Brief history.

		In 1830 Belgium became an independent country. 
		Formed by the 5 then most important powers (Prussia, France, Austria, England 
		& Russia) a strict neutrality was postulated. This was done so Belgium could 
		act as a "buffer state" between these powers who weren't (and still aren't 
		completely) the worlds best friends. One of the major demands was that Belgium 
		supported his own army on which it could depend. The vurnable position of Bel-
		gium and the lack of natural borders causes the need of not only a strong field-
		army but also for mayor fortifications. 
		
		To man these fortifications, there was of course a need for troops. The mainten-
		ance of the existing encampments and troops was expensive and the defense during 
		a possible conflict would be almost impossible. A study resulted in a brand-new 
		(we are talking 1830 here!) defense concept, the so calledconcentrationisme. 
		A "Nationaal Reduit" or National Encampment was formed around a large city which 
		then, would act as a fortress where the field army could retreat in case of a 
		mishap to wait for resupply and reinforcements. It is not the capital Brussels 
		who gets the task assigned but the city of Antwerp in the north (My guess is 
		that this was because of the river "Schelde" which is the only river usable for 
		seaworthy ships in Belgium thus making the supplying and reinforcing possible)
		
		The use of the "Fortress Antwerp" was already questioned shortly after its 
		establishment in 1859. The quick evolution of the artillery in the second half 
		of the 19e century ruled the fortresses obsolete. The longer range of cannons 
		called for a need of fortress who where further away from the city center. The 
		military wanted a fortress-belt Placed as a front line on about 15 km of the 
		city center. The plan was blocked by a budged problem (Oh-My, things haven't 
		changed a bit in those 120 years). In 1906 the budget is freed  and used to mod-
		ernized the existing XX camps and build 11 new fortresses and 12 encampment 
		bunkers. which brings the total of fortresses to XX.

		Today

		Today almost all of the fortresses are still there, it is simply to expensive 
		to demolish them, they did one and then quit. So most of them are sold to the 
		county or the village on which they stand (lay?) The village then uses it as a 
		playground, rents the barracks to clubs and organizations or uses them as sto-
		rage for their season bound material like snowplows etc. Some, but few of them, 
		are	still in use by the military as ordnance and fuel storage. Other became 
		natural	reserve for mainly bats (those underground bunkers must be bat heaven") 
		As far as i know 2 of them became museum, one a museum about the fortresses and 
		the "Nationaal reduit" the other is a museum on the holocaust because the German
		occupier made an concentration camp out of it (the creepiest place on earth, 
		didn't sleep for a week after visiting) other just sit there, watching time go 
		by..., decaying... pushing up trees, just waiting to get explored!