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The Great Wall of China is military technology, would you consider that its effectiveness is proven?

• samus 3y ago
  It was primarily built to create a geographical barrier where otherwise there was none. Even though all such barriers can in principle be crossed or bypassed, they can still cause considerable tactical and logistical issues for any attacker. Without the wall, raiding bands of any size could just slip through and cause havoc. Only large and well-organized forces had siege equipment to break through wherever they wanted. Similarly, traffic and migration of peoples could be controlled and tolls and customs could be enforced. It also acted as an infrastructure for fast transmission of messages. In those ways, like the Roman Limes and the European castle networks, it was mostly an infrastructure for peaceful times. But even in war, it was preferred to bypass it or to capture a gateway fortress, otherwise these forces could cause enormous problems for the attackers. For example, only allying with the Ming garrison at Liaoning made it possible for the Manchus to crush the short-lived Shun dynasty and establish the Qing dynasty.
• reddit_clone 3y ago
  It must have yeah? It is not exactly the ice wall in Westeros. But it must have acted as a major speed bump for any invading army. Getting across animals and heavy equipment is not easy. Cause enough delay to send some more soldiers to deter them some more?