This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Breastwork fortification news newspapers books scholar JSTOR February 2024 Learn how and when to remove this message A breastwork is a temporary fortification often an earthwork thrown up to breast or shoulder height to provide protection to defenders firing over it from a standing position A more permanent structure normally in stone would be described as a parapet or the battlement of a castle wall Breastwork at Armentieres in 1916 during World War I In warships a breastwork is the armored superstructure in the ship that did not extend all the way out to the sides of the ship It was generally only used in ironclad turret ships designed between 1865 and 1880 ReferencesLinedecker Clifford L 18 December 2007 Civil War A to Z The Complete Handbook of America s Bloodiest Conflict Random House Publishing Group ISBN 978 0 307 41477 9 Darvill Timothy 2002 The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 211649 9 See alsoList of established military terms Fortifications Wikimedia Commons has media related to Breastworks This military base or fortification article is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library, article, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games, mobile, phone, android, ios, apple, mobile phone, samsung, iphone, xiomi, xiaomi, redmi, honor, oppo, nokia, sonya, mi, pc, web, computer