La Tour Eiffel was built as the entrance arch for the 1889 Exposition Universelle and was intended to be dismantled after twenty years. It survived because its iron lattice proved useful as a radio transmission tower — a function that began in earnest during World War I, when it intercepted German military communications and, in one documented case, helped foil a German spy operation.
La Tour Eiffel was built as the entrance arch for the 1889 Exposition Universelle and was intended to be dismantled after twenty years. It survived because its iron lattice proved useful as a radio transmission tower — a function that began in earnest during World War I, when it intercepted German military communications and, in one documented case, helped foil a German spy operation.