Birbla

Discussion summary

Medieval-style fortifications are reappearing in the Sahel and other regions, influenced by modern warfare and security concerns. These structures are seen in places like Ukraine, Germany, Afghanistan, and Latin America.

What the discussion says

  • Fortifications are a response to modern threats like drones and insurgencies.
  • Some compare these structures to historical castles or Roman forts.
  • There is interest in the strategic and security implications of these fortifications.
“Medieval-style fortifications have come back in the Sahel.”
— michaelfm1211
“Drones enable deep battlefield surveillance, reducing surprise attacks.”
— iammjm

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  • Hacker News
  • The UK built [1] castles in Afghanistan recently too.

    [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesco_bastion

    by rjsw
  • In many of Latin America big towns and most of border towns, most middle-class houses are tiny versions of fortresses.

    It is a sign of police incompetence, government collapse and the fact that those places are ruled by gangsters.

    by diego_moita
  • https://archive.is/wuHji
    by fsagx
  • "Newly walled towns are a sign of shrivelling state authority" was my thought when I saw the walled off Capitol.

    It is sad when the government needs walls to protect itself from its own people, a sign of weakness. To add to the irony the Capitol used to be, quite literally, the "people's house."

    by ufocia
  • I thought walled towns died not due to state authority becoming stronger, but because offensive weaponry simply became effective enough to overcome walls. Walls can protect you from men with swords, but not from heavy artillery or bombers. Today, wouldn't a fleet of cheap drones render a wall moot?
    by 0xcafefood
  • ACOUP, which is shared on HN regularly, has a series on fortifications too: https://acoup.blog/2021/12/31/collections-fortification-part...
    by red_admiral
  • Fortifications never went anywhere.

    Just in this century, the US used fortified camps in Iraq and Afghanistan, and so did the French in Sahel. And the Ukrainians fortified Dombas and effectively prevented the Russians to take it quickly. Then the Russians fortified the Zaporizhzhia frontline (the Surovikin line) which stopped the Ukrainian counter offensive in 2023.

    And talking about Africa in particular, the border between Morocco and Algeria, and also Western Sahara, has been a fortified wall for the past 40 years now.

    by stymaar
  • For anyone with an interest this article is cut down and pared slice of a portion of the work of Dr. Olivier Walther and Dr. Steven Radil, geographers at the University of Florida.

    A somewhat longer article of theirs is Why African Borderlands Keep Burning (April 15, 2026) - https://africanarguments.org/2026/04/why-african-borderlands...

    and a recent paper Mapping the long-term trajectories of political violence in Africa (MARCH 2026) - https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.06502

    by defrost

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