A bundle of sticks or branches bound together, historically used in military engineering to build fortifications or fill ditches.
From French fascine, from Italian fascina, from Latin fasces (bundle). Military engineers adopted this term because fascines were practical military tools for rapid construction.
Fascines connect back to the Roman fasces symbol—those bundled rods that represented power and unity. Medieval soldiers discovered that bundles of sticks could solve all sorts of battlefield problems, from crossing ditches to reinforcing walls.
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