ABSTRACT
On August 12, 1870, Viollet-le-Duc wrote to offer his services to the French General Jules-Henri Soumain, commander of the Place de Paris, in the war with Prussia that had broken just a month earlier. The day Viollet-le-Duc chose to write to General Soumain is significant in many ways. August 12 marked a turning point in the war: the first whiff of defeat that would soon sweep over the whole French military. For the purpose of war, Viollet-le-Duc sought simultaneously to revive and channel that rebellious, transgressive spirit in defense of the country. In both domains, war and architecture, Viollet-le-Duc attempted to define the primary organizing motives and their connections. War, of course, requires defensive works of a special order. Not only must they withstand the natural elements, they must resist a process of active and willful destruction set in motion by human ingenuity.
