 Later, his opponents would often refer to him disparagingly as Badinguet

In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, the Second Army of the North encircled the town of Ham and forced the occupying Prussians to sign a surrender.Like the Château de Coucy, the fort was dynamited on 19 March 1917, by the Germans.All that remains today is the square plan entrance tower and parts of its network of enceintes.