History Main / TheGreatWall

* In many Chinese Empires, and some of the smaller nation-states and kingdoms, series of observation posts in militarised zones (such as the 'Great Walls') helped keep marauding tribes from the Steppes from raiding too deeply or extensively in one's lands when used to inform a fast response by cavalry to intercept them. This was only enough to keep them at bay in peacetime, however, and the Steppe Tribes knew this - they usually waited until the Chinese nations bordering them were at war before they tried anything too raid-y. The big exception to this rule would be The Empire of the Song in the 11th century, which lost its capital to a lightning campaign by a semi-nomadic Steppe nation (the Jurchen) which had subjugated most of the tribes in modern Mongolia and Manchuria while they'd been the Song's ally. This was only possible because of the suddeness of the betrayal, which caught the army largely de-mobilised and with the Wall's garrisons being at their peacetime strengths at best. The ultimate result was that the entire north of the Empire, with a third of its people (and thus a similar share of its wealth) was lost to the Jurchens. After this, the ('Southern') Empire of the Song [[ForeverWar waged a hundred-year war]] to defend its remaining subjects. The Wall was not used again until the Empire of the Ming managed to conquer all the former Song Empire's lands from south-to-north three centuries later.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maginot_Line Maginot]] [[UsefulNotes/MaginotLine Line]], built slightly behind the Franco-German border by the French in the 1930s to economise on manpower in the event of a Franco-German war (that part of the front line could be extremely lightly defended, and the men saved could be deployed elsewhere), encourage Germany to invade Belgium in the event of such a war, encourage Belgium to remain allied with France because of the risk of being invaded by Germany, and encourage Germany to face French forces on the plains of Belgium or (if the Germans held back) western Germany where France's massive superiority in troops and artillery and tanks would be the most telling (hills and forest not being optimal for making this advantage count).

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maginot_Line Maginot Line]], built by the French in the 1930s to defend against a German invasion. Unfortunately it only covered part of the border, allowing the Germans to invade through the uncovered part. Though incidentally, by doing so, the Maginot Line fulfilled its purpose of forcing Germany to invade through Belgium.

* In many Chinese Empires, and some of the smaller nation-states and kingdoms, series of observation posts in militarised zones (such as the 'Great Walls') helped keep marauding tribes from the Steppes from getting too far or killing too many civilians when combined with a fast response by cavalry to intercept them where they broke through. This was only useful for keeping them at bay in peacetime, however, and the Steppe Tribes knew this - they usually waited until the Chinese nations bordering them were at war before they tried anything. The big exception to this rule would be The Empire of the Song in the 11th century, which lost its capital to a lightning campaign by a semi-nomadic Steppe nation (the Jurchen) which had subjugated most of the tribes in modern Mongolia and Manchuria while they'd been the Song's ally. This was possible because of the suddeness of the betrayal, which resulted in the army being largely de-mobilised and the Wall's garrisons being at their peacetime strengths at best. The ultimate result was that the entire north of the Empire, with a third of its people (and thus a similar share of its wealth) being lost to the Jurchens. After this, the ('Southern') Empire of the Song [[ForeverWar waged a hundred-year war]] to defend its remaining subjects. The Wall was not used again until the Empire of the Ming managed to conquer all the former Song Empire's lands from south-to-north three centuries later.

* In Ancient China, The Great Wall divided the kingdom from the Mongol horde. When it was built, there was no Horde nor any development to this end yet, only mentions of prices on slaves dropping. And once there ''was'' the Horde, the wall didn't slow it down much. Not that one overstretched and undermanned fortification line could be reasonably expected to do this anyway.

* The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maginot_Line Maginot Line]], built by the French in the 1930s to defend against a German invasion. Unfortunately it only covered part of the border, allowing the Germans to invade through the uncovered part. The money the French spent on it limited the amount they could spend on their armed forces, contributing to their defeat in WorldWarII.

The Great Wall is what happens when you try to get your enemies not only out of your city but of your county, state or country, resorting to the simple mechanism of building a wall that will (one hopes) keep them out.

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', Westeros has a massive (as in 800 foot-high) wall built of ice blocks in the far north, stretching from the continent's east coast to the west. The Wall was built to keep out the [[MonstrousHumanoid Others]], "demons made of ice", and is manned by the Night's Watch. The Wall is so old that most people have forgotten all about the stuff that lives behind it, but they're unpleasantly reminded when [[spoiler: the Wildlings attack, [[OhCrap followed by the Others]]]].

* In ''VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn'', the Endless Wall protects the China-equivalent, though by the time you get to explore it it's swarming with monsters.
* ''VideoGame/GuildWars'' had a Great Wall in Ascalon, which kept the charr in the northern lands. Its penetration is what started the initial game's plot. Many parts of it still stand come the [[VideoGame/GuildWars2 sequel]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Grandia}}'', there's a gargantuan mile-high wall that bifurcates an entire continent.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}} IV'', the Great Wall improvement prevents barbarians from landing on the entire continent it is built on. In ''Civilization V'', it doesn't stop enemies from entering your territory, but it does slow them down.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has The Serpent's Spine, a very exact copy of The Great Wall of China cutting a large western sector off the rest of Pandaria - erected by the Mogu emperors to keep out the periodic Mantid swarms.

ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Suppose the BigBad has a very definite territory he calls his own, from where his hordes of darkness spawn. It's good because you always know where the baddies come from, but what do you do if you don't have the necessary manpower to end them once and for all?

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' has the last known human city hiding behind one. Both the fact that it works as a prison and that it won't keep out the [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever titans]] forever are acknowledged by the story, although various characters are in denial of both.

* Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall loom large in Creator/RosemarySutcliff's stories of Roman Britain, notably ''{{The Eagle of the Ninth}}'',''The Silver Branch'', ''Frontier Wolf'', and ''The Capricorn Bracelet'', whose protagonists either have to build them, garrison them, cross them, or get ChasedByAngryNatives back to them.

* In ''Literature/CodexAlera'', a giant wall protects the Realm from the Icemen. [[spoiler:By the end of the series, it protects the Icemen from the Realm.]]

* In ''Literature/CodexAlera'', a giant wall protects the Realm from the Icemen.

[[/folder]]

Contrast with TheWallAroundTheWorld.

[[/folder]

* AttackOnTitan has the last known human city hiding behind one. Both the fact that it works as a prison and that it won't keep out the [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever titans]] forever are acknowledged by the story, although various characters are in denial of both.

* AttackOnTitan has the last known human city hiding behind one. It can actually keep out most [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever titans,]] but a strange Colossal Titan shows up, and nothing they have can stop that.

It's similar to TheWallAroundTheWorld, except here everyone knows what lies at the other side.
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ExactlyWhatItSaysInTheTin : suppose the BigBad has a very definite territory he calls his own, from where his hordes of darkness spawn. It's good because you always know where the baddies come from, but what do you do if you don't have the necessary manpower to end them once and for all?

Simply: just put a wall between you and them. The bigger, the better.

TheBigWall is what happens when you try to get your enemies not only out of your city but of your county, state or country, recurring to the simple mechanism of building a wall that will hopefuly keep them out.

It's similar to TheWallAroundTheWorld , except here everyone knows what lies at the other side.

TheBigWall is what happens when you try to get your enemies not only out of your city but of your county, state or country, recurring to the simple mechanism of building a wall that will hopefuly keep them out.