rdfs:comment
| - Though defenders on a high ground already have a direct line of sight, a glacis allows defenders to sweep the field more efficiently by minimizing changes to the angle of their guns while firing. Furthermore, the glacis prevents attacking cannons from having a clear shot at the walls of a fortress, as one usually cannot even see the walls until the glacis is crossed and the ditch, bounded on either side by the smooth, masoned scarp and counterscarp, is reached.
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abstract
| - Though defenders on a high ground already have a direct line of sight, a glacis allows defenders to sweep the field more efficiently by minimizing changes to the angle of their guns while firing. Furthermore, the glacis prevents attacking cannons from having a clear shot at the walls of a fortress, as one usually cannot even see the walls until the glacis is crossed and the ditch, bounded on either side by the smooth, masoned scarp and counterscarp, is reached. More generally, the term glacis can denote any slope, natural or artificial, which fulfils the above requirements. The etymology of this French word suggests a slope made dangerous with ice, hence the relationship with glacier.
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