Razor wire

Barbed tape or razor wire is a mesh of metal strips with sharp edges whose purpose is to prevent trespassing by humans.

The term "razor wire", through long usage, has generally been used to describe barbed tape products.

The multiple blades of a razor-wire fence are designed to inflict serious cuts on anyone attempting to climb through or over it and therefore also has a strong psychological deterrent effect.

[2][3][4][5] An article in a 1918 issue of The Hardware Trade Journal tells the story under the headline: "This Cruel War’s Abuse of Our Old Friend ‘Bob Wire.'"

Just as naturally, men and boys tried to climb over or under those fences and had their clothes and flesh torn...These wounds upon man and beast and the suddenness with which Glidden’s barbs halted all living things came to the attention of military men, and the barbed wire entanglement of which we now read almost every day in the war news was born...And it may be said right here that soldiers who have been halted by wire entanglements while making a charge say the devil never invented anything nastier.

"[6][7] Starting in the late 1960s, barbed tape was typically found in prisons and secure mental hospitals, where the increased breaching time for a poorly equipped potential escapee was a definite advantage.

Norway prohibits any barbed wire except in combination with other fencing, in order to protect domesticated animals from exposure.