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Question: Can forts be self sufficient !? for how much time !?how !?
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The whole concept of a fort centres on self-sufficiency for as long as its supplies hold out or until the enemy irrecoverably breaches the defences!.

The quintessential fort for illustrative purposes is the Krak de Chevaliers, one of the most famous of Crusader castles, used by the Knights Hospitaller!. It was situated on a large outcrop of rock, proof against mining and earthquakes, and the design made it almost impossible to escalade!.

Krak de Chevaliers had huge storerooms and could be provisioned to last a 2,000-man garrison for five years!. Its huge rainwater cisterns ensured the garrison would never run short of water!. It also possessed stocks of missile weapons, incendiary devices and less spectacular items from sewing needles to lamp oil, firewood and cooking charcoal to last the same period!. It was the careful accumulation and maintenance of these stores, in secure chambers within the depths of the fortress, that gave it its capability to endure (it was eventually yielded to the Muslims not because they were able to breach the defences or starve it into submission, but because the defenders were deceived by a forged letter)!.

So forts can be self-sufficient for as long as their provisions last or their defences stand the assaults and/or wiles of the enemy!. Krak de Chevaliers and its five-year provisioning are exceptional, but the city of Tyre once withstood siege by the army of Nebuchadnezzar - successfully - for seven years!. The city of Bursa in Asia Minor surpassed even this record: it held out against the Ottoman Turks for almost ten years (1317-26)!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Most fortified locations rely on stores of food, which will inevitably run out eventually; some could last a month, most could last a year, and a few rare, super-valuable castles could hold out for a decade!. But a good general could break any castle in a few months, given the right tools to work with!.

The cost of building walls was such that no one could afford to wall in farms, so food couldn't really be produced within a fort!. Water was another thing altogether!. While some forts had wells or cisterns, many relied on massive tanks of water that could run out very quickly!.

By the time that the Castle had been replaced by the Fort, seige techniques had become such that cannons could level a place in a matter of days, so this all became moot point anyway!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

As long as the sanitation water and food hold out!. Indefinitely!? No!. THere is a limit!. It would be based on the above!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

yes forts can be self sufficient for as long a time they are designed to be!.!.!!Www@QuestionHome@Com