El Cuerpo de Ingenieros militares en la Valencia del siglo XVIII. Obras y proyectos

During the War of the Spanish Succession, with the continuous sieges by the Bourbon troops to the Austracist strongholds and especially with the siege of Barcelona in 1713, the demand for military engineers in Spain increased considerably. The need to maintain the conquered territories once the war was over and the main objective of consolidating military power and the control of public order led this demand to continue to grow, consolidating the figure of the engineer as part of the dominant political power. It was in this context that the Corps of military engineers was born in 1711, an institution originated as a result of the reformist will of the new monarchy.In the Kingdom of Valencia, one of the main consequences of the Nueva Planta Decrees after the war was the profound alteration of its institutions and, in particular, the numerous responsibilities attributed to its Captain Generals. Several of these engineers who held important posts in the military command of the capital were in charge of the numerous planimetric surveys that were carried out throughout the 18th century, most of which were never executed. The fragile financial situation of the royal treasury prevented the realisation of projects whose ambition contrasted greatly with their capacity to put them into practice.The objective of this work is to study the main projects that the engineers of the Kingdom carried out with the aim of reinforcing the defence of its borders in times of continuous external threats. By analysing some of the main works they carried out throughout the century, the purpose is to highlight the work of these masters of military architecture who were able to transmit through their designs the essence and functionality of the fortifications they designed with an admirable level of meticulousness and technical precision.