The Great Wall of China is a marvel of engineering. Built thousands of miles long over hundreds of years, the purpose was to protect China from Mongolian invaders from the north. Forces on horseback couldn't get over it, and watchtowers along the wall enabled warnings to defensive troops. But was it successful in its purpose?
But the Great Wall was not always effective. Genghis Khan and his armies had no trouble invading Chinese territory, for example, nor did various other tribes from the north. In some cases, the invaders may have simply gone around sections of the wall; in others, they found more ingenious methods. The Tanguts, in 1002, were able to cross the wall easily by filling in trenches along its length when they noticed the guards of the Song dynasty weren’t paying attention.
That incident points to a key weakness in the Great Wall: Defensive fortifications are only as good as the people manning them. This would prove true on more than one occasion during the Great Wall’s history. For example, in 1644, the Ming dynasty was betrayed to invading Manchu forces by a turncoat general who simply let the enemy army in through a gate.
These failures are at least partly why various rulers kept building, extending, and reinforcing the wall over time. There were plenty of successes to keep them going. Read about the defensive capabilities of the Great Wall of China at Discover magazine. -via Damn Interesting
(Image credit: George Saxton, NESDIS, NOAA)
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