Barbed Wire
Barbed wire, or heavy wire with sharp wire barbs, is commonly used for fencing. While there were a number of earlier unpatented versions of barbed wire, barbed wire as we know it today developed out of an idea by Henry Rose, presented at an 1873 county fair. Rose suggested adding barbs to a wooden fence rail for livestock containment. Several of those who saw Rose’s idea worked to develop their own barbed wire. By November 1874, two men had joined together to form the Barb Fence Company.
While barbed wire was marketed as containment fencing for livestock, it soon found other uses on the battlefield. In the Second Anglo-Boer War in what is now South Africa, the British used barbed wire to confine people to concentration camps and to help fortify buildings.
By World War I, barbed wire played a key strategic role. Barbed wire was a cheap and practical way to limit the movement of oncoming offensive troops, providing a first line of defense. Barbed wire fences were effective, quick to put up, and did not limit visibility, yet they were difficult to pass through or to destroy. Barbed wire didn’t only serve to protect troops in the trenches. It could also be used to create traps for the enemy, by funneling enemy forces into an effective kill zone that could be easily defended, and made it simple to eliminate the enemy with little risk.
Barbed wire remains an important strategy to keep people in or out of areas even today, and is found surrounding prisons, military installations and other facilities. In addition, it continues to be used for its original purpose—containing livestock.