterloo]]. Likewise the [[South Africa]]n laager. The wagon forts would form into squares, supporting each other. Were an assault made between two forts, marksmen from both would easily exploit the advantage and kill many of the enemy.

==Variations==

===Laager===
[[File:N.N. (1806) p054 A BULLOCK-WAGGON.jpg|thumb|A romanticized depiction of the Great Trek]]

The English word ''laager'' comes from the obsolete [[Afrikaans]] word ''lager'' (now ''laer''), which comes from the [[German language|German]] word ''Lager'' ("camp" or "lair")<ref name=mw/><ref name=collins/> and the Dutch ''leger'' which also gives English 'leaguer' ("military camp").<ref>{{citation|title=laager, n.|work=OED Online|date=September 2021|publisher=Oxford University Press.|url=https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/104669?rskey=SpiLKF&result=1|access-date=September 20, 2021}}</ref> The word refers to the ancient defensive formation used by travelers throughout the world in dangerous situations in which they would draw wagons into a circle and place [[cattle]] and [[horse]]s on the inside to protect them from raiders or nocturnal animals. Laagers were extensively used by the [[Voortrekkers]] of the [[Great Trek]] during the 1830s. The laager was put to the ultimate test on 16 December 1838, when an army of 10,000–15,000 [[Zulu people|Zulu]] [[Impi]]s besieged and were defeated by approximately 460 [[Voortrekkers]] in the aptly named [[Battle of Blood River]]. In 19th-century America, the same approach was used by pioneers who would "circle the wagons" in case of attack.<ref>{{cite web|last=Wisniewski|first=J.|author2=Kevin Nakamura|url=http://www.cracked.com/article_20372_5-ridiculous-myths-everyone-believes-about-wild-west.html|title=5 Ridiculous Myths Everyone Believes About the Wild West|publisher=Cracked|date=April 24, 2013|access-date=2014-08-18}}</ref><ref name="MichnoMichno2008">{{cite book|author1=Gregory F. Michno|author2=Susan J. Michno|title=Circle the Wagons!: Attacks on Wagon Trains in History and Hollywood Films|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kEKmxYSguZkC&pg=PA196|date=24 November 2008|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-3997-3|pages=196–}}</ref>

''Leaguer'' was used in the British Army for temporary overnight camps made by armored formations.<ref>{{citation|title=TM 30-410 Handbook on the British army: with supplements on the Royal Air Force and civilian defense organizations|date= September 30, 1942|page=210}}</ref>

===Tabor===
[[File:Gipsies. 754 (NBY 418345).jpg|thumb|Oilette postcard view of a Romani camp]]

A ''tabor'' is a [[convoy]] or a [[Cantonment|camp]] formed by horse-drawn wagons. For example, nomadic [[Romani people|Romani]] used to wander and camp in ''tabor'' formations.<ref name="polish">{{cite web|title=Polish Romani (gypsy) surnames|url=https://polishforums.com/genealogy/romani-gypsy-surnames-39766|quote=Sounds right for a Gypsy name. Tabor in Polish is a wagon train and a "tabor cygański" is a Gypsy wagon train.}}</ref> Tabors supported the armies in Europe between the 13th and 20th centuries. Tabors usually followed the armies and carried all the necessary supplies and rear units, such as [[field kitchen]]s, [[armorer]]s or [[shoemaker]]s.<ref>{{cite web|last=Waliczek-Raczka|first=Manuela|title=Building A Gypsy Wagon|date=21 August 2014|url=https://www.handimania.com/diy/building-gypsy-wagon.html|access-date=2018-12-04|archive-date=2021-05-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509234433/https://www.handimania.com/diy/building-gypsy-wagon.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The tactics were later copied by various armies of [[Central Europe]], including the army of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]. In the 16th and 17th centuries, these tactics were also mastered by the [[Cossacks]], who used their tabors for the protection of marching troops as well.

==See also==
* [[Troop sleeper]]
* [[en:Circle the wagons|Circle the wagons]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last1=Michno|first1=Gregory|last2=Michno|first2=Susan|date=2008-11-24|title=Circle the Wagons!: Attacks on Wagon Trains in History and Hollywood Films|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kEKmxYSguZkC|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-3997-3}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links | 1= | display= Wagon fort| author= | wikt=circle the wagons| commons=category:Wagon forts | n= no| q= circle the wagons| s= 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Laager | b=no | voy=no | v= no | d=Q92409 | species=no | species_author= no| m=no| mw=no }}

* {{Wiktionary-inline|laager}}
* {{cite web|url=http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/matthaywood/main/Warwagons.htm|title=Warwagons}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/horsemusket/korsun/default.aspx|title=The Zaporozhian Cossack Battle at Korsun|access-date=2008-06-13|archive-date=2009-02-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090208182836/http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/horsemusket/korsun/default.aspx|url-status=dead}}

{{Fortifications}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Fortifications by type]]
[[Category:Medieval defences]]
[[Category:Military technology]]
[[Category:Tactical formations]]
[[Category:Wagons]]