History Main / CitadelCity

* Most medieval and ancient cities actually did have walls with a limited number of gates, and strict rules against building outside the walls. This served an economic interest: tolls on goods brought into or out of the city was a major revenue stream in medieval times. However, the city guards were more likely to be few in number and often part-timers. And siege preparation in supplies was probably only done when necessary. Most of these cities no longer have such fortifications; [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcassonne Caracassonne]] in France is one of the few still existent examples.

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* Ba Sing Se from ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': it actually has two walls, an outer wall to protect the farmland, and an inner wall to protect the city itself.
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* Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. It boasted a triple wall as well as a chain boom that protected its harbor. Many tried and failed to capture the city, even Attilla the Hun. Yet, Sultan Mehmet II succeeded with a different approach in 1453...with a powerful cannon [[OhCrap designed to destroy said walls]].

* In ''AgeOfEmpiresII'', the AI will eventually attempt to set something like this up in longer games. However, TacticalRockPaperScissors means there are a number of tricks to break through. (Assuming the AI doesn't [[ArtificialStupidity make a mistake while building the walls.]])

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' has many walled cities but the Imperial City has the thickest defences.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' contains Imperial City as an example of this.

* Typical European examples of this are often a mixture of styles from several ages. Strategy changes less then tactics(Caesar, Charlemagne, Napoleon, and Guderian had to think about the same rivers and mountains) so fortifications will be in the same place because of the same considerations. For instance many European cities are a jumble of Medieval style(high stone walls) and eighteenth century(lower and thicker with bastions sticking out to hold gun emplacements where they can catch assault troops from the flank making the famous "star" shape). American coastal forts including Fort McHenry of national anthem fame, are "pure" star forts because they were built from scratch rather then being built in the place of a castle or fortified city whose budget did not include tearing down the old walls before replacing them. Because of that American coastal forts are prized by military archeologists.
* The strict meaning of the term "citadel" means "fortress inside the city". It was meant to be a place for a LastStand. Much of the time it's main role was as a police station. In fact this made building citadels a political controversy; if they were to well fortified it made TheGovernment look like an occupation force.

* Quebec and Louisberg in North America are among the best examples.

* Many cities in England are descended from fortifications made to defend against Vikings. A clue is the name "berg" in a city as "berg" is "Castle" in Anglo-Saxon and several other germanic languages.

* Mechanicsburg in GirlGenius has made repelling invasions into the town sport.

* Ankh-Morpork of the {{Discworld}} was once a walled city, but much like such cities in real life it eventually overran its borders, and the walls were picked apart over the years by citizens in need of building materials.

* The Last Redoubt in ''Main/TheNightLand'', which is a massive pyramid protecting humanity from unspeakable horrors that roam the darkened Earth. To ensure their safety, an electric circle that creates an invisible barrier prohibiting any monsters from entering the Redoubt.

* Ba Sing Se from ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'': it actually has two walls, an outer wall to protect the farmland, and an inner wall to protect the city itself.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}}'' has several Citadel ''Planets'' ("Fortress Worlds"): One of them is [[http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Cadia Cadia]], which is located near the only stable passage to the [[NegativeSpaceWedgie Eye of Terror]] from which the LegionsOfHell regularly emerge. Nearly three quarters of the population serve in the military, ChildSoldiers are taught to use a gun before they learn to read, and is protected by its own fleet of spaceships. This being 40K, it ''still'' wasn't enough to prevent the invading forces of Chaos from currently having a stranglehold on it.

* [[NeonGenesisEvangelion Tokyo-3]], which has a number of defensive systems surrounding the city (namely missile systems), the Evangelions, structures that hold EVA-scale weapons and buildings that can retract underground for safety. In fact, the city was built to fend off the coming Angels.

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* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}}'' has a Citadel ''Planet'': The world of [[http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Cadia Cadia]], which is located near the only stable passage to the [[NegativeSpaceWedgie Eye of Terror]] from which the LegionsOfHell regularly emerge. Nearly three quarters of the population serve in the military, ChildSoldiers are taught to use a gun before they learn to read, and is protected by its own fleet of spaceships. This being 40K, it ''still'' wasn't enough to prevent the forces of Chaos from taking over.

* Minas Tirith from ''LordOfTheRings'' is one of the key [[TropeCodifier codifying]] examples: seven concentric tiers carved into a mountain, each with its own wall and gate. Unlike some, there's a clear justification for it; Sauron's forces are out there and the place was originally built as a military fortress, only becoming the capital city much later.

* Minas Tirith from ''LordOfTheRings'' is one of the key [[TropeCodifier codifying]] examples. Unlike some, there's a clear justification for it; after all, Sauron's forces are out there.