Barricade


Barricade is any object or structure that creates a barrier or obstacle to control, block passage or force the flow of traffic in the desired direction. Adopted as a military term, a barricade denotes any improvised field fortification, such as on city streets during urban warfare. These may also include crowd control devices --like temporary traffic barricades, pedestrian barricades, and anti-vehicle barriers-- all of which have also been used in the course of urban protests, counterinsurgency operations, and .

Origins

The origins of the barricade are often erroneously traced to the "First Day of the Barricades," a confrontation that occurred in Paris on 12 May 1588 in which supporters of the Duke of Guise and the ultra-Catholic Holy League successfully challenged the authority of King Henri III during the French Wars of Religion. Then, barrels were fundamental to the Holy League's defenses. They were filled with stone and earth to create effective fortifications, while chains were stretched across intersections to block passage. The League planned how to place these materials to obstruct Parisian streets as efficiently as possible. This severely hindered the movement of royal troops, who were unable to bypass the barricade structures placed throughout the city.
...Parisians from every social level rushed to support the League in what they feared might be another royal massacre. At this, everyone took up arms to safeguard the streets and neighbourhoods and made barricades by stretching chains across the street corners.
Although barricades gained widespread public awareness as a result of the 1588 1st Day of the Barricades, they were neither exclusively French nor exclusively modern in origin. In ancient history, barricades were used as defensive fortifications, primarily in cities defending against foreign invaders. During the Persian sack of Athens from 480 to 479 BCE, the last remaining Greek soldiers defended the Acropolis of Athens against Persian invaders using barricade-like structures in a final stand against the approaching army. Similarly, during the Theban siege of Plataea from 429 to 427 BCE, the Plataeans placed "wagons in the streets as barricades" after they realized the Thebans had infiltrated the city.
Improvised fortifications like these were also used elsewhere on the planet. In the ancient Maya city of Chunchucmil, located in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, barricades made out of rubble from nearby houses were used to complement existing city walls when the local population attempted to defend itself against neighboring Maya invaders. This invasion and subsequent abandonment of the city occurred within the Classic Maya period. Later examples of the use of barricades in the Americas include Tacky's Revolt in Jamaica in 1760-61, in the course of which slaves rebelling against European masters built barricaded strongholds throughout the Island.

Modern barricade

In Europe, barricade construction developed in France in the sixteenth century and remained a predominantly French practice for two centuries. During the nineteenth century, the barricade became the preeminent symbol of a revolutionary tradition. Parisian uprisings from 1830 to 1871 lent the barricade political significance as workers and the bourgeoisie used them to halt armies and assert republican intentions. In 1848, the barricade appeared throughout Europe, where citizens adapted barricades to local urban landscapes to challenge imperial authority. In colonial settings, the tactic was sometimes reversed: European powers deployed barricades to defend themselves against popular revolts by colonized peoples. Consequently, the barricade became a revolutionary emblem: it marked the threshold between state authority and popular resistance in ways that would echo across subsequent global movements.

Barricade in European revolutionary struggles

Paris: 1830, 1848, 1871

Barricades were a highly visible and consequential element in many of the insurrections that occurred in France throughout the nineteenth century. French citizens constructed them during three successive periods of urban rebellions against their own governments: first against the Bourbon Monarchy in 1830, then against the July Monarchy and the Second Republic in 1848, and finally against the emerging Third Republic during the Paris Commune of 1871. Although each uprising had its own triggers, they were all primarily driven by urban workers, artisans, and students who rose against governments they felt were illegitimate, repressive, or unresponsive to their pleas for social and political reform. Beginning with the July Revolution in 1830, barricades were used to dissuade aggressors from gaining access to certain areas. As Traugott highlights, "The July Revolution in Paris stands as the largest barricade event ever documented... for, if contemporary estimates are to be credited, some 4,000 were built in all." Using their knowledge of the urban landscape of Paris, residents of the city rapidly assembled barricades out of makeshift materials, such as stones, furniture, and other debris found in the streets. Citizens used barricades to isolate sections of the July Monarchy's forces to prevent them from receiving reinforcements, ultimately making it easier for the insurgents to corral and defeat them. According to Harsin and Traugott, barricades were constructed in large numbers to cut off the army, enabling revolutionaries to control key streets and impede movement. Likewise, Jill Harsin cites barricades' tactical use during 1848, saying: "...barricades were constructed during the evening and night to stop reinforcements from reaching the city."
During the short-lived Paris Commune in 1871, the barricade continued to serve a tactical function, allowing Communard defenders to manipulate the advance of opposing forces. However, due to the process of Haussmannization initiated two decades earlier, the broad boulevards of Paris were too wide to barricade effectively. John Merriman notes that "It was more difficult to barricade boulevards than narrow workers quartiers... The Army of Versailles could blast away at these major arteries while outflanking the defensive impediments." Although these structural changes to the city reduced the barricades' tactical effectiveness, their propaganda function grew. In some instances, barricades were constructed "expressly" for the purpose of their photographic reproduction and dissemination.

Milan, Berlin, Vienna: 1848

The barricade played a significant role in the Belgian Revolution of 1830, but it was only in the course of the upheavals of 1848 that it became truly continental in scope. The barricade's diffusion was aided by the circulation of students, political refugees, and itinerant workers through the French capital, where many gained first-hand experience of one or another tactics of Parisian insurrection. The French Revolution of 1848 sparked a revolutionary wave across Europe from 1848 to 1849, which became known as the 'Springtime of the Peoples' and the 'Springtime of Nations.' Working-class people and the continent's bourgeoisie participated in mass demonstrations against their own autocratic governments, periodically forming citizen militias and constructing barricades in key urban centers throughout Europe. During this period, the barricade emerged as a powerful artifact of urban unrest and figured prominently in popular struggles against European monarchies that continued into the late 19th century. As Dennis Bos indicates:
"News of the successful rising in Paris in February 1848 was followed by the building of barricades in capital cities across Europe. Revolutionary claims were underscored by the first-time appearance of barricades in such widely scattered places as Berlin, Frankfurt and Dresden, Vienna, Milan and Naples, Krakow, Prague and Budapest."

Milan

The Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, a constituent crown land of the Austrian Empire, existed from its establishment in 1815 until the beginning of the "Springtime of Nations" in 1848. On March 18, 1848, citizens of Milan rebelled against Austro-Hungarian rule for five continuous days, an event which later became known as the Five Days of Milan. During that period, insurgents constructed an estimated 1,700 barricades, dividing the city into defensible segments and functionally restricting the mobility of Austrian infantry, artillery, and cavalry. This fragmentation of Austrian troops enabled civilians to coordinate attacks from sheltered positions, serving to gradually undermine the Austrian army's control over the city. Through the construction of barricades, insurgents made it untenable for the Austrian army to remain in Milan, directly resulting in the withdrawal of approximately 12,000 Austrian troops from the city.

Berlin

Inspired by the French Revolution of 1848, the Bürgerwehren took part in numerous confrontations with Prussian soldiers between March 13 and 17, 1848. However, the events of March 18 marked the beginning of a broader revolutionary movement. The Bürgerwehren erected a dense belt of barricades across Friedrichstadt, engaging in a series of battles with the Prussian army that later came to be known as the Märzrevolution. Barricades in Berlin were constructed to hold key tactical positions and control important neighborhoods, heavily restricting Prussian army movements. Barricades also empowered coordinated civilian resistance, forcing prolonged, negotiated standoffs with the Prussian army. In his firsthand account, August Brass describes being on the Kronenstraße and Friedrichstraße barricades, recalling:
"There, a lot of citizens equipped with rifles stood on the flat roof of one of the houses. From behind the barricade and from the windows of the other houses, guns were fired, too. And in the course of this attack, one of the general staff officers-we don't know whether it was the colonel himself or one of the battalion commanders was shot down from his horse when he attacked at the head of the columns. The repeated charges against these barricades were beaten back by the citizens with such energy that it instilled respect and admiration in the brave troops."