A history lesson on walls
The Great Wall” opened at theaters in North America Feb. 17 after having opened in China on Dec. 15, 2016. The movie stars the famous actor Matt Damon as an European mercenary searching for some black powder. The action takes place during China’s Song Dynasty approximately 960-1280 CE (Common Era =AD, Anno Domini). Black powder was invented c.850 CE with the first written formulation during the Song Dynasty. The movie has had mixed reviews and mediocre revenue.
Coincidentally, before I had heard about the movie, I had been thinking of writing about walls – somewhat inspired by the possible building of a wall promised by President Donald Trump. Growing up in the 1940s and 1950s, China was often in the news and at that time I had only dreamed of one day being able to see or be at a part of The Great Wall (TGW) of China.
At those early dates and before any humans had been on space flights and to the moon, it was speculated that TGW could be seen from possibly as far away as the moon – a belief that some may still have though the evidence is now in that it cannot be seen by the naked eye even as low as 100 miles from earth. Photographic equipment might be able to capture it above that, but in 2001 Neil Armstrong said that he had asked various travelers in Earth orbit and none had reported being able to see it. In 2003, Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei said he could not see TGW. The European Space Agency announced about the same time (2003) that they could see it from between 100 to 200 miles up, but later found that what they saw was actually a river. My childhood beliefs in being able to see TGW from space have been shattered.
jtr
Some walls were built in China as early as the 7th century BCE. Particularly notable was the building of a wall by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang about 200 BCE. TGW is not a single wall, but has various parts, some parts now gone other parts improved and fortified. What most of us probably think of as TGW is bricks and stone with a height of up to about 25 feet with a width of about 30 feet at the bottom and about 16 feet across at the top. Supposedly you could drive a chariot on the top of the wall, but the part I was on near Beijing in 1988 had steps here and there along the length and guard houses or towers that would have made the use of a chariot for long trips on the wall a bit improbable. The majority of the existing wall now is from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 CE). Remembering that the wall is not one continuous line, it nevertheless has astounding length. The Ming section alone is about 5,500 miles and an archaeological survey has measured the entire wall and its branches at 13,171 miles. The purposes of the wall included protection from raids from neighbors, but also served as border control, a place for collection of taxes, encouragement of trade and, of course, control of immigration and emigration.
jtr
Not quite as famous as TGW is another 2,000 year-old structure, Hadrian’s Wall. Hadrian’s Wall was a little closer to some of my ancestors. It marked the far reaches of the Roman Empire to the north and was constructed to prevent the awful (my characterization) tribes of Scotland from invading Britannia. Construction on that wall began in 122 CE. It was not as grand a scale as TGW, but it ran from the North Sea to the Irish Sea about 75 miles. In addition to a wall sometimes 10 feet wide at the base and 8 feet wide at the top, at a height of about 10 feet, there were also milecastles about every four miles or so that were staffed by garrisons and some cavalry. On either side of the main wall were also ditches and a roadway along the wall length.
If you happen to drive north from London to Scotland, it is well worth a stop to see part of Hadrian’s Wall, most of which is part of Northumberland National Park. For a brief time in 142 CE the Antonine Wall connected the Firth of Forth on the North Sea to the Firth of Clyde (Edinburgh to Glasgow). I remember driving overlooking the Firth of Forth – who could forget a name like that – saying it over and over again while I am writing this. The Antonine Wall was 39 miles long, 16 feet wide and about 10 feet high, but not as impressive as either TGW or Hadrian’s Wall as it was a turf and wood wall. I never saw any remains of it when I was in the area.
jtr
From recent times I have been thinking about the Berlin Wall which, rather than being like the previously mentioned walls that extended in somewhat straight lines, was an encircling wall. Possibly the earliest such wall was the Wall of Jericho from about 8000 BCE or in other words, 10,000 years ago. Many cities, even villages, of Europe and the far east were enclosed by walls. The walls still exist in many places, often separating the old section of the city from the new. The official name for the Berlin Wall by the German Democratic Republic (GDR) was the Anti-Fascist Protective Wall (Antifaschistischer Shutzwall); interesting in that means that the GDR thereby implied that NATO countries and West Germany were the fascists and East Germans needed to be protected from those fascists. As we know, however, the wall’s effect was to prevent the East Germans from “defecting.” The wall existed from 1969 until Eastern Bloc government officials opened it in 1989 with destruction finished in 1992.
Most of us remember President Reagan’s speech from 1987 in which he said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” Also, in his speech: “The wall cannot withstand freedom.” Hmmm, … Any implications from history about the durability of building walls?
Until next time: Oh, Fiddlesticks!
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