Inspired by the Martello towers along the British channel coast the Lines of Torres, in Portugal, represent one of the cheapest and most remunerative military investments in History. Built in 11 months and in the highest secrecy 200 years ago, they’re returning back to life through historical recreations of the bicentenary of Peninsular War era, like the one at Fort Zambujal.
On the Fort of Zambujal, atop the Valley of Senhora do Ó (the Pregnant Lady), north of Lisbon, the British and Portuguese flags blowing in the wind are a sign to travel in time. Religious monks saying prayers and sipping wine mix with workers, soldiers and chubby peasant women preparing meals. A British officer looks into the horizon from the top of the hill, while some uniform clad men behind him seems to study maps and discuss secrets. Actors re-enact a moment in History: the building of the defensive line of Lisbon, during the Peninsular War (1809-1812).
The Lines of Torres, were a system of 152 fortifications, blockhouses, redoubts and ravelins built under the order of General Wellesley, Duke of Wellington to protect the city of Lisbon from the French troops under the command of Marshal Masséna. They’re, from an historical point of view, one of the most important examples in the field of military strategy.
In seven months, 108 forts and 151 redoubts were built, with ravelins, detached batteries, furnished with 1,067 pieces of artillery and provided with 79,665 men (about 36,000 Portuguese, 35,000 British, 8,000 Spanish), one of the most efficient systems of field blockhouses in military history. In total 11 month was it took the get the whole system working, a feat even today, in a country where everything seems to take forever to go from project to reality. For example, most of the promised recuperations of the forts in the Lines of Torres are still to happen, although promises and propaganda from the authorities involved into the project.
But Fort Zambujal is already open to visit (free) since January 2010 and was used recently to recreate the days when British and Portuguese stayed there, troops and the local peasants helping to feed the armed forces, while the walls on the fortress were being built. The French never came close to the Fort, but the recreation “The French Are Coming!” was a unique moment of time-travel only broken by the far distant signs of a modern time.
The Linhas de Torres Vedras consists of 152 fortresses (stonework fortresses, land redoubts, small forts and batteries), quarters and escarpments, and had a total of 427 firing positions. The fortress lines have until now been partially ruined and threatened by erosion and human intervention in the form of dissonant elements such as communications antennas, wind generators and other elements.
The restoration is the first part of the establishment of a new historical sightseeing route which will teach tourists and local visitors alike about the era and the role of the fortress lines in preventing a French invasion during the Napoleonic wars. Recreations like the one at Fort Zambujal help to create a visual image of that period in the History of Europe.
