Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Brialmont, Alexis Henri
BRIALMONT, Alexis Henri, a Belgian writer on military subjects, son of General Laurent Mathieu Brialmont, was born at Venloo, in the province of Limburg, May 25, 1821. He quitted the military school at Brussels with the rank of sub-lieutenant in 1843. Being connected, as an engineer officer, with the management of the fortifications, he was appointed to carry out the works at the fortress of Diest. From 1847 to 1850 he was private secretary to General Chazal, thoc Minister of War. In 1855 he left the corps of engineers and became a member of the staff, attaining to the rank of Captain in 1857. In due course he became Major-General, and in 1877 Lieutenant-General. He was appointed Inspector-General of Fortifications and of the Sappers and Miners in Belgium in 1875. Lieut.-General Brialmont has written many works on military history and tactics. Among them are "Précis d'Art Militaire," 1844, in the "Bibliothèque Populaire" of the "Société pour l'Emancipation Intellectuelle;" "Éloge de la Guerre, ou réfutation des doctrines des Amis de la Paix," 1849, a pamphlet written on the occasion of the Congress, and dedicated to the army; "De la Guerre, de l'Armée, et de la Garde Civique," 1849; a remarkable article on the construction of Powder Magazines, in the "Annales des Travaux Publics," 1849; "Considérations politiques et militaires sur la Belgique," 3 vols., 1851–52; "Histoire du Duc de Wellington," 3 vols., 1856–57, translated into English with emendations and additions by the Rev. G. R. Gleig, 1858, et seq.; "A French Officer's Ideas upon the Defence of England," edited by A. Kinloch, 1860; "Études sur la Défense des États et sur la Fortification," 3 vols., with atlas, 1863; "Le Corps Belge du Mexique," 1864; "Réflexions d'un Soldat sur les Dangers qui menacent la Belgique," 1865; "Considérations sur la Réorganisation de l'Armée," 1866; "Traité de Fortification Polygonale," 2 vols., 1869, with atlas; "La Fortification Improvisée," 1870, translated into English by C. A. Empson, under the title of "Hasty Entrenchments," 1872; "La Fortification à Fossés secs," 2 vols., 1872, with atlas; and "Ce que vaut la Garde Civique. Étude sur la situation militaire de la Belgique," 1872. He started in 1850 the Journal de I'Armée Belge.