Military
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From its founding, Quebec City held major strategic value as the vital communications link with Europe on which imports, exports, supplies, and reinforcements depended. Because the city was a sought-after prize, its rulers, first French and later British, sought to fortify it, with military engineers giving priority to the Cap-aux-Diamants area. Only after the failed American invasion of 1775 did military authorities undertake the work. In 1778, amid British fears of another American attempt to take the city or of a popular uprising, Governor Frederick Haldimand asked engineer William Twiss to build a temporary citadel. Because labor and money were scarce, it was built of earth and wood. Construction began in 1779, but the peace treaty between England and the United States in 1783 interrupted the work and left the citadel unfinished. Later, from 1820 to 1831, military authorities replaced the temporary work with a masonry citadel, the one known today.
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Quebec · Canada
