• Home
  • About
    • About Christopher di Armani
    • Disclosure Statement
    • Code of Ethics
    • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Gun Laws 101
  • FPO Violators
  • Store
  • Donate
  • Hire Me

Christopher di Armani.com

In Praise of Individual Rights and Freedoms

  • Top 25
  • Big Brother
    • Access To Information
    • Bureaucratic Incompetence
    • Bureaucrat’s Rule #1
    • Censorship
    • Feeding at the Government Trough
    • Lemonade Freedom
  • Common Sense
    • Expressions of Gratitude
    • Good Samaritans
    • Good Stuff
    • In Memoriam — Remembering our Heros
    • Life
    • Personal Responsibility
    • Politically Correct Madness
  • Courts
    • Abusive Prosecutions
    • Civil Forfeiture
    • Human Rights Tribunals
    • Judicial Corruption
    • Justice Denied
    • Justice System Abuses
    • Police Sentencing Double-Standards
    • Prosecutorial Misconduct
    • SLAPP Lawsuits
  • Crime
    • Abuse of Trust
    • Canadian Mass Murders
    • Firearm Prohibition Orders
    • Human Depravity
    • Immigration Issues
    • Racism
    • Restraining Orders
    • Sexual Predators
    • Violent Criminals
    • Wrongful Convictions
  • Guns
    • Concealed Carry
    • Dial 9-1-1 and Die
    • Firearms Act
    • Fun Gun Stuff
    • Gun Control
    • Gun-Free Zones
    • Gun Politics
    • Gun Registration
    • Negligent Discharges
    • Target Shooting Competitions
  • Islam
    • Canadian Islamic Disgraces
    • Islamic Terrorism
    • Radical Islam
    • Sharia Law
    • The Religion Of Peace
  • Police
    • Abuse of Police Authority
    • Filming Police
    • Great Police Officers
    • Officer Down
    • Police Brutality
    • Police Corruption
    • Police Misconduct
    • RCMP Accountability
    • RCMP Hall of Shame
    • Warrantless Searches
  • Politics
    • Elections
    • Ethics in Politics
    • Political Antics
    • Political Corruption
    • Social Justice
    • Stupid Human Tricks
    • Union Bay Improvement District
  • Rights
    • Charter of Rights and Freedoms
    • Constitutional Violations
    • Freedom of Assembly
    • Freedom of Religion
    • Freedom of Speech
    • Property Rights
    • Privacy Rights
    • Self-Defense
    • Unreasonable Search and Seizure

The Return of the Fortified City?

Published January 13, 2013 by Frank Hilliard Filed Under: Guns, Self-Defense


There are many gauges of social decay such as gated communities and bars over windows and doors. However you can tell things are really getting serious if people start to live in castles or fortified cities.

The hill city of Orvieto
The hill city of Orvieto

I’ve illustrated a traditional fortified city; Orvieto in Tuscany, Italy. As you can see it was built on a small plateau for defensive purposes, not in the fertile valley below.

This was the standard model right across Europe in the Middle Ages; communities either built up high, surrounded their cities with moats like Vienna, or dominated them with citadels like Koblenz.The idea was that communities could defend themselves if they had fortifications behind which they could shelter in times of attack.

This concept was carried over to the New World in the such places as Louisbourg and Quebec City; the latter of which withstood an attack by American revolutionary forces Dec. 31, 1775.

In more recent years Americans looking for safety and security have moved to cities with less violence or ‘gated’ subdivisions. The first scheme attempted to flee from urban violence and the second attempted to physically block entry to wrongdoers.

Now a group of conservatives are planning to build a new fortified city in the mountains of Benewah County, Idaho. For reference, this is immediately south of the south end of Lake Coeur d’Alene in the Idaho panhandle. The only proper town in the county I can find on the map is Saint Manes, Idaho, which has a population of 2,400.

The name of the project is The Citadel. It’s described on their website as “a planned community where residents are bound by patriotism, American exceptionalism, our proud history of Liberty and physical preparedness.”

The town would be surrounded by a wall, have gatehouses, and be divided into defensible sub units. Each home would be made out of poured concrete. The main industry would be an armaments factory, III Arms. You can see it all on this map.

I have no idea how serious this project is, or how likely it is to ever get implemented. However, since it’s only 200 miles away, I think I’ll mosey on down there this summer and have a look. In the meantime I have two comments.

The first is that the idea of defensible sub-units comes straight out of Iraq, specifically Fallujah in Al Anbar province. American soldiers had a very hard fight clearing out the city during the Iraq insurrection and I’m assuming some of the people behind The Citadel are planning their new town on the basis of what worked against them in 2004.

My second point is that physical security has to be combined with social security. What I mean is that the creation of a town council, police force and education establishment is just as important as building a fortified community. If they can attract, as they hope to, 3,500 to 7,000 families, they’ll dominate the local political landscape for miles around.

Put the two together and you have a new Sparta.

Of course to most people this kind of talk is pure scare mongering, right wing fantasy talk, a bad dream. They believe there is some way out of a $14 Trillion dollar debt that doesn’t involve economic and social chaos.

I hope they’re right, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Clearly the folks in Idaho behind The Citadel aren’t betting on it either.

Author

  • Frank Hilliard
    Frank Hilliard

    Frank Hilliard is a former newspaper reporter, wire service editor and national television journalist. He was, briefly, Manager of Media Relations for Canada Post. His last job before retirement was as a web-database integrator for three Canadian cancer agencies. He is the author of several books, including Home Invasion Prevention, A Sheik in Manhattan and A Very Romantic Murder, all available at Lulu.com He was Campaign Manager for Mischa Popoff, an independent candidate in Boundary-Similkameen in the 2013 B.C. provincial election.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Tags: Saint Manes, self-defense, social chaos, The Citadel, the fortified city, traditional fortified city

Did you find value in this article?

If you found this article useful or it contained valuable information and you want to thank me, the best way is to buy me a coffee or two.

1. Send an Interac eTransfer to author @ christopherdiarmani.net (remove spaces)

2. Send via PayPal using this link: https://www.paypal.me/ThatLibertyGuy

3. Use your credit card in my online store to support me with a one-time donation, a monthly recurring donation, or an annual donation. See these links for all the details about the thank-you gifts I offer my supporters.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to my commentaries

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Latest Tweets

Follow @ThatLibertyGuy

Christopher di Armani 🇨🇦 🇺🇸
@ThatLibertyGuy

  • New comment: Canadian Gun Laws: A Primer for People Who Don’t Know Much About Gun Laws christopherdiarmani.com/15213/guns/can…
    about 2 weeks ago
    Reply Retweet Favorite
  • New comment: Blake Harvey’s Murder Proves We Don’t Value Children’s Lives christopherdiarmani.com/17398/police/g…
    about 2 weeks ago
    Reply Retweet Favorite
  • New comment: All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing christopherdiarmani.com/8275/human-rig…
    about 2 weeks ago
    Reply Retweet Favorite
  • New comment: Paul Rogan Passes: The End of an Era christopherdiarmani.com/18908/common-s…
    about 2 weeks ago
    Reply Retweet Favorite
  • New comment: RCMP Sergeant Douglas Smith appeals conditional discharge for illegal handgun christopherdiarmani.com/2439/police/ab…
    about 2 weeks ago
    Reply Retweet Favorite

Most Popular This Week

  • All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing
  • How did Live-Streaming Rape Become a ‘Thing’?
  • Dale Merle Nelson’s 1970 Murder Spree in Creston, British Columbia
  • Officer Down: LAPD Officer Fernando Arroyos
  • Florida Police arrest a 12-year-old for farting. Have they lost their minds?
  • Officer Down: North Carolina Highway Patrol Trooper John Sumter Horton
  • Why the Flood of Firearm Registration Certificates in My Mailbox?

Most Popular This Month

  • All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing
  • Dale Merle Nelson’s 1970 Murder Spree in Creston, British Columbia
  • RCMP Sergeant Douglas Smith appeals conditional discharge for illegal handgun
  • How did Live-Streaming Rape Become a ‘Thing’?
  • Yvon Mercier: From RCMP Depot Trainer to Double-Murderer
  • Florida Police arrest a 12-year-old for farting. Have they lost their minds?
  • Officer Down: North Carolina Highway Patrol Trooper John Sumter Horton

© 2004–2023 ChristopherDiArmani.com | All Rights Reserved

Close

Buy me a cup of coffee

A ridiculous amount of coffee was consumed in the process of writing these articles. If you enjoy my work, please buy me a coffee or two to keep me going!