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Humankind have built many walls either to keep others out or some within their confines. What were some of the great walls of history and how effective were they?
Stonewall Jackson was extremely effective as a military commander, but the Nixon orchestrated attempt to stonewall the Senate committee and Watergate prosecutors backfired.
Or, wait...did you mean just actual walls?
Harian's Wall was apparently never meant to be an absolute barrier against invading armies or a means to keep those too barbaric Picts and Scots out of the empire. It was designed so as to channel any invasion into a more narrow and manageable corridor, as well as serving as a check point for collecting custom dues and taxes.
Effective? Hard to say since we cannot compare it to a history without the wall. It was replaced after twenty or so years by Antoine's Wall, so there had to have been some shortcoming. Antoine's Wall remained in active use right up until the Romans quit Britain for good in the 5th Century, which suggests that the Romans viewed it as effective.
The Berlin Wall was effective in that it did drastically reduce the flow of people fleeing from East Germany to West Germany. On the other hand it was an immense pr disaster for the Soviets from the start. If things were so glorious in the great socialist republic of East Germany, why was a wall needed to keep people from escaping? The west ultimately got more propaganda value from the wall than value the Soviets got by retaining the dissidents who wanted out. The collapse of the wall was certainly a handy metaphor for the collapse of the entire Soviet empire.
The walls of Jericho have to be rated as completely ineffective. All it took was a few blasts on trumpets to bring it down. Shoddy workmanship I suppose, maybe they hired one of those mob front construction companies to erect it.
Stonewall Jackson was extremely effective as a military commander, but the Nixon orchestrated attempt to stonewall the Senate committee and Watergate prosecutors backfired.
Or, wait...did you mean just actual walls?
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Quote:
Harian's Wall was apparently never meant to be an absolute barrier against invading armies or a means to keep those too barbaric Picts and Scots out of the empire. It was designed so as to channel any invasion into a more narrow and manageable corridor, as well as serving as a check point for collecting custom dues and taxes.
Well this all came about, the thread that is, from reading about the IX Legion. Somewhere, I fell upon a article that argued that Hardrian's Wall remains the dividing point between England and Scotland. That's pretty effective.
Quote:
The walls of Jericho have to be rated as completely ineffective. All it took was a few blasts on trumpets to bring it down. Shoddy workmanship I suppose, maybe they hired one of those mob front construction companies to erect it.
Well this all came about, the thread that is, from reading about the IX
Legion. Somewhere, I fell upon a article that argued that Hardrian's Wall
remains the dividing point between England and Scotland. That's pretty
effective.
Interesting and it appears that the 'other' wall, the Antonine Wall, which is north of Hadrian's helped to bring that about. According to his biographer, Pius built the wall to tell the 'Brigantes' to take a hike from territory they took illegally. Consequently, the Antonine Wall became the more northern wall for Roman control up there and enabled 'southern Scotland', the area between the two Walls, to eventually become part of the British provinces.
You cannot have a discussion about walls without devoting most of it to this very wall. Every other wall kinda sucks in comparison.
I have actually been to this wall, a section of it. It was up in some mountainous terrain. The steps were very high and thin. I guess it makes it difficult for invaders who have climbed over to move around unless they were used to it like the garrison troops.
None of the walls ever worked. Any wall can be bypassed from flanks, or from underneath, or from above.
Here's some good examples: same wall of china; Line of Maginot; Mannerheim Line. Hadrain's Wall. Mexico border walls.
It does not matter, for any wall there is one who will traverse it somehow.
The only wall that truly works is wall of conscious decision not to cross a barrier, physical or else.
Stonewall Jackson was extremely effective as a military commander, but the Nixon orchestrated attempt to stonewall the Senate committee and Watergate prosecutors backfired.
How about the Stonewall Uprising that was the turning point of the gay liberation movement in June, 1969?
The citadel of Antwerp (now gone). Neuf Brisach. Belfort. San Juan. Cartagena. Quebec. Naarden. Sangallo's double flank bastions at Rome.
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