Pontoon bridge unprecedented 730-meter, fortified pontoon bridge across the Scheldt river at the Siege of Antwerp in 1584 to close off water access to the city. In the battle of Saraighat in 1671, the Ahoms spanned the river Brahmaputra at Saraighat over an improviso bridge of boats. In the 1670s, the French devised the copper pontoon; after this point, rivers and canals ceased to present significant obstacles. The early modern period in pontoon use was dominated by the wars of the 18th and 19th centuries during which the art and science of pontoon bridging barely changed. This however did not stop all
Pontoon bridge a pontoon bridge to cross the Bosphorus and Emperor Caligula built a bridge at Baiae in 37 AD. For Emperor Darius I The Great of Persia (522–485 BC), the Greek Mandrocles of Samos once engineered a pontoon bridge that stretched across the Bosporus, linking Asia to Europe, so that Darius could pursue the fleeing Scythians as well as move his army into position in the Balkans to overwhelm Macedon. Other spectacular pontoon bridges were Xerxes' Pontoon Bridges across the Hellespont by Xerxes I in 480 BC to transport his huge army into Europe: According to John Hale's "Lords of the