Watchtower

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Watchtower of the camp of the French artillery detachment of the IFOR, Sarajevo, 1995

Roman WatchTower in Germany

For other uses, see Watchtower (disambiguation).

A watchtower is a type of fortification used in many parts of the world. It differs from a regular tower in that its primary use is military, and from a turret in that is usually a freestanding structure. Its main purpose is to provide a high, safe place from which military observations may be made. In some cases, non-military towers, such as religious pagodas, may be used as watchtowers.

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.

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