Military watchtowers watchtower in Germany The Romans built numerous towers as part of a system of communications, one example being the towers along
Hadrian's Wall in
Britain. Romans built many
lighthouses, such as the
Tower of Hercules in northern
Spain, which survives to this day as a working building, and the equally famous lighthouse at
Dover Castle, which survives to about half its original height as a ruin. In medieval Europe, many castles and
manor houses, or similar fortified buildings, were equipped with watchtowers. In some of the manor houses of western France, the watchtower equipped with arrow or gun loopholes was one of the principal means of defense. A feudal lord could keep watch over his domain from the top of his tower. In southern
Saudi Arabia and
Yemen, small stone and mud towers called "
qasaba" were constructed as either watchtowers or keeps in the
Asir mountains. Furthermore, in
Najd, a watchtower, called "Margab", was used to watch for approaching enemies far in distance and shout calling warnings from atop. Scotland saw the construction of
Peel towers that combined the function of watchtower with that of a
keep or
tower house that served as the residence for a local notable family. , one of the 13
de Redin towers in
Malta Mediterranean countries, and
Italy in particular, saw the construction of numerous coastal watchtowers since the early Middle Ages, connected to the menace of
Saracen attacks from the various Muslim states existing at the time (such as the
Balearic Islands,
Ifriqiya or
Sicily). Later (starting from the 16th century) many were restored or built against the
Barbary pirates. Similarly, the city state of Hamburg gained political power in the 13th century over a remote island 150 kilometers down the Elbe river estuary to erect the
Great Tower Neuwerk by 1310 to protect its trading routes. They also claimed customs at the watchtower protecting the passage. watchtower near
Dunhuang,
Gansu, China Some notable examples of military Mediterranean watchtowers include the towers that the
Knights of Malta had constructed on the coasts of
Malta. These towers ranged in size from small watchtowers to large structures armed with numerous cannons. They include the
Wignacourt,
de Redin, and
Lascaris towers, named for the
Grand Master, such as
Martin de Redin, that commissioned each series. The name of
Tunisia's second biggest city,
Sfax, is the
berber-
punic translation from the
greek "Taphroúria" (
Ταφρούρια) meaning watchtower, which may mean that the 9th century Muslim town was built as an extension of what is currently known as the
Kasbah, one of the corners of the surviving complete
rampart of the
medina. In the Channel Islands, the
Jersey Round Towers and the
Guernsey loophole towers date from the late 18th century. They were erected to give warning of attacks by the French. The
Martello towers that the British built in the UK and elsewhere in the
British Empire were defensive fortifications that were armed with cannon and that were often within line of sight of each other. One of the last Martello towers to be built was
Fort Denison in
Sydney harbour. The most recent descendants of the Martello Towers are the
flak towers that the various combatants erected in
World War II as mounts for
anti-aircraft artillery.
Modern warfare between
East and
West Germany. In
modern warfare the relevance of watchtowers has decreased due to the availability of alternative forms of
military intelligence, such as
reconnaissance by
spy satellites and
unmanned aerial vehicles. However watch towers have been used in
counter-insurgency wars to maintain a military presence in conflict areas in case such as by the
French Army in
French Indochina, by the
British Army and the
RUC in
Northern Ireland and the
IDF in
Gaza and
West Bank.
Non-military watchtowers An example of the non-military watchtower in history is the one of Jerusalem. Though the
Hebrews used it to keep a watch for approaching armies, the religious authorities forbade the taking of weapons up into the tower as this would require bringing weapons through the temple. Rebuilt by King Herod, that Watchtower was renamed after
Mark Antony, his friend who battled against Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (later
Augustus) and lost. == Notable guard towers ==