The Great Wall of Ancient China: Did the Benefits Outweigh the Costs?
The Great Wall was originally built by the Xin and Han Dynasty to keep out the Mongolians. However, the benefits of the wall did not outweigh the costs. According to Document C, there was many casualties while building the wall. Peasants died by working in low temperatures with little food and soldiers died "from hunger, sickness, and extreme heat or cold." This shows that building the wall killed people, even though the wall was supposed to prevent that. In Document D, it states that there is no one to harvest rice since everyone is working on the wall. In the document it states, "If the rice isn't harvested, how will you eat?" This shows that since they were spending
The Great Wall was originally built by the Xin and Han Dynasty to keep out the Mongolians. However, the benefits of the wall did not outweigh the costs. According to Document C, there was many casualties while building the wall. Peasants died by working in low temperatures with little food and soldiers died "from hunger, sickness, and extreme heat or cold." This shows that building the wall killed people, even though the wall was supposed to prevent that. In Document D, it states that there is no one to harvest rice since everyone is working on the wall. In the document it states, "If the rice isn't harvested, how will you eat?" This shows that since they were spending