Breastwork (fortification)

Breastwork trench at Armentieres in 1916, during World War I

A breastwork is a temporary fortification, often an earthwork thrown up to breast height to provide protection to defenders firing over it from a standing position. A more permanent structure, normally in stone, would be described as a parapet or the battlement of a castle wall.

In warships, a breastwork is the armored superstructure in the ship that did not extend all the way out to the sides of the ship. It was generally only used in ironclad turret ships designed between 1865 and 1880.

18th century and earlier	Abwurfdach Bastion Blockhouse Breastwork Canal Caponier Casemate Cavalier Counterguard Counterscarp Couvreface Coupure Covertway Crownwork Entrenchment Flèche Gorge Hornwork Lunette Orillon Ostrog Outwork Place-of-arms Polygonal fort Presidio (Spanish America) Punji sticks Ravelin Redan Redoubt Retrenchment Sandbag Scarp Sconce Schanze Sea fort Station Star fort Tenaille

19th century	Barbed wire Barbette Border outpost Bunker Coastal artillery Gun turret Land battery Land mine Martello tower Outpost Trench warfare Sangar Wire obstacles

20th century	Admiralty scaffolding Air-raid shelter Barbed tape Blast shelter Blast wall Border barrier Bremer wall Concertina wire Defensive fighting position British "hedgehog" road block Czech hedgehog Dragon's teeth Electric fence Fallout shelter Fire support base Flak tower Hardened aircraft shelter Hesco bastion Main Line of Resistance Revetment Sentry gun Spider hole Underground hangar

By topography

By role

By design

See also: Category

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Breastwork (fortification)

See also