Lettre à MM. de l’Académie Française sur l’éloge de M. le Maréchal de Vauban

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June 30, 2026

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The Lettre à MM. de l’Académie Française sur l’éloge de M. le Maréchal de Vauban (1786) is a work by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. In this piece, Laclos satirized the French army and its outdated defensive strategies. This critique led to him losing his army commission.12

Laclos is more widely known for his novel Les Liaisons dangereuses (1782), considered an early example of the psychological novel. The French Academy, established in 1634, aimed to maintain literary standards and the French language. Marshal de Vauban was a renowned French military engineer known for his innovations in siege craft and fortifications.1234

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Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
His Lettre à MM. de l’Académie Française sur l’éloge de M. le Maréchal de Vauban (1786; “Letter to the Gentlemen of the French Academy on the Eulogy of Marshal de Vauban”) mocked the French army and its hopelessly outdated methods of defense and, as a result,…
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His Lettre à MM. de l’Académie Française sur l’éloge de M. le Maréchal de Vauban (1786; “Letter to the Gentlemen of the French Academy on the Eulogy of Marshal de Vauban”) mocked the French army and its hopelessly outdated methods of defense and, as a result,…
Read More