Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China is the world’s largest man-made monument and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, currently spanning 21,000 kilometres, and was as significant during its initial construction in the Qin Dynasty (221BC), as it is today. Built over nine years to protect China from Northern invasion, at its peak, this section of the Wall spanned an estimated 5,000 kilometres from Lintao to Liaoning. During its construction under Emperor Shi Huangdi, it was a central focus which had enormous repercussions on its people, both to China’s benefit and detriment– mostly detriment, in regards to:
Military:
Shi Huangdi’s general, “Meng Tian[,] was sent to command a host of 300,000” (1 Shiji) to drive out the Inner Mongolians from Chinese territory. Afterward, the individual, smaller walls of states from the Warring States period were unified into a single Wall, erected to prevent ‘The Xiongnu [who] were […] great warriors and horsemen […and] often invaded China.’ (2 Great Wall of China, Cynthia Kennedy Henzel). …show more content…
(3 Elizabeth Mann) It was built to follow the landscape and utilise its features for natural defence, with steep ledges, rocky dips and mountains, to make approaching the Wall difficult. Thus, the wall did a decent job in providing military assistance for defence, as although the Wall wasn’t impervious to errors and discrepancies in its function, they were compensated with the larger feats of minimising the otherwise numerous attacks on China from Northerners, and discouraging enemies with the grand display of the Great Wall. Also, the Mongols overtaking China was beyond the Qin Dynasty, which may have occurred due to other factors other than the Great Wall’s ineptitude. Furthermore, the value of the wall must have been recognised, as its construction continued for centuries throughout other dynasties, for the military and other
The Great Wall of China is the world’s largest man-made monument and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, currently spanning 21,000 kilometres, and was as significant during its initial construction in the Qin Dynasty (221BC), as it is today. Built over nine years to protect China from Northern invasion, at its peak, this section of the Wall spanned an estimated 5,000 kilometres from Lintao to Liaoning. During its construction under Emperor Shi Huangdi, it was a central focus which had enormous repercussions on its people, both to China’s benefit and detriment– mostly detriment, in regards to:
Military:
Shi Huangdi’s general, “Meng Tian[,] was sent to command a host of 300,000” (1 Shiji) to drive out the Inner Mongolians from Chinese territory. Afterward, the individual, smaller walls of states from the Warring States period were unified into a single Wall, erected to prevent ‘The Xiongnu [who] were […] great warriors and horsemen […and] often invaded China.’ (2 Great Wall of China, Cynthia Kennedy Henzel). …show more content…
(3 Elizabeth Mann) It was built to follow the landscape and utilise its features for natural defence, with steep ledges, rocky dips and mountains, to make approaching the Wall difficult. Thus, the wall did a decent job in providing military assistance for defence, as although the Wall wasn’t impervious to errors and discrepancies in its function, they were compensated with the larger feats of minimising the otherwise numerous attacks on China from Northerners, and discouraging enemies with the grand display of the Great Wall. Also, the Mongols overtaking China was beyond the Qin Dynasty, which may have occurred due to other factors other than the Great Wall’s ineptitude. Furthermore, the value of the wall must have been recognised, as its construction continued for centuries throughout other dynasties, for the military and other