Sebastien Leprestre Vauban, marquis de, a French military engineer, born near Saulieu, Burgundy, May 15, 1633, died in Paris, March 30, 1707. In 1651 he enlisted in the army of the prince of Condé, then in arms against the king. Returning to his allegiance, he was made a lieutenant, and in 1655 royal engineer; and during the war against Spain in Flanders he successfully conducted several sieges under Turenne. On the conclusion of peace in 1659 he was employed in improving and constructing fortresses, in which he displayed remarkable skill and originality. In 1667 he was wounded at the siege of Douai. During the invasion of Holland, he took Maestricht and other strongholds (1673-5) by means of his new system of attack. In 1677 he won new laurels by his capture of Valenciennes and Cambrai. In that year he was made commissary general of fortifications, in which capacity he devised and nearly completed that strong line of fortresses which protects the frontiers and sea coasts of France. In the war against the league of Augsburg he took Philippsburg, Mannheim, Mons, Namur, and other towns (1688-'93). In 1699 he was elected an honorary member of the academy of sciences, and in 1703 was made marshal and conducted the siege of Breisach under the duke of Burgundy. During his military career he improved 300 old fortresses and built 33 new ones, conducted 53 sieges, and took part in 140 battles.

His system of attacking a fortified place by regular approaches still practically prevails. As a civil engineer, he constructed the aqueduct of Maintenon, the mole at Honfleur, and several canals in the north and east of France, besides laying out and improving many seaports. Vauban wrote largely on a variety of subjects, and devoted much attention to political economy; but he published only his Projet d'une dixme royale (1707), a scheme for the collection from all classes, according to their means, of a single tax in lieu of all others, which the royal council ordered to be suppressed. His principal military writings, edited by Gen. de la Tour Foissac (3 vols., Paris, 1796), comprise his celebrated Traité de Vattaque et de la defense des places and Traité des mines, originally published at the Hague in 1737, and frequently reprinted separately. A new edition of his Traité des sieges, originally published in Berlin in 1747, appeared at Paris in 1829. Among his other works are selections from his manuscripts (the greater part of which has been lost) entitled Mes oisivetes (4 vols., Paris, 1843-'6). - See Notice historique sur Vauban, by De Chambray (Paris, 1845).