Fortifications aremilitary constructions andbuildings designed fordefense duringwar. People have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, but the designs have become more and more complex. The term fortification comes from theLatin wordsfortis ("strong") andfacere ("to make").
Many military installations are known asforts, although they are not always fortified. Larger forts may class asfortresses, smaller ones formerly often bore the name offortalices. Some arecastles. The wordfortification can also mean the practice of improving an area's defense with defensive works.City walls arefortifications but not necessarily calledfortresses.
The last great system of fortification to be built was theAtlantic Wall.
