Raymond Séré de Rivières

Raymond Adolphe Séré de Rivières was born in 1815 in the city of Albi. By 1843 he was a Captain stationed in Toulon. It was here that he developed his master plan to defend the city with a set of individual forts.

His achievements at Toulon earned him his first letter of congratulations from the Minister. It was not until 1874 however (by which time he was a General) that he was instructed to build a defence system to stretch from Dunkirk in the north to Nice in the south. This defence system bore his name and comprised 196 forts, 58 smaller structures and 278 batteries.
He died in Paris on February 16th 1895.