More than 250 years have passed since Imperial forces arrived at Halifax, and it's been nearly one hundred years since the last were withdrawn. Only photographs remain as a testament to their presence and passing. Much of what these forces left behind has disappeared, swept away by time and development. Most residents and visitors are completely oblivious to the past and now walk or drive through the spaces once reserved as Property of Imperial Government. Every general and admiral, regiment and man-of-war crew, fort and building connected with Halifax and the Imperial era could be a story in itself. The harbour bottom is strewn with hulks and refuse of seven colonial-era wars and two world wars. Not exactly a military history, Fortress Halifax focuses on the period 1749-1945 in an attempt to provide a portrait, or perhaps more accurately a photo-essay, that takes the reader back to a place and time when Halifax was primarily military in character.