Barricade

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Barricade

A barricade is any object or structure that creates a barrier or obstacle to control, block passage or force the flow of traffic

Traffic

Traffic on roads may consist of pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars and other conveyances, either singly or together, while using the public way for purposes of travel....
in the desired direction.

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A barricade is any object or structure that creates a barrier or obstacle to control, block passage or force the flow of traffic

Traffic

French Revolution

The French Revolution was a period of political and social upheaval and radical change in the history of France, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudalism for the aristocracy and Roman Catholic Church clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on Age of Enlightenment principles of cit...
and urban rebellions ever since, went up on the Day of the Barricades

Day of the Barricades

In the French Wars of Religion, the Day of the Barricades , 12 May 1588, was an apparently spontaneous public uprising in staunchly Catholic Paris against the moderate, hesitant, temporalizing policies of Henry III of France....
, 12 May 1588, when an organized rebellion of Parisians forced Henri III

Henry III of France

Henry III of France , born Alexandre-?douard de Valois-Angoul?me, was King of France from 1574 to 1589, and as Henry of Valois, first elected List of Polish rulers#Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and List of Lithuanian rulers#Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1573 to 1574....
from Paris, leaving it in the hands of the Catholic League

Catholic League

Catholic League may refer to:*Catholic League , created by Henry of Guise, in 1576 during the French Wars of Religion*Catholic League , a confederation of Catholic German states formed to counteract the Protestant Union...
. Wagons, timbers and hogsheads (barriques) were chained together to impede the movements of Swiss Guards and other forces loyal to the king.

Adopted as a military term, a barricade denotes any improvised field fortification

Fortification

Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defense in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs....
, most notably on the city streets during urban warfare

Urban warfare

Urban warfare is modern warfare conducted in urban areas such as towns and city. As a distinction, warfare conducted in population centers before the 20th century is generally considered Siege....
. Barricades featured heavily in the various European revolution

Revolution

A revolution is a fundamental social change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time....
s of the late 18th to early 20th centuries; Les Misérables

Les Misérables

Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
ian insurrection of June 1832. Barricades were also used at the end of the Paris Commune of 1871 and in May 1968 in France. A major aim of Haussmann's renovation of Paris

Haussmann's renovation of Paris

The Haussmann Renovations, or Haussmannisation of Paris, was a work commissioned by Napol?on III and led by the Seine pr?fet, Georges Eug?ne Haussmann between 1852 and 1870, though work continued well after the Second French Empire's demise in 1870....
under Napoléon III was to eliminate the potential of citizens to build barricades by widening streets into avenues too wide for barricades to block. Such terms as "go to the barricades" or "standing at the barricades" are used in various languages, especially in rousing songs of various radical movements, as metaphors for starting and participating in a revolution or civil war, even when no physical barricades are used.

Making an early appearance in a Royal Shakespeare Company

Royal Shakespeare Company

The Royal Shakespeare Company is a British theatre company. Located primarily at Stratford-upon-Avon, with bases also in London and Theatre Royal, Newcastle, it is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly-funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal National Theatre....
production, the barricade is used in Les Misérables

Les Misérables

Les Mis?rables is a novel by French author Victor Hugo, and among the best-known novels of the 19th century. It has been described as one of the greatest novels ever written in any language....
as a symbol of the whole, through its immense, almost frightening size and ultimately the site of all the highs in Les Misérables.

Barricades also include temporary traffic barricades designed with the goal of dissuading passage into a protected or hazardous

Risk

Risk is a concept that denotes the precise probability of specific eventualities. Technically, the notion of risk is independent from the notion of value and, as such, eventualities may have both beneficial and adverse consequences....
area or large slabs of cement

Cement

In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance which sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together....
whose goal is to actively prevent forcible passage by a vehicle. Stripes on barricades and panel devices slope downward in the direction traffic must travel.

There are also pedestrian barricades - sometimes called bike rack barricades for their resemblence to a now obsolete form of bicycle stand

Bicycle stand

A bicycle stand, also commonly called a bike rack, is a device to which bicycles may be securely attached. It may be free standing or securely attached to the ground or some stationary object such as a building....
, or police barriers. They originated in France approximately 50 years ago and are now produced around the world. They were first produced in the U.S. 40 years ago by Friedrichs Mfg for New Orleans's Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras

The terms "Mardi Gras" and "Mardi Gras season", in English language, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, ending on the day before Ash Wednesday....
parades.

Barricade

See also