Conceived by the French artillery officer Henri-Joseph Paixhans, the 24 inches (610 mm)[4] caliber mortar was cast at the Belgian royal foundry of Cannons in 1832 in Liège, Belgium.

Following the Ten Days' Campaign of the French Armée du Nord under Marshal Étienne Gérard, the Dutch troops started to withdraw.

The King of the Netherlands ordered the Dutch General David Hendrik Chassé to hold the Citadel of Antwerp at all costs with 4500 men.

[7] From the citadel, Chassé bombarded the city of Antwerp, setting fire to hundreds of homes and causing many casualties among the civilian population.

On 15 November 1832, the French Armée du Nord and its siege specialist François Haxo began to lay the Dutch troops under siege, quickly occupying Fort Montebello situated to the east of the citadel and to the south of the city from which they started firing at the citadel.