1.
Barbed wire
–
It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property. It is also a feature of the fortifications in trench warfare. A person or animal trying to pass through or over barbed wire will suffer discomfort, Barbed wire fencing requires only fence posts, wire, and fixing devices such as staples. It is simple to construct and quick to erect, even by an unskilled person, the first patent in the United States for barbed wire was issued in 1867 to Lucien B. Smith of Kent, Ohio, who is regarded as the inventor. Joseph F. Glidden of DeKalb, Illinois, received a patent for the invention in 1874 after he made his own modifications to previous versions. Barbed wire was the first wire technology capable of restraining cattle, Wire fences were cheaper and easier to erect than their alternatives. When wire fences became widely available in the United States in the late 19th century and they made intensive animal husbandry practical on a much larger scale. Englishman Richard Newton brought barbed wire to the Argentine pampas in 1845, fencing consisting of flat and thin wire was first proposed in France, by Leonce Eugene Grassin-Baledans in 1860. His design consisted of bristling points, creating a fence that was painful to cross, in April 1865 Louis François Janin proposed a double wire with diamond-shaped metal barbs, he was granted a patent. Michael Kelly from New York had a idea, and proposed that the fencing should be used specifically for deterring animals. More patents followed, and in 1867 alone there were six patents issued for barbed wire, only two of them addressed livestock deterrence, one of which was from American Lucien B. Smith of Ohio. Before 1870, westward movement in the USA was largely across the plains with little or no settlement occurring, after the American Civil War the plains were extensively settled, consolidating Americas dominance over them. Ranchers moved out on the plains, and needed to fence their land in against encroaching farmers, the railroads throughout the growing West needed to keep livestock off their tracks, and farmers needed to keep stray cattle from trampling their crops. A cost-effective alternative was needed to make cattle operations profitable, the Big Four in barbed wire were Joseph Glidden, Jacob Haish, Charles Francis Washburn, and Isaac L. Ellwood. Glidden, a farmer in 1873 and the first of the Big Four, is credited for designing a successful sturdy barbed wire product. Gliddens idea came from a display at a fair in DeKalb, Illinois in 1873, Rose had patented The Wooden Strip with Metallic Points in May 1873. This was simply a wooden block with wire protrusions designed to keep cows from breaching the fence and that day, Glidden was accompanied by two other men, Isaac L. Ellwood, a hardware dealer and Jacob Haish, a lumber merchant. Like Glidden, they wanted to create a more durable wire fence with fixed barbs
Barbed wire
–
A close-up view of a barbed wire
Barbed wire
–
Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire
Barbed wire
–
An early handmade specimen of Glidden's "The Winner" on display at the Barbed Wire History Museum in
DeKalb, Illinois.
Barbed wire
–
Patent drawing for
Joseph F. Glidden 's Improvement to barbed wire
2.
Razor wire
–
Barbed tape or razor wire is a mesh of metal strips with sharp edges whose purpose is to prevent passage by humans. The term razor wire, through usage, has generally been used to describe barbed tape products. While razor wire is much sharper than the barbed wire, it is named after its appearance. However, the points are sharp and made to rip and grab onto clothing. The multiple blades of a wire fence are designed to inflict serious cuts on anyone attempting to climb through. Razor wire usually contains a core of hardened steel strip that is often under tension, so if cut, more recently barbed tape has been used in more commercial and residential security applications. Residential usage of barbed tape has been criticized by some as the appearance of the barbs is thought to detract from the appearance of a neighborhood. Due to its dangerous nature, razor wire/barbed tape and similar fencing/barrier materials is prohibited in some locales, norway prohibits any barbed wire except in combination with other fencing, in order to protect domesticated animals from exposure. Some local jurisdictions further regulate or prohibit barbed wire altogether, razor-wire has a central strand of high tensile strength wire, and a steel tape punched into a shape with barbs. The steel tape is then cold-crimped tightly to the wire everywhere except for the barbs, Barbed tape is very similar, but has no central reinforcement wire. The process of combining the two is called roll forming, like barbed wire, barbed tape is available as either straight wire or spiral concertina wire. Unlike barbed wire, which usually is only as plain steel or galvanized, barbed tape is also manufactured in stainless steel. Typically the core wire is galvanized and the tape is stainless, Barbed tape is also characterized by the shape of the barbs. There does not seem to be much available research to indicate whether longer barbs are more effective in resisting penetration. Barbed wire became common in the American West in the 1870s, Barbed tape was first manufactured by Germany during World War I, as an expedient measure during a shortage of wire. Since it was punched out of a rolled ribbon of steel tape. From the early 1970s, unreinforced barbed tape was used in perimeter barriers of US prisons. In the early 1980s, several manufacturers began offering barbed tape with an embedded reinforcing wire, early brand names of reinforced barbed tape included Man Barrier and Razor Ribbon
Razor wire
–
Razor wire—long-barb type on top of a
chain link privacy-fence surrounding a utility power sub-station
Razor wire
–
Short barb razor wire at
Tuol Sleng
Razor wire
–
Short barb razor wire with central reinforcement
Razor wire
–
Long barb razor wire on a fence. At the bottom there is some
barbed wire
3.
Concertina
–
A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It has a bellows, and buttons typically on both ends of it, when pressed, the buttons travel in the same direction as the bellows, unlike accordion buttons, which travel perpendicularly to the bellows. The concertina was developed in England and Germany, most likely independently, the English version was invented in 1829 by Sir Charles Wheatstone, while Carl Friedrich Uhlig announced the German version five years later, in 1834. Various forms of concertina are used for music, for the traditional musics of Ireland, England, and South Africa. Because the concertina was developed nearly contemporaneously in England and Germany, systems can be divided into English, Anglo-German. To a player proficient in one of these systems, a concertina of a different system may be quite unfamiliar, the English concertina and the Duet concertina bear similarities in history and construction. Both systems generally play a scale, and are unisonoric. Both these English-developed instruments are smaller than German concertinas, and tend to be hexagonal, though occasionally having 8,10, the English system alternates the notes of the scale between two hands, enabling rapid melodies. The Duet system places the low notes on the hand and high on the right. The English concertina is credited to Sir Charles Wheatstone, who first patented such a design in 1829 in Great Britain, Wheatstone was also the first to patent a Duet concertina, in 1844. The German concertinas, developed within Germany itself for its market and diaspora. They are generally bisonoric, use a different style of long plate reeds, unlike the English and Anglo, they sometimes have more than one reed per note, creating a vibrato effect. Various German concertina systems share common features and core button layout. In the United States, particularly in the Midwest where there are many German and Central European descendants, a related variant is the Carlsfelder concertina of C. F. Zimmerman, unveiled in 1849. and at the 1851 London Industrial Exposition. The bandoneon is a German concertina system with an original bisonoric layout devised by Heinrich Band, though the typical bandoneon is bisonoric, the 1920s saw the development of unisonoric variants such as the Ernst Kusserow and Charles Peguri systems, both introduced around 1925. Bandoneons typically have more than one reed per button, dry-tuned with the reeds an octave apart, Ástor Piazzolla was one of the most famous exponents of this instrument. The Anglo or Anglo-German concertina is, historically, a hybrid between the English and German concertinas, the button layouts are generally the same as the original 20-button German concertinas designed by Uhlig in 1834, and in a bisonoric system. Within a few years of its invention, the German concertina was an import in England, Ireland
Concertina
–
Wheatstone English concertina, circa 1920
Concertina
–
English Concertina disassembled, showing bellows, reedpan and buttons.
Concertina
–
Bastari 40-button Anglo concertina
Concertina
–
Chemnitzer concertina made by Star Mfg., Cicero, Illinois, USA in 2000
4.
Picket fence
–
Picket fences are a type of fence often used decoratively for domestic boundaries, distinguished by their evenly spaced vertical boards, the pickets, attached to horizontal rails. Picket fences are particularly popular in the United States, with the picket fence coming to symbolize the ideal middle-class suburban life. Until the introduction of advertising in the 1980s, cricket fields were surrounded by picket fences. Picket fences are particularly popular in the United States, where the style has been used since Americas earliest colonial era and they are a decorative way to contain pets and children without blocking views, and are used around both front and back yards. Traditionally picket fences were made out of wood and painted white, a picket fence is generally 36 to 48 inches tall. A horizontal top rail and bottom rail are attached to fence posts, evenly spaced boards are affixed vertically to the rails. What truly distinguishes a picket fence is the top, which is tapered or pointed and these boards with pointed tops are called pickets for their resemblance to the pointed stakes historically used by infantry to repel cavalry. Picket fences can be made of several types of materials, historically, wood has been the most popular material used for picket fences. This wood can be untreated, treated, or naturally insect, other non-wood options are available, including vinyl, aluminum, and PVC. The first step in installing a fence is to insert the posts into the ground. Traditionally this is done by digging deep holes either manually or with a power auger, the posts are then placed upright into the ground and concrete is poured to cement them into place. Once they are set, the rails are affixed to the posts using fasteners. By far the most time consuming part of installing a fence is setting the posts. There are some vinyl picket fence systems on the market that are installed without digging holes or pouring concrete and these are installed by driving pipe deep into the ground, which is how chain link fence has been installed for years. This is the most popular way to install vinyl fence in Western Canada, a picket fence, ideally white, has iconic status as Americana, symbolizing the ideal middle-class suburban life, with a family and children, large house, and peaceful living. This stems from the fact that houses in quiet, middle-class neighborhoods often have gardens enclosed by picket fences, in recent years, some people have associated picket fences with what they regard as the more negative aspects of this lifestyle. For example, the director David Lynch uses ironic images of the fence in his 1986 film Blue Velvet. The phrase picket fence also describes text without spaces between words, such texts are very common in Old Latin, with documents often lacking both spaces and punctuation
Picket fence
–
Classic picket fence next to a
sidewalk.
Picket fence
–
A simple picket fence.
Picket fence
–
Western Australian jarrah picket fence.
Picket fence
–
White picket fence surrounds a front-yard lotus pond in a
Hubei village.
5.
Wire obstacle
–
In the military science of fortification, wire obstacles are defensive obstacles made from barbed wire, barbed tape or concertina wire. They are designed to disrupt, delay and generally slow down an attacking enemy, during the time that the attackers are slowed down by the wire obstacle they are easy to target with machinegun and artillery fire. One example is low wire entanglement, which consists of irregularly placed stakes that have driven into the ground with only some 15 cm showing. The barbed wire is wrapped and tightened on to these. An enemy combatant running through the barrier, which is difficult to see, is apt to trip, world War I entanglements could in some places be scores of metres thick and several metres deep, with the entire space filled with a random, tangled mass of barbed wire. Entanglements were often not created deliberately, but by pushing together the mess of wire formed when conventional barbed wire fences had been damaged by artillery shells. e, fixing multiple screw pickets of wire running diagonally, away from the protected zone. Another method was to deliberately leave attractive-looking gaps in wire obstacles to give the appearance of a link in the defences. Such gaps were designed to act like a funnel, luring attacking troops through the opening and straight into the concentrated direct, because multiple water-cooled machine-guns such as the Vickers gun were used, continuous fire could be sustained for hours at a time if required. When the obstacle was reached, access holes in the shield allowed the soldier to cut away at the wire obstacle with pliers from behind the protection of the armored shield. Stormtroopers platoons included ballistic shields in their equipment list, as infiltration was one of their specialities, relatively elaborate obstacles were also used in some phases of the Korean War, and continue to be used on the Korean Demilitarized Zone, and a few other borders. However the more fluid nature of war means that most obstacles used today are relatively simple. Tanks and light armored vehicles can generally flatten unmined wire obstacles, although the wire can become entangled in the tracks and this can also occur to wheeled vehicles once the wire becomes wrapped around the axle. Wire obstacles can also be breached by intense artillery shelling or Bangalore torpedoes, the effectiveness of any wire obstacle is greatly increased by planting anti-tank and blast antipersonnel mines in and around it. Additionally, connecting bounding anti-personnel mines to the obstacle with tripwires has the effect of booby-trapping the obstacle itself, dummy tripwires can be added to cause further confusion. If anti-personnel mines are unavailable, it is easy to connect hand-grenades to the wire using trip-wires. If the use of explosive devices is deemed to be unsuitable, it is easy to emplace tripflares in
Wire obstacle
–
Obstacle with concertina wire
Wire obstacle
–
Double apron fence
Wire obstacle
–
The "knife rest" or "Spanish rider" is a modern wire obstacle functionally similar to the
cheval de frise, and sometimes called that.
Wire obstacle
–
A complex obstacle belt of low wire entanglement backed by a double apron fence. Both obstacles have movable openings that can be blocked with knife rests.
6.
World War I
–
World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
World War I
–
Clockwise from the top: The aftermath of shelling during the
Battle of the Somme,
Mark V tanks cross the
Hindenburg Line,
HMS Irresistible sinks after hitting a
mine in the
Dardanelles, a British
Vickers machine gun crew wears
gas masks during the Battle of the Somme,
Albatros D.III fighters of
Jagdstaffel 11
World War I
–
Sarajevo citizens reading a poster with the proclamation of the
Austrian annexation in 1908.
World War I
–
This picture is usually associated with the arrest of
Gavrilo Princip, although some believe it depicts Ferdinand Behr, a bystander.
World War I
–
Serbian Army
Blériot XI "Oluj", 1915.
7.
Trench warfare
–
The most famous use of trench warfare is the Western Front in World War I. It has become a byword for stalemate, attrition, sieges, Trench warfare occurred when a revolution in firepower was not matched by similar advances in mobility, resulting in a grueling form of warfare in which the defender held the advantage. On the Western Front in 1914–18, both sides constructed elaborate trench and dugout systems opposing each other along a front, protected from assault by barbed wire, mines, the area between opposing trench lines was fully exposed to artillery fire from both sides. Attacks, even if successful, often sustained severe casualties, with the development of armoured warfare, emphasis on trench warfare has declined, but still occurs where battle-lines become static. Field works are as old as armies, Roman legions, when in the presence of an enemy, entrenched camps nightly when on the move. In the early modern era they were used to block possible lines of advance and they played a pivotal role in manoeuvring that took place before the Battle of Blenheim. The lines were captured by the French in 1707 and demolished, the French built the 19-kilometre-long Lines of Weissenburg during the War of the Spanish Succession under the orders of the Duke of Villars in 1706. These were to remain in existence for just over 100 years and were last manned during Napoleons Hundred Days, the French built the Lines of Ne Plus Ultra during the winter of 1710–1711, which have been compared to the trenches of World War I. They ran from Arras to Cambrai and Valenciennes where they linked up with existing defensive lines fronted by the river Sambre and they were breached in the 1711 campaign season by the Duke of Marlborough through a magnificent piece of manoeuvring. During the Peninsular War, the British and Portuguese constructed the Lines of Torres Vedras in 1809 and 1810, nor were fortifications restricted to European powers. British casualty rates of up to 45 percent, such as at the Battle of Ohaeawai in 1845, proved contemporary firepower was insufficient to dislodge defenders from a trench system. Fundamentally, as the range and rate of fire of rifled small arms increased and this was only made more lethal by the introduction of rapid-firing artillery, exemplified by the French 75, and high explosive fragmentation rounds. The increases in firepower had outstripped the ability of infantry to cover the ground between firing lines, and the ability of armour to withstand fire and it would take a revolution in mobility to change that. Trench warfare is associated with the First World War of 1914–18. Both sides concentrated on breaking up attacks and on protecting their own troops by digging deep into the ground. Trench warfare was conducted on other fronts, including Italy. Trench warfare has become a symbol of the futility of war. To the French, the equivalent is the attrition of the Battle of Verdun in which the French Army suffered 380,000 casualties, Trench warfare is associated with mass slaughter in appalling conditions
Trench warfare
–
Lines of Torres Vedras
Trench warfare
–
Trenches at the
Siege of Vicksburg 1863
Trench warfare
–
The
Boer trench at the
Battle of Magersfontein contributed to the surprise defeat of the Highland Brigade on 11 December 1899 during the
Second Boer War.
Trench warfare
–
German forward detachments guarding the entrance to a trench line in front of
Arras in 1915
8.
Platoon
–
A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two or more squads/sections/patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the branch, a platoon leader or commander is the officer in command of a platoon. This person is usually a junior officer—a second or first lieutenant or an equivalent rank, the officer is usually assisted by a platoon sergeant. A platoon is typically the smallest military unit led by a commissioned officer, Platoons normally consist of three or four sections or squads. In some armies, platoon is used throughout the branches of the army, in others, such as the British Army and other Commonwealth armies, platoons are associated with the infantry. In a few armies, such as the French Army, a platoon is specifically a cavalry unit, a unit consisting of several platoons is called a company/battery/troop. According to Merriam-Webster, The term was first used in the 17th century to refer to a body of musketeers who fired together in a volley alternately with another platoon. The word came from the 17th-century French peloton, from pelote meaning a small ball, nonetheless it is documented that it took the meaning of a group of soldiers firing a volley together, while a different platoon reloaded. This implies an augmentative intention in the etymology, the modern French word peloton, when not meaning platoon, can refer to the main body of riders in a bicycle race. Pelote itself originally comes from the low Latin pilotta from Latin pila, meaning ball, the platoon was originally a firing unit rather than an organization. The system was said to have been invented by Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden in 1618, in the French Army in the 1670s, a battalion was divided into 18 platoons who were grouped into three firings, each platoon in the firing either actually firing or reloading. The system was used in the British, Austrian, Russian. Each platoon was divided into four sections, each commanded by a corporal, due to a shortage of officers, a non commissioned officer rank of Platoon Sergeant Major was introduced from 1938 to 1940 for experienced non-commissioned officers who were given command of platoons. In the Australian Army, an infantry platoon has thirty-six soldiers organized into three sections and a twelve-man maneuver support section. A lieutenant as platoon commander and a sergeant as platoon sergeant, accompanied by a platoon sig, a section comprises eight soldiers led by a corporal with a lance corporal as second in command. Each section has two fireteams of four men, one led by the corporal and the other by the lance corporal, each fireteam has one soldier with a 7. 62mm Maximi GSMG and the other three armed with Steyr F88 assault rifles. One rifle is equipped with an attached 40mm grenade launcher attachment for the lance corporal, more recently, the designated marksman of an Australian fireteam has been issued the HK417 in Afghanistan and possibly afterwards. The platoon may also have three MAG58 general-purpose machine guns, one M2 Browning heavy machine gun or a Mk 19 grenade launcher at its disposal and this may not be the case for all British Infantry units, since the 51mm mortars are not part of the TOE post-Afghanistan
Platoon
–
Platoon of
Marines of the
United States Marine Corps.
Platoon
–
Platoon ("Zug" in German) of the German
Bundeswehr
9.
British anti-invasion preparations of World War II
–
The British army needed to recover from the defeat of the British Expeditionary Force in France, and 1.5 million men were enrolled as part-time soldiers in the Home Guard. The rapid construction of field fortifications transformed much of the United Kingdom, especially southern England, the German invasion plan, Operation Sea Lion, was never taken beyond the preliminary assembly of forces. Today, little remains of Britains anti-invasion preparations, only reinforced concrete structures such as pillboxes are commonly found, on 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland, two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany, launching the Second World War. Within three weeks, the Red Army of the Soviet Union invaded the regions of Poland in fulfilment of the secret Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Germany. A British Expeditionary Force was sent to the Franco-Belgian border, but Britain, by 1 October, Poland had been completely overrun. There was little fighting over the months that followed, in a period known as the Phoney War, soldiers on both sides trained for war and the French and British constructed and manned defences on the eastern borders of France. On 9 April 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway and this operation preempted the British own plans to invade Norway. Denmark surrendered immediately, and, after an attempt by the British to make a stand in the northern part of the country. The invasion of Norway was a combined operation in which the German war machine projected its power across the sea. On 7 and 8 May 1940, in the British House of Commons, Two days later, with events moving swiftly, Chamberlain resigned and was succeeded by Winston Churchill. On 10 May 1940, Germany invaded France, by that time, the BEF consisted of 10 infantry divisions in three corps, a tank brigade and a Royal Air Force detachment of around 500 aircraft. The BEF was pinned by a German diversionary attack through Belgium, well-equipped and highly mobile Panzer divisions of the Wehrmacht overran the French and then British prepared defences. There was some fighting, however being dwarfed by the German land forces most of the BEF withdrew to a small area around the French port of Dunkirk. As things had gone badly for the allies in France, it became evident that some thought needed to be given to the possibility of having to resist an invasion of Britain by German forces. The evacuation of British and French forces began on 26 May with air provided by the RAF at heavy cost. Over the following ten days,338,226 French and British soldiers were evacuated to Britain. Most of the personnel were back to Britain, but many of the armys vehicles, tanks, guns, ammunition and heavy equipment. Some soldiers even returned without their rifles, a further 215,000 were evacuated from ports south of the Channel in Operation Ariel during June
British anti-invasion preparations of World War II
–
Detail from a pillbox
embrasure.
British anti-invasion preparations of World War II
–
Captured British and French soldiers help one another on the staircase up to the cliff at
Veules-les-Roses, June 1940
British anti-invasion preparations of World War II
–
Home Guard improvised weapons
British anti-invasion preparations of World War II
–
Standard Mk II Beaverette II light reconnaissance cars manned by members of the Home Guard in the Highlands of Scotland, 14 February 1941
10.
Emperor Constantine
–
Constantine the Great, also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was a Roman Emperor from 306 to 337 AD. Constantine was the son of Flavius Valerius Constantius, a Roman Army officer and his father became Caesar, the deputy emperor in the west, in 293 AD. Constantine was sent east, where he rose through the ranks to become a military tribune under the emperors Diocletian, in 305, Constantius was raised to the rank of Augustus, senior western emperor, and Constantine was recalled west to campaign under his father in Britannia. As emperor, Constantine enacted many administrative, financial, social, the government was restructured and civil and military authority separated. A new gold coin, the solidus, was introduced to combat inflation and it would become the standard for Byzantine and European currencies for more than a thousand years. He called the First Council of Nicaea in 325, at which the Nicene Creed was adopted by Christians, in military matters, the Roman army was reorganised to consist of mobile field units and garrison soldiers capable of countering internal threats and barbarian invasions. The age of Constantine marked an epoch in the history of the Roman Empire. He built a new residence at Byzantium and renamed the city Constantinople after himself. It would later become the capital of the Empire for over one thousand years and his more immediate political legacy was that, in leaving the empire to his sons, he replaced Diocletians tetrarchy with the principle of dynastic succession. His reputation flourished during the lifetime of his children and centuries after his reign, the medieval church upheld him as a paragon of virtue while secular rulers invoked him as a prototype, a point of reference, and the symbol of imperial legitimacy and identity. Beginning with the Renaissance, there were more critical appraisals of his due to the rediscovery of anti-Constantinian sources. Critics portrayed him as a tyrant, trends in modern and recent scholarship attempted to balance the extremes of previous scholarship. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on his orders at the site of Jesus tomb in Jerusalem. The Papal claim to power in the High Middle Ages was based on the supposed Donation of Constantine. He is venerated as a saint by Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholics, though Constantine has historically often been referred to as the First Christian Emperor, scholars debate his actual beliefs or even his actual comprehension of the Christian faith itself. Constantine was a ruler of major importance, and he has always been a controversial figure, the fluctuations in Constantines reputation reflect the nature of the ancient sources for his reign. These are abundant and detailed, but have strongly influenced by the official propaganda of the period. There are no surviving histories or biographies dealing with Constantines life, the nearest replacement is Eusebius of Caesareas Vita Constantini, a work that is a mixture of eulogy and hagiography
Emperor Constantine
–
Colossal marble head of Emperor Constantine the Great, Roman, 4th century, located at the
Capitoline Museums, in Rome.
Emperor Constantine
–
Remains of the luxurious residence palace of
Mediana, erected by Constantine I near his birth town of
Naissus
Emperor Constantine
–
Head from a statue of
Diocletian, Augustus of the East
11.
Barbed tape
–
Barbed tape or razor wire is a mesh of metal strips with sharp edges whose purpose is to prevent passage by humans. The term razor wire, through usage, has generally been used to describe barbed tape products. While razor wire is much sharper than the barbed wire, it is named after its appearance. However, the points are sharp and made to rip and grab onto clothing. The multiple blades of a wire fence are designed to inflict serious cuts on anyone attempting to climb through. Razor wire usually contains a core of hardened steel strip that is often under tension, so if cut, more recently barbed tape has been used in more commercial and residential security applications. Residential usage of barbed tape has been criticized by some as the appearance of the barbs is thought to detract from the appearance of a neighborhood. Due to its dangerous nature, razor wire/barbed tape and similar fencing/barrier materials is prohibited in some locales, norway prohibits any barbed wire except in combination with other fencing, in order to protect domesticated animals from exposure. Some local jurisdictions further regulate or prohibit barbed wire altogether, razor-wire has a central strand of high tensile strength wire, and a steel tape punched into a shape with barbs. The steel tape is then cold-crimped tightly to the wire everywhere except for the barbs, Barbed tape is very similar, but has no central reinforcement wire. The process of combining the two is called roll forming, like barbed wire, barbed tape is available as either straight wire or spiral concertina wire. Unlike barbed wire, which usually is only as plain steel or galvanized, barbed tape is also manufactured in stainless steel. Typically the core wire is galvanized and the tape is stainless, Barbed tape is also characterized by the shape of the barbs. There does not seem to be much available research to indicate whether longer barbs are more effective in resisting penetration. Barbed wire became common in the American West in the 1870s, Barbed tape was first manufactured by Germany during World War I, as an expedient measure during a shortage of wire. Since it was punched out of a rolled ribbon of steel tape. From the early 1970s, unreinforced barbed tape was used in perimeter barriers of US prisons. In the early 1980s, several manufacturers began offering barbed tape with an embedded reinforcing wire, early brand names of reinforced barbed tape included Man Barrier and Razor Ribbon
Barbed tape
–
Razor wire—long-barb type on top of a
chain link privacy-fence surrounding a utility power sub-station
Barbed tape
–
Short barb razor wire at
Tuol Sleng
Barbed tape
–
Short barb razor wire with central reinforcement
Barbed tape
–
Long barb razor wire on a fence. At the bottom there is some
barbed wire
12.
War Office
–
The name War Office is also given to the former home of the department, the War Office building located at the junction of Horse Guards Avenue and Whitehall in central London. During August 2013 it was announced that the former War Office building would be sold on the open market. The War Office developed from the Council of War, an ad hoc grouping of the King and his military commanders which managed the Kingdom of Englands frequent wars. It was equivalent to the Admiralty, responsible for the Royal Navy, and the Air Ministry, the department had several London homes until it settled at Horse Guards in Whitehall during 1722, where it was to remain until 1858. The first War Office Secretary at War is usually said to have been William Blathwayt and it was, however, a fairly minor government job which dealt with the minutiae of administration rather than grand strategy. Issues of strategic policy during wartime were managed by the Northern and Southern Departments, from 1704 to 1855, the job of Secretary was possessed by a minister of the second rank, although he was occasionally part of the Cabinet. Many of his responsibilities were transferred to the Secretary of State for War after the creation of more senior post during 1794. The job of Secretary at War was merged with that of the Secretary of State for War during 1855, during 1855 the Board of Ordnance was abolished as a result of its perceived poor performance during the Crimean War. This powerful independent body, dating from the 15th century, had directed by the Master-General of the Ordnance. The disastrous campaigns of the Crimean War resulted in the consolidation of all duties during 1855 as subordinate to the Secretary of State for War. He was not, however, solely responsible for the Army and this was reduced in theory by the reforms introduced by Edward Cardwell during 1870, which subordinated the Commander-in-Chief to the Secretary for War. His resistance to reform caused military efficiency to lag well behind that of Britains rivals, the management of the War Office was hampered by persistent disputes between the civilian and military parts of the organisation. The government of H. H. Asquith attempted to resolve this during the First World War by appointing Lord Kitchener as Secretary for War, making him the first, however, this was thought unsatisfactory, during his tenure, the Imperial General Staff was virtually dismantled. Its role was replaced effectively by the Committee of Imperial Defence, the War Office decreased greatly in importance after the First World War, a fact illustrated by the drastic reductions of its staff numbers during the inter-war period. On 1 April 1920, it employed 7,434 civilian staff and its responsibilities and funding were also reduced. During 1936, the government of Stanley Baldwin appointed a Minister for Co-ordination of Defence, when Winston Churchill became Prime Minister during 1940, he bypassed the War Office altogether and appointed himself Minister of Defence. Clement Attlee continued this arrangement when he came to power during 1945, during 1964, the present form of the Ministry of Defence was established, unifying the War Office, Admiralty, and Air Ministry. The records of the War Office are kept by The National Archives with the code WO and it contains about 1,000 rooms across seven floors, linked by 2½ miles of corridors
War Office
–
The former War Office building pictured from
Whitehall.
War Office
–
View of the former War Office building looking south along Whitehall
13.
Wayback Machine
–
The Internet Archive launched the Wayback Machine in October 2001. It was set up by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat, and is maintained with content from Alexa Internet, the service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the archive calls a three dimensional index. Since 1996, the Wayback Machine has been archiving cached pages of websites onto its large cluster of Linux nodes and it revisits sites every few weeks or months and archives a new version. Sites can also be captured on the fly by visitors who enter the sites URL into a search box, the intent is to capture and archive content that otherwise would be lost whenever a site is changed or closed down. The overall vision of the machines creators is to archive the entire Internet, the name Wayback Machine was chosen as a reference to the WABAC machine, a time-traveling device used by the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, an animated cartoon. These crawlers also respect the robots exclusion standard for websites whose owners opt for them not to appear in search results or be cached, to overcome inconsistencies in partially cached websites, Archive-It. Information had been kept on digital tape for five years, with Kahle occasionally allowing researchers, when the archive reached its fifth anniversary, it was unveiled and opened to the public in a ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley. Snapshots usually become more than six months after they are archived or, in some cases, even later. The frequency of snapshots is variable, so not all tracked website updates are recorded, Sometimes there are intervals of several weeks or years between snapshots. After August 2008 sites had to be listed on the Open Directory in order to be included. As of 2009, the Wayback Machine contained approximately three petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of 100 terabytes each month, the growth rate reported in 2003 was 12 terabytes/month, the data is stored on PetaBox rack systems manufactured by Capricorn Technologies. In 2009, the Internet Archive migrated its customized storage architecture to Sun Open Storage, in 2011 a new, improved version of the Wayback Machine, with an updated interface and fresher index of archived content, was made available for public testing. The index driving the classic Wayback Machine only has a bit of material past 2008. In January 2013, the company announced a ground-breaking milestone of 240 billion URLs, in October 2013, the company announced the Save a Page feature which allows any Internet user to archive the contents of a URL. This became a threat of abuse by the service for hosting malicious binaries, as of December 2014, the Wayback Machine contained almost nine petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of about 20 terabytes each week. Between October 2013 and March 2015 the websites global Alexa rank changed from 162 to 208, in a 2009 case, Netbula, LLC v. Chordiant Software Inc. defendant Chordiant filed a motion to compel Netbula to disable the robots. Netbula objected to the motion on the ground that defendants were asking to alter Netbulas website, in an October 2004 case, Telewizja Polska USA, Inc. v. Echostar Satellite, No.02 C3293,65 Fed. 673, a litigant attempted to use the Wayback Machine archives as a source of admissible evidence, Telewizja Polska is the provider of TVP Polonia and EchoStar operates the Dish Network
Wayback Machine
–
Wayback Machine
14.
International Standard Book Number
–
The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
International Standard Book Number
–
A 13-digit ISBN, 978-3-16-148410-0, as represented by an
EAN-13 bar code
15.
Fortification
–
Fortifications are military constructions or buildings designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and also used to solidify rule in a region during peace time. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs, the term is derived from the Latin fortis and facere. From very early history to modern times, walls have been a necessity for cities to survive in a changing world of invasion. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were the first small cities to be fortified, in ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae. A Greek Phrourion was a collection of buildings used as a military garrison. These construction mainly served the purpose of a tower, to guard certain roads, passes. Though smaller than a fortress, they acted as a border guard rather than a real strongpoint to watch. The art of setting out a camp or constructing a fortification traditionally has been called castramentation since the time of the Roman legions. Fortification is usually divided into two branches, permanent fortification and field fortification, there is also an intermediate branch known as semi-permanent fortification. Castles are fortifications which are regarded as being distinct from the fort or fortress in that they are a residence of a monarch or noble. Roman forts and hill forts were the antecedents of castles in Europe. The Early Middle Ages saw the creation of towns built around castles. Medieval-style fortifications were made obsolete by the arrival of cannons in the 14th century. Fortifications in the age of black powder evolved into much lower structures with greater use of ditches and earth ramparts that would absorb, Walls exposed to direct cannon fire were very vulnerable, so were sunk into ditches fronted by earth slopes. The arrival of explosive shells in the 19th century led to yet another stage in the evolution of fortification, steel-and-concrete fortifications were common during the 19th and early 20th centuries. However the advances in warfare since World War I have made large-scale fortifications obsolete in most situations. Demilitarized zones along borders are arguably another type of fortification, although a passive kind, many military installations are known as forts, although they are not always fortified. Larger forts may be called fortresses, smaller ones were known as fortalices
Fortification
–
Krak des Chevaliers is one of the best-preserved Crusader
castles.
Fortification
–
Bourtange star fort, restored to 1750 situation,
Groningen (province),
Netherlands.
Fortification
–
The well preserved
Bulgarian medieval fort
Baba Vida.
Fortification
–
Fortifications on the Iraq-Iran Border, viewed from the
ISS, 2014
16.
Ancient history
–
Ancient history is the aggregate of past events from the beginning of recorded human history and extending as far as the Early Middle Ages or the Postclassical Era. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with Sumerian Cuneiform script, the term classical antiquity is often used to refer to history in the Old World from the beginning of recorded Greek history in 776 BC. This roughly coincides with the date of the founding of Rome in 753 BC, the beginning of the history of ancient Rome. In India, ancient history includes the period of the Middle Kingdoms, and, in China. Historians have two major avenues which they take to better understand the ancient world, archaeology and the study of source texts, primary sources are those sources closest to the origin of the information or idea under study. Primary sources have been distinguished from secondary sources, which cite, comment on. Archaeology is the excavation and study of artefacts in an effort to interpret, archaeologists excavate the ruins of ancient cities looking for clues as to how the people of the time period lived. The study of the ancient cities of Harappa, Mohenjo-daro, the city of Pompeii, an ancient Roman city preserved by the eruption of a volcano in AD79. Its state of preservation is so great that it is a window into Roman culture and provided insight into the cultures of the Etruscans. The Terracotta Army, the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor in ancient China, the discovery of Knossos by Minos Kalokairinos and Sir Arthur Evans. The discovery of Troy by Heinrich Schliemann, most of what is known of the ancient world comes from the accounts of antiquitys own historians. Although it is important to take account the bias of each ancient author. Some of the more notable ancient writers include Herodotus, Thucydides, Arrian, Plutarch, Polybius, Sima Qian, Sallust, Livy, Josephus, Suetonius, furthermore, the reliability of the information obtained from these surviving records must be considered. Few people were capable of writing histories, as literacy was not widespread in almost any culture until long after the end of ancient history, the earliest known systematic historical thought emerged in ancient Greece, beginning with Herodotus of Halicarnassus. He was also the first to distinguish between cause and immediate origins of an event, the Roman Empire was one of the ancient worlds most literate cultures, but many works by its most widely read historians are lost. Indeed, only a minority of the work of any major Roman historian has survived, prehistory is the period before written history. The early human migrations in the Lower Paleolithic saw Homo erectus spread across Eurasia 1.8 million years ago, the controlled use of fire occurred 800,000 years ago in the Middle Paleolithic. 250,000 years ago, Homo sapiens emerged in Africa, 60–70,000 years ago, Homo sapiens migrated out of Africa along a coastal route to South and Southeast Asia and reached Australia
Ancient history
–
Khafre's Pyramid (
4th dynasty) and
Great Sphinx of Giza (c. 2500 BC or perhaps earlier)
Ancient history
–
The Mediterranean in c. the 4th century BC. Phoenician cities are labelled in yellow, Greek cities in red, and other cities in grey.
Ancient history
–
Eastern Hemisphere in 500 BC.
17.
Abatis
–
An abatis, abattis, or abbattis is a field fortification consisting of an obstacle formed of the branches of trees laid in a row, with the sharpened tops directed outwards, towards the enemy. The trees are usually interlaced or tied with wire, abatis are used alone or in combination with wire entanglements and other obstacles. There is evidence it was used as early as the Roman Imperial period, a classic use of an abatis was at the Battle of Carillon during the Seven Years War. The 3,600 French troops defeated an army of 16,000 British. The British found the defences almost impossible to breach and were forced to withdraw with some 2,600 casualties, an important weakness of abatis, in contrast to barbed wire, is that it can be destroyed by fire. An important advantage is that an improvised abatis can be formed in forested areas. This can be done by cutting down a row of trees so that they fall with their tops toward the enemy. An alternative is to place explosives so as to blow the trees down, abatis are rarely seen nowadays, having been largely replaced by wire obstacles. However, it may be used as a replacement or supplement when barbed wire is in short supply, a form of giant abatis, using whole trees instead of branches, can be used as an improvised anti-tank obstacle. Though rarely used by conventional military units, abatises are still officially maintained in United States Army. Furthermore, it is recommended that the trees remain connected to the stumps, US military maps record an abatis by use of an inverted V with a short line extending from it to the right. Zasechnaya cherta Pamplin Historical Park & The National Museum of the Civil War Soldier includes large and authentic reproduction of abatis used in the U. S. Civil War
Abatis
–
Abatis improvised by Japanese troops during
World War II
Abatis
–
Giant abatis, made from entire trees, can make an effective anti-vehicle obstacle. This formation can be achieved by use of explosives—note the splintered stumps
18.
Agger (ancient Rome)
–
An agger is an ancient Roman embankment or rampart, or any artificial elevation. The agger was an embankment that gave Roman roads the proper draining base, basically the agger is a ridge that supports the road surface. The material used to build the aggers was dug from lateral ditches, once the material was dug out of the ditches that were known as scoop ditches, they were used as the storm drain for that road. These ditches could also be used for soldiers to hide in if they ever were under attack from enemies, on the most important road routes, the agger could be 4 to 5 feet high and 45 to 50 feet wide. Along less important routes the road is set directly on the levelled ground surface with stones laid to provide drainage with the lateral ditches barely visible. The material was found locally, though the Romans would not hesitate to bring in the material from other places if they could find no suitable stone. The course of a Roman road can often be traced today by the line of the agger across the landscape. A well-known example is the Agger Servianus, a part of the Servian walls of Rome, which protected the city on its most vulnerable side and it consisted of a double rampart bearing formidable fortifications
Agger (ancient Rome)
–
Remains of the agger of
Ardea, Italy
19.
Broch
–
A broch is an Iron Age drystone hollow-walled structure of a type found only in Scotland. Brochs belong to the classification complex atlantic roundhouse devised by Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s and their origin is a matter of some controversy. The theory that they were defensive military structures is not accepted by modern archaeologists. Although most stand alone in the landscape, some examples exist of brochs surrounded by clusters of smaller dwellings, the word broch is derived from Lowland Scots brough, meaning fort. In the mid-19th century Scottish antiquaries called brochs burgs, after Old Norse borg, place names in Scandinavian Scotland such as Burgawater and Burgan show that Old Norse borg is the older word used for these structures in the north. Brochs are often referred to as duns in the west, antiquaries began to use the spelling broch in the 1870s. A precise definition for the word has proved elusive, brochs are the most spectacular of a complex class of roundhouse buildings found throughout Atlantic Scotland. Researcher Euan MacKie has proposed a smaller total for Scotland of 104. The origin of brochs is a subject of continuing research and this view contrasted, for example, with that of Sir Lindsay Scott, who argued, following Childe, for a wholesale migration into Atlantic Scotland of people from southwest England. Meanwhile, the increasing number – albeit still pitifully few – of radiocarbon dates for the use of brochs still suggests that most of the towers were built in the 1st centuries BC. A few may be earlier, notably the one proposed for Old Scatness Broch in Shetland, Caithness, Sutherland and the Northern Isles have the densest concentrations, but there are also a great many examples in the west of Scotland and the Hebrides. Although mainly concentrated in the northern Highlands and the Islands, a few occur in the Borders, on the west coast of Dumfries and Galloway. In a c.1560 sketch there appears to be a broch by the next to Annan Castle in Dumfries. This small group of southern brochs has never been satisfactorily explained, the original interpretation of brochs, favoured by nineteenth century antiquarians, was that they were defensive structures, places of refuge for the community and their livestock. They were sometimes regarded as the work of Danes or Picts, from the 1930s to the 1960s, archaeologists like V. Gordon Childe and later John Hamilton regarded them as castles where local landowners held sway over a subject population. The castle theory fell from favour among Scottish archaeologists in the 1980s, once again, however, there is a lack of archaeological proof for this reconstruction, and the sheer number of brochs, sometimes in places with a lack of good land, makes it problematic. Brochs close groupings and profusion in many areas may indeed suggest that they had a defensive or even offensive function. Often they are at key strategic points, in Shetland they sometimes cluster on each side of narrow stretches of water, the broch of Mousa, for instance, is directly opposite another at Burraland in Sandwick
Broch
–
Dun Carloway broch,
Lewis, Scotland
Broch
–
Broch of Mousa
Broch
–
The remains of Kilphedir broch,
Sutherland, are surrounded by massive earthworks.
Broch
–
The remains of Feranch broch,
Sutherland
20.
Castra
–
In the Roman Empire, the Latin word castrum was a building, or plot of land, used as a fortified military camp. Castrum was the used for different sizes of camps including a large legionary fortress, smaller auxiliary forts, temporary encampments. The diminutive form castellum was used for fortlets, typically occupied by a detachment of a cohort or a century, in English, the terms Roman fortress, Roman fort and Roman camp are commonly used for castrum. However, scholastic convention tends toward the use of the camp, marching camp. For a list of known castra see List of castra, the term castrum appears in three Italic languages, Oscan, Umbrian and Latin. g. Castrum Album, Castrum Inui, Castrum Novum, Castrum Truentinum, Castrum Vergium. The plural was used as a place name, as Castra Cornelia. Castrorum Filius was one of names used by the emperor Caligula, the terms stratopedon and phrourion were used by Greek language authors to translate castrum and castellum, respectively. A castrum was designed to house and protect the soldiers, their equipment and this most detailed description that survives about Roman military camps is De Munitionibus Castrorum, a manuscript of 11 pages that dates most probably from the late 1st to early 2nd century AD. Regulations required a major unit in the field to retire to a properly constructed camp every day, to this end a marching column ported the equipment needed to build and stock the camp in a baggage train of wagons and on the backs of the soldiers. They could throw up a camp under enemy attack in as little as a few hours. Judging from the names, they used a repertory of camp plans, selecting the one appropriate to the length of time a legion would spend in it, tertia castra, quarta castra. A camp of three days, four days, etc, more permanent camps were castra stativa, standing camps. The least permanent of these were castra aestiva or aestivalia, summer camps, in which the soldiers were housed sub pellibus or sub tentoriis, under tents. For the winter the soldiers retired to castra hiberna containing barracks and other buildings of solid materials. The camp allowed the Romans to keep a rested and supplied army in the field, neither the Celtic nor Germanic armies had this capability, they found it necessary to disperse after only a few days. The largest castra were legionary fortresses built as bases for one or more whole legions, previously, legions were raised for specific military campaigns and subsequently disbanded, requiring only temporary castra. From then on many castra of various sizes were established many of which became permanent settlements, from the most ancient times Roman camps were constructed according to a certain ideal pattern, formally described in two main sources, the De Munitionibus Castrorum and the works of Polybius
Castra
–
Reconstructed gateway of a Castra Stativa. Note the battlements, the Roman arches, the turres.
Castra
Castra
–
Reconstruction of the specula or vigilarium (Germanic burgus), "watchtower", a type of castrum, of
Fectio. An ancient watchtower would have been surrounded by wall and ditch.
Castra
–
The reconstructed porta praetoria of the castle Pfünz,
Germany, near the Raetian Limes.
21.
Circular rampart
–
The period during which these structures appeared stretches from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages. The key feature of a rampart is the embankment forming the primary means of the defensive fortification. It can be constructed in ways, as a simple earth embankment, as a wood. Circular ramparts usually have a moat or ditch in front of them, often several concentric rings were built, which produced a more effective defensive position against attackers. The interior of such sites often shows evidence of such as halls, barns. They are often hidden in woods and discovered by aerial photography, archaeological profiles through the defences and excavations of the interior enable analysis of the period the site was occupied, the pottery used and the type of food consumed
Circular rampart
–
Artist's impression of the circular rampart of Burg, near
Celle, Germany
Circular rampart
–
Varbola ruins in
Estonia
Circular rampart
–
External view of the Burg site
Circular rampart
–
Top of the rampart at Burg
22.
City gate
–
A city gate is a gate which is, or was, set within a city wall. City gates were built to provide a point of controlled access to and departure from a walled city for people, vehicles, goods. The city gate was also used to display diverse kinds of public information such as announcements, tax and toll schedules, standards of local measures. City gates, in one form or another, can be found across the world in cities dating back to ancient times to around the 19th century. Many cities would close their gates after a certain curfew each night, for example a bigger one like Prague or a smaller one like Flensburg, in the north of Germany. With increased stability and freedom, many walled cities removed such fortifications as city gates, although many still survive, many surviving gates have been heavily restored, rebuilt or new ones created to add to the appearance of a city, such as Bab Bou Jalous in Fes. With increased levels of traffic, city gates have come under threat in the past for impeding the flow of traffic, ireland, St. Laurences Gate, 13th Century, in Drogheda, Co
City gate
–
The
Brama Młyńska in
Stargard Szczeciński one of a few water gates in Europe
City gate
–
Michael's Gate in
Bratislava, Slovakia
City gate
–
The
Ishtar Gate in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin
City gate
–
Roshnai Gate from Hazuri Bagh (
Lahore)
23.
Crannog
–
A crannog is typically a partially or entirely artificial island, usually built in lakes, rivers and estuarine waters of Scotland and Ireland. Crannogs have been interpreted as free-standing wooden structures, as at Loch Tay, although more commonly they exist as brush. However, in such as the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. As a result, completely stone crannogs supporting drystone architecture are common there, today, crannogs typically appear as small, circular islets, often 10 to 30 metres in diameter, covered in dense vegetation due to their inaccessibility to grazing livestock. The Irish word crannóg derives from Old Irish crannóc, which referred to a structure or vessel, stemming from crann. The modern sense of the term first appears sometime around the 12th century, its popularity spread in the period along with the terms isle, ylle, inis. There is some confusion on what the term originally referred to. The additional meanings of crannog can be related as structure/piece of wood, wooden pin, crows nest, pulpit, drivers box on a coach. The Scottish Gaelic form is crannag and has the additional meanings of pulpit, Crannogs are widespread in Ireland, with an estimated 1,200 examples, while Scotland has 347 sites officially listed as such. Previously unknown crannogs in Scotland and Ireland are still being found as underwater surveys continue to investigate loch beds for completely submerged examples, the largest concentrations of crannogs in Ireland are found in the Drumlin Belt of the Midlands, North and Northwest. In Scotland, crannogs favour a western or Atlantic distribution, with concentrations in Argyll and Dumfries. In reality, the Western Isles contain the highest density of lake-settlements in Scotland, one lone Welsh example at Llangorse Lake exists, likely a product of Irish influence across the Irish Sea. Crannogs took on different forms and methods of construction based on what was available in the immediate landscape. The classic image of a prehistoric crannog stems from both post-medieval illustrations and highly influential such as Milton Loch in Scotland by C. M. The Milton Loch interpretation is of a small islet surrounded or defined at its edges by timber piles, Crannogs are traditionally interpreted as simple prehistorical farmsteads. A strict definition of a crannog, which has long been debated, sites in the Western Isles do not satisfy this criterion, although their inhabitants shared the common habit of living on water. The visible structural remains are traditionally interpreted as duns, or in more recent terminology as Atlantic roundhouses and this terminology has recently become popular when describing the entire range of robust, drystone structures that existed in later prehistoric Atlantic Scotland. In some early digs, labourers merely hauled away tons of materials with little regard to anything that was not of immediate economic value
Crannog
–
Reconstructed crannog near
Kenmore, Perth and Kinross, on
Loch Tay,
Scotland
Crannog
–
Replica Crannóg on
Loch Tay
Crannog
–
Loughbrickland Crannóg in
Northern Ireland.
24.
Ditch (fortification)
–
A ditch in military engineering is an obstacle, designed to slow down or break up an attacking force, while a trench is intended to provide cover to the defenders. In medieval fortification, a ditch was constructed in front of a defensive wall to hinder mining. When filled with water, such a defensive ditch is called a moat, however, moats may also be dry. Today ditches are obsolescent as an obstacle, but are still often used as anti-vehicle obstacles. A fence concealed in a ditch is called a ha-ha, scarp, the inner side of the ditch is called the scarp slope. This may be revetted with masonry or brickwork, in which case, cordon, a course of protruding masonry along the top of a scarp wall, intended to make it harder for an enemy to stand a ladder against it. Rampart, the wall of the fort which can be made of earth or masonry, is topped by a parapet for the defenders to fire over. Berm, a ledge between the wall and the exterior slope of the rampart, designed to increase the stability of the rampart. Faussebraye, a parapet between the rampart and the inner edge of the ditch. Carnot wall, a wall between the rampart and the inner edge of the ditch. Chemin de ronde, a pathway running along the berm, behind the faussebraye or Carnot wall, cunette, a narrow channel that runs along the floor of the ditch for drainage purposes. Bartardeau, a type of dam across a ditch that is part wet. Counterscarp, the slope or wall of the ditch. Sally port, a door allowing the defenders to enter the ditch should it be occupied by the enemy. Caponier, a masonry or brick structure extending into the ditch or traversing across it, it is pierced with loopholes to enable the defenders to fire along the floor of the ditch. Counterscarp gallery, a passage constructed behind the wall and pierced with loopholes. Glacis, an earth slope angled away from the ditch, the height and angle of the glacis was calculated to protect the rampart from direct fire but to allow the defenders to fire over it. Place-of-arms, an area of the covered way at an angle of the ditch
Ditch (fortification)
–
A ditch and earth bank at
Old Sarum, near
Salisbury in
England, dating from the
Iron Age.
Ditch (fortification)
–
Ditch of
Valletta, which was built between 1566 and the 1570s.
25.
Defensive wall
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A defensive wall is a fortification used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements, beyond their defensive utility, many walls also had important symbolic functions – representing the status and independence of the communities they embraced. Existing ancient walls are almost always masonry structures, although brick, depending on the topography of the area surrounding the city or the settlement the wall is intended to protect, elements of the terrain may be incorporated in order to make the wall more effective. Walls may only be crossed by entering the city gate and are often supplemented with towers. Simpler defensive walls of earth or stone, thrown up around hillforts, ringworks, early castles, from very early history to modern times, walls have been a near necessity for every city. Uruk in ancient Sumer is one of the worlds oldest known walled cities, before that, the city of Jericho in what is now the West Bank had a wall surrounding it as early as the 8th millennium BC. The Assyrians deployed large labour forces to build new palaces, temples, some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were also fortified. By about 3500 B. C. hundreds of small farming villages dotted the Indus floodplain, many of these settlements had fortifications and planned streets. Mundigak in present-day south-east Afghanistan has defensive walls and square bastions of sun dried bricks, babylon was one of the most famous cities of the ancient world, especially as a result of the building program of Nebuchadnezzar, who expanded the walls and built the Ishtar Gate. Exceptions were few — notably, ancient Sparta and ancient Rome did not have walls for a long time, initially, these fortifications were simple constructions of wood and earth, which were later replaced by mixed constructions of stones piled on top of each other without mortar. In Central Europe, the Celts built large fortified settlements which the Romans called oppida, the fortifications were continuously expanded and improved. In ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, in classical era Greece, the city of Athens built a long set of parallel stone walls called the Long Walls that reached their guarded seaport at Piraeus. Large tempered earth walls were built in ancient China since the Shang Dynasty, although stone walls were built in China during the Warring States, mass conversion to stone architecture did not begin in earnest until the Tang Dynasty. The large walls of Pingyao serve as one example, likewise, the famous walls of the Forbidden City in Beijing were established in the early 15th century by the Yongle Emperor. The Romans fortified their cities with massive, mortar-bound stone walls, the most famous of these are the largely extant Aurelian Walls of Rome and the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople, together with partial remains elsewhere. These are mostly city gates, like the Porta Nigra in Trier or Newport Arch in Lincoln, apart from these, the early Middle Ages also saw the creation of some towns built around castles. These cities were only protected by simple stone walls and more usually by a combination of both walls and ditches. From the 12th century AD hundreds of settlements of all sizes were founded all across Europe and these cities are easy to recognise due to their regular layout and large market spaces
Defensive wall
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Part of the
Great Wall of China, a
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Defensive wall
Defensive wall
Defensive wall
26.
Gatehouse
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A gatehouse, in architectural terminology, is a building enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a castle, manor house, fort, town or similar buildings of importance. Gatehouses made their first appearance in the early antiquity when it became necessary to protect the entrance to a castle or town. Over time, they evolved into very complicated structures with many lines of defence, strongly fortified gatehouses would normally include a drawbridge, one or more portcullises, machicolations, arrow loops and possibly even murder-holes where stones would be dropped on attackers. In some castles, the gatehouse was so strongly fortified it took on the function of a keep, examples of such gate keeps can be found at Bodiam Castle and Beaumaris Castle. In the late Middle Ages, some of these arrow loops might have converted into gun loops. Sometimes gatehouses formed part of fortifications, perhaps defending the passage of a bridge across a river or a moat. York has four important gatehouses, known as Bars, in its city walls, the French term for gatehouse is logis-porche. This could be a large, complex structure that served both as a gateway and lodging or it could have composed of a gateway through an enclosing wall. A very large gatehouse might be called a châtelet, at the end of the Middle Ages, many gatehouses in England and France were converted into beautiful, grand entrance structures to manor houses or estates. Many of them became a separate feature free-standing or attached to the manor or mansion only by an enclosing wall, by this time the gatehouse had lost its defensive purpose and had become more of a monumental structure designed to harmonise with the manor or mansion. On the continent of Europe, there are examples of surviving gatehouses in France, Austria. Bargate, in Hampshire is a gatehouse in the city centre of Southampton. Constructed in 1180 as part of the Southampton town walls Ightham Mote, Durham Castle, in Durham has an 11th-century gatehouse that is now used as accommodation for students attending University College, Durham. Layer Marney Tower, the apotheosis of the Tudor gatehouse, stokesay Castle, a 13th-century fortified manor house in Shropshire has a Jacobean half-timbered gatehouse. Stanway House, Stanway, Gloucestershire, where the gatehouse measures 44 ft. by 22 ft. and has three storeys, westwood House, Worcestershire, which has a frontage of 54 ft. with two storeys. Burton Agnes Hall, East Riding of Yorkshire, which has three storeys and is flanked by octagonal towers at the angles. Hylton Castle, Hylton, Sunderland, although it is an actual castle, château de Châteaubriant, two gatehouses, one for the lower bailey, one for the upper ward. Château de Suscinio, a large 15th-century gatehouse in the style, Morbihan
Gatehouse
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Gatehouse reconstruction from ancient
Babylon
Gatehouse
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The southern entrance to York, Micklegate Bar
Gatehouse
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The entrance to the University of Manchester, built in 1902
Gatehouse
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Barbican gate of
Glenarm Castle,
Co. Antrim
27.
Gord (archaeology)
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A gord is a medieval Slavonic fortified wooden settlement, sometimes known as a burgwall after the German term for such sites. Gords were built during the late Bronze and early Iron Ages by the Lusatian culture (c, 1300–500 BCE, and later in the 8th–7th centuries BCE, in what are now Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, eastern Germany, and India. These settlements were founded on strategic sites such as hills, riverbanks, lake islands. A typical gord was a group of houses built either in rows or in circles, surrounded by one or more rings of walls made of earth and wood. Some gords were ring-shaped, with a round, oval, or occasionally polygonal fence or wall surrounding a hollow, others, built on a natural hill or a man-made mound, were cone-shaped. Those with a defense on one side, such as a river or lake, were usually horseshoe-shaped. Most gords were built in densely populated areas on sites that offered particular natural advantages, as Slavic tribes united to form states, gords were also built for defensive purposes in less-populated border areas. Gords in which rulers resided or that lay on trade routes quickly expanded, near the gord, or below it in elevation, there formed small communities of servants, merchants, artisans, and others who served the higher-ranked inhabitants of the gord. Each such community was known as a suburbium and its residents could shelter within the walls of the gord in the event of danger. Eventually the suburbium acquired its own fence or wall, in the High Middle Ages, the gord usual evolved into a castle or citadel and the suburbium into a town. Some gords did not stand the test of time and were abandoned or destroyed, notable archeological sites include Biskupin, Poland, and Bilsk, Ukraine. The term ultimately descends from the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root ǵʰortós, enclosure, from this same root come the Germanic word elements *gard and *gart, and likely also the names of Graz, Austria and Gartz, Germany. Cognate to these are English words such as yard, garth, girdle, also cognate but less closely related are Latin hortus, a garden, and its English descendants horticulture and orchard. Further afield, in ancient Iran, a fortified settlement was called a gerd. Burugerd or Borujerd is a city in the West of Iran, the Indian suffix -garh, meaning a fort in Hindi, Sanskrit, and other Indo-Iranian languages, appears in many Indian place names. The Proto-Slavic word gordъ later differentiated into grad and gorod, etc and it is the root of various words in modern Slavic languages pertaining to fences and fenced areas. Some of them are in countries which once were but no longer are mainly inhabited by Slavic-speaking peoples, the word survives in the names of several villages and town districts, as well as in the names of the German municipalities Puttgarden, Wagria and Putgarten, Rügen. Garðaríki - Varangian name for Kievan Rus, interpreted as cities Biskupin, fortified settlements in other cultures, Kraal, Motte-and-bailey
Gord (archaeology)
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Reconstructed
West Slavic fortified settlement (gord) in Groß Raden, Germany
Gord (archaeology)
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Section of reconstructed fortifications at Birów near
Ogrodzieniec, Poland
Gord (archaeology)
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Part of reconstructed fortifications at Birów
Gord (archaeology)
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Grodzisko in Stara Rawa, Poland
