Area denial weapon

An area denial weapon is a defensive device used to prevent an adversary from occupying or traversing an area of land, sea or air. The specific method may not be totally effective in preventing passage, but is sufficient to severely restrict, slow down, or endanger the opponent. Some area denial weapons pose risks to civilians entering the area even long after combat has ended, and consequently are often controversial. An area denial weapon can be part of an anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy. In medieval warfare, sturdy stakes were stuck into the ground at the bottom of long lines of ditches, positioned with a sharp end pointing up diagonally, in order to prevent cavalry charges in a given area. Even if the stakes were spotted, horsemen would be forced to dismount and effectively give up their advantage as cavalry, and become easier targets. The correct layout of these extensive lines of ditches and the control of stake size, form and placement were part of the craft of war. An alternative cavalry deterrent, allowing quicker dispersal and providing the advantage of being hidden more easily, was the deployment of, for example, small balls with spikes, used during most of antiquity. Many variants were used, such as boards with metal hooks, as described as used by Julius Caesar. A more modern version of this are caltrops. Passive fortification—ditches and obstacles such as dragon's teeth and Czech hedgehogs—were used as anti-tank measures during World War II. Simple rows or clusters of sharpened sticks (nowadays also known as punji sticks), and small caltrops have been used in anti-infantry warfare since antiquity. However, due to the difficulty of mass-producing them in the pre-modern age, they were rarely used except in the defense of limited areas or chokepoints, especially during sieges, where they were used to help seal breaches. Increasing ease of production still did not prevent these methods from slowly falling out of favor from the late Middle Ages onward.

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