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75-416: The map is entitled The plan is extremely detailed, showing the aspect of every house, and is a unique historical source for the condition of the city in the 16th century. Zürich had essentially preserved its medieval (13th-century) aspect until that time (except for the frequent replacement of earlier wooden buildings by stone houses), and major expansions and city planning began only in the 17th century, with

150-537: A Qing incursion in 1638. By 1641, there were ten bastion forts in the county. Before bastion forts could spread any further, the Ming dynasty fell in 1644, and they were largely forgotten as the Qing dynasty was on the offensive most of the time and had no use for them. In the wake of city growth and the ensuing change of defensive strategy, focusing more on the defense of forts around cities, many city walls were demolished. Also,

225-501: A bit more than a third the width of a major wall in China. According to Philo the width of a wall had to be 4.5 metres (15 ft) thick to be able to withstand ancient (non-gunpowder) siege engines. European walls of the 1200s and 1300s could reach the Roman equivalents but rarely exceeded them in length, width, and height, remaining around 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) thick. When referring to

300-486: A cost benefit hypothesis, where the Ming recognized the highly resistant nature of their walls to structural damage, and could not imagine any affordable development of the guns available to them at the time to be capable of breaching said walls. Even as late as the 1490s a Florentine diplomat considered the French claim that "their artillery is capable of creating a breach in a wall of eight feet in thickness" to be ridiculous and

375-716: A counter-attack. The Great Wall of Gorgan (or simply the Gorgan Wall) was located in north of the Gorgan River in Hyrcania , at a geographic narrowing between the Caspian Sea and the mountains of northeastern Persia . It is widely attributed to Khosrow I , though it may date back to the Parthian period. It was on the nomadic route from the northern steppes to the Gorgan Plain and

450-454: A ground rampart . The city was fortified with six city gates with each gate flanked by massive brick towers. In other areas of Southeast Asia, city walls spread in the 16th and 17th century along with the rapid growth of cities in this period as a need to defend against European naval attack. Ayutthaya built its walls in 1550 and Banten , Jepara , Tuban and Surabaya all had theirs by 1600; while Makassar had theirs by 1634. A sea wall

525-626: A large moat , probably also with an actual wall on the Persian side, with watchtowers and a network of fortifications, at the edge of the Arabian Desert , located between modern-day Basra and the Persian Gulf . The defense line ran from Hit to Basra , on the margin of fertile lands west of Euphrates. It included small forts at key spots, acting as outliers for larger fortifications, some of which have been uncovered. The region and its defense line

600-464: A length of 3,650 m on the north side and 3,500 m on the south and featuring seven gates, massive rectangular and round towers and outworks , the Wall of Derbent connected 30 already existing fortifications. Today the northern wall and the main city walls remain, but most of the southern wall is lost. The construction techniques used resemble those of Takht-e Soleymān , also built in the same period. Derbent

675-703: A line of defence. During the early years of Shapur II ( r.  309–379 ), nomadic Arabian tribesmen made incursions into Persia from the south. After his successful campaign in Arabia (325) and having secured the coasts around Persian Gulf, Shapur II established a defensive system in southern Mesopotamia to prevent raids via land. The defensive line, called the Wall of the Arabs ( Middle Persian : War ī Tāzīgān , in Arabic : خندق سابور Khandaq Sābūr , literally "Ditch of Shapur", also possibly "Wall of Shapur"), consisted of

750-737: A maximum thickness of 43 metres and an average thickness of 20–30 metres. Ming prefectural and provincial capital walls were 10 to 20 metres (33 to 66 ft) thick at the base and 5 to 10 metres (16 to 33 ft) at the top. In Europe the height of wall construction was reached under the Roman Empire , whose walls often reached 10 metres (33 ft) in height, the same as many Chinese city walls, but were only 1.5 to 2.5 metres (4 ft 11 in to 8 ft 2 in) thick. Rome's Servian Walls reached 3.6 and 4 metres (12 and 13 ft) in thickness and 6 to 10 metres (20 to 33 ft) in height. Other fortifications also reached these specifications across

825-423: A purely military and defensive purpose, towers also played a representative and artistic role in the conception of a fortified complex. The architecture of the city thus competed with that of the castle of the noblemen and city walls were often a manifestation of the pride of a particular city. Urban areas outside the city walls, so-called Vorstädte , were often enclosed by their own set of walls and integrated into

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900-422: A response to gunpowder artillery, European fortifications began displaying architectural principles such as lower and thicker walls in the mid-1400s. Cannon towers were built with artillery rooms where cannons could discharge fire from slits in the walls. However, this proved problematic as the slow rate of fire, reverberating concussions, and noxious fumes produced greatly hindered defenders. Gun towers also limited

975-543: A single "embassy district", enclosed by a fortified complex with walls and towers – this usually occurs in regions where the embassies run a high risk of being target of attacks. An early example of such a compound was the Legation Quarter in Beijing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Most of these modern city walls are made of steel and concrete. Vertical concrete plates are put together so as to allow

1050-472: A very thick wall in medieval Europe, what is usually meant is a wall of 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) in width, which would have been considered thin in a Chinese context. There are some exceptions such as the Hillfort of Otzenhausen , a Celtic ringfort with a thickness of 40 metres (130 ft) in some parts, but Celtic fort-building practices died out in the early medieval period. Andrade goes on to note that

1125-463: Is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications such as curtain walls with towers , bastions and gates for access to the city. From ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements. Generally, these are referred to as city walls or town walls , although there were also walls, such as

1200-475: Is of Solnitsata , built in the 6th or 5th millennium BC. The Assyrians deployed large labour forces to build new palaces, temples and defensive walls. Babylon was one of the most famous cities of the ancient world, especially as a result of the building program of Nebuchadnezzar , who expanded the walls and built the Ishtar Gate . The Persians built defensive walls to protect their territories, notably

1275-727: Is the Romanian Bran Castle , which was intended to protect nearby Kronstadt (today's Braşov ). The city walls were often connected to the fortifications of hill castles via additional walls. Thus the defenses were made up of city and castle fortifications taken together. Several examples of this are preserved, for example in Germany Hirschhorn on the Neckar, Königsberg and Pappenheim , Franken, Burghausen in Oberbayern and many more. A few castles were more directly incorporated into

1350-725: Is uncertain) was located on a narrow, three-kilometer strip of land in the North Caucasus between the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus mountains. It was in the Sasanian sphere of influence after the victory over the Parthians and the conquest of Caucasian Albania by Shapur I ( r.  240/42–270/72 ). During periods when the Sasanians were distracted by war with the Byzantines or conflicts with

1425-742: The Sasanians were part of their military strategy and tactics. They were networks of fortifications, walls, and/or ditches built opposite the territory of the enemies. These defense lines are known from tradition and archaeological evidence. The fortress systems of the Western, Arabian, and Central Asian fronts were of both defensive and offensive functions. The rivers Euphrates , Great Zab , and Little Zab acted as natural defenses for Mesopotamia ( Asoristan ). Sasanian development of irrigation systems in Mesopotamia further acted as water defense lines, notably

1500-584: The Apzut Kawat (recorded in Armenian sources, from Middle Persian *Abzūd Kawād , literally "Kavadh increased [in Glory ]" or "has prospered"). The lines were constructed using a combination of mud brick, stone blocks, and baked bricks. The construction was carried out in three phases, extending to the end of the reign of Khusrow I, but was never actually completed. The defensive line is about 60 km in length, from

1575-729: The Derbent Wall and the Great Wall of Gorgan built on the either sides of the Caspian Sea against nomadic nations. Some settlements in the Indus Valley civilization were also fortified. By about 3500   BC, hundreds of small farming villages dotted the Indus floodplain. Many of these settlements had fortifications and planned streets. The stone and mud brick houses of Kot Diji were clustered behind massive stone flood dykes and defensive walls, for neighboring communities quarreled constantly about

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1650-522: The Great Wall of China , Walls of Benin , Hadrian's Wall , Anastasian Wall , and the Atlantic Wall , which extended far beyond the borders of a city and were used to enclose regions or mark territorial boundaries. In mountainous terrain, defensive walls such as letzis were used in combination with castles to seal valleys from potential attack. Beyond their defensive utility, many walls also had important symbolic functions – representing

1725-724: The Warring States (481–221   BC), mass conversion to stone architecture did not begin in earnest until the Tang dynasty (618–907   AD). Sections of the Great Wall had been built prior to the Qin dynasty (221–207   BC) and subsequently connected and fortified during the Qin dynasty, although its present form was mostly an engineering feat and remodeling of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644   AD). The large walls of Pingyao serve as one example. Likewise,

1800-720: The 16th century. The bastion and star fort was developed in Italy, where the Florentine engineer Giuliano da Sangallo (1445–1516) compiled a comprehensive defensive plan using the geometric bastion and full trace italienne that became widespread in Europe. The main distinguishing features of the star fort were its angle bastions, each placed to support their neighbor with lethal crossfire, covering all angles, making them extremely difficult to engage with and attack. Angle bastions consisted of two faces and two flanks. Artillery positions positioned at

1875-486: The 19th century, less emphasis was placed on preserving the fortifications for the sake of their architectural or historical value – on the one hand, complete fortifications were restored ( Carcassonne ), on the other hand many structures were demolished in an effort to modernize the cities. One exception to this is the "monument preservation" law by the Bavarian King Ludwig I of Bavaria , which led to

1950-815: The Caspian Sea to the foot of Mount Babadagh. In 1980, the Ghilghilchay wall was excavated by an expedition of Azeri archaeologists from the Institute of History of Azerbaijan. Not far from the Gilgilchay wall is the Shabran wall, located near Shabran village. Darial Gorge ( Middle Persian : ʾlʾnʾn BBA Arrānān dar , Parthian : ʾlʾnnTROA ; meaning " Gate of the Alans "), located in the Caucasus , fell into Sasanian hands in 252/253 as

2025-563: The French "braggarts by nature". Very rarely did cannons blast breaches in city walls in Chinese warfare. This may have been partly due to cultural tradition. Famous military commanders such as Sun Tzu and Zheng Zhilong recommended not to directly attack cities and storm their walls. Even when direct assaults were made with cannons, it was usually by focusing on the gates rather than the walls. There were instances where cannons were used against walled fortifications, such as by Koxinga , but only in

2100-525: The Hephthalites in the east, the northern tribes succeeded in advancing into the Caucasus. A mud-brick wall (maximum thickness 8 m, maximum height ca. 16 m) near Torpakh-Kala has been attributed to Yazdegerd II ( r.  438–457 ) as the first Sasanian attempt to block the Derbent pass, though it may have been a reconstruction of earlier defenses. It was destroyed in a rebellion in 450. With

2175-469: The Persian heartland, probably protecting the empire from the peoples to the north, in particular, the Hephthalites . The defensive line was 195 km (121 mi) long and 6–10 m (20–33 ft) wide, featuring over 30 fortresses spaced at intervals of between 10 and 50 km (6.2 and 31.1 mi). It is described as "amongst the most ambitious and sophisticated frontier walls" ever built in

2250-572: The Sasanian Empire conquered and annexed Iberia . It was fortified by both Romans and Persians. The fortification was known as Gate of the Alans, Iberian Gates, and the Caucasian Gates. For the defense of the Central Asian border, a different strategy was needed: the maximum concentration of forces in large strongholds, with Marv as the outer bulwark, backed by Nishapur . The defense line

2325-647: The addition of ramparts during the Thirty Years' War . The plan looks east over the city (north to the left), with the moat at the bottom of the plan corresponding to the present Bahnhofstrasse , with the Rennweg gate, the main entry to the city. The bottom left corner shows the confluence of the Sihl and Limmat rivers, the location of the present Zürich Hauptbahnhof . [REDACTED] Media related to Murerplan at Wikimedia Commons Defensive wall A defensive wall

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2400-739: The ancient site of Mycenae (famous for the huge stone blocks of its ' cyclopean ' walls). In classical era Greece, the city of Athens built a long set of parallel stone walls called the Long Walls that reached their guarded seaport at Piraeus . Exceptions were few, but neither ancient Sparta nor ancient Rome had walls for a long time, choosing to rely on their militaries for defense instead. Initially, these fortifications were simple constructions of wood and earth, which were later replaced by mixed constructions of stones piled on top of each other without mortar . The Romans later fortified their cities with massive, mortar-bound stone walls. Among these are

2475-410: The appropriate city gate and are often supplemented with towers. The practice of building these massive walls, though having its origins in prehistory, was refined during the rise of city-states , and energetic wall-building continued into the medieval period and beyond in certain parts of Europe. Simpler defensive walls of earth or stone, thrown up around hillforts , ringworks , early castles and

2550-532: The case of small villages. During Koxinga's career, there is only one recorded case of capturing a settlement by bombarding its walls: the siege of Taizhou in 1658. In 1662, the Dutch found that bombarding the walls of a town in Fujian Province had no effect and they focused on the gates instead just as in Chinese warfare. In 1841, a 74-gun British warship bombarded a Chinese coastal fort near Guangzhou and found that it

2625-411: The central government and based on a line of fortifications (the limes ) and the fortified frontier cities, such as Dara , Nisibis ( Nusaybin ), Amida , Singara , Hatra , Edessa , Bezabde , Circesium , Rhesaina (Theodosiopolis), Sergiopolis ( Resafa ), Callinicum ( Raqqa ), Dura-Europos , Zenobia ( Halabiye ), Sura , Theodosiopolis ( Erzurum ), Sisauranon , etc. According to R. N. Frye ,

2700-416: The circumvention of the city, through which many important trade routes passed, thus ensuring that tolls were paid when the caravans passed through the city gates, and that the local market was visited by the trade caravans. Furthermore, additional signaling and observation towers were frequently built outside the city, and were sometimes fortified in a castle-like fashion. The border of the area of influence of

2775-475: The city was often partially or fully defended by elaborate ditches, walls and hedges. The crossing points were usually guarded by gates or gate houses. These defenses were regularly checked by riders, who often also served as the gate keepers. Long stretches of these defenses can still be seen to this day, and even some gates are still intact. To further protect their territory, rich cities also established castles in their area of influence. An example of this practice

2850-525: The construction of the "European Rampart" alongside its border with Russia to be able to successfully apply for a visa-free movement with the European Union. At its simplest, a defensive wall consists of a wall enclosure and its gates. For the most part, the top of the walls were accessible, with the outside of the walls having tall parapets with embrasures or merlons . North of the Alps, this passageway at

2925-612: The control of prime agricultural land. Mundigak ( c.  2500   BC ) in present-day south-east Afghanistan has defensive walls and square bastions of sun dried bricks. The concept of a city fully enclosed by walls was not fully developed in Southeast Asia until the arrival of Europeans. However, Burma serves an exception, as they had a longer tradition of fortified walled towns; towns in Burma had city walls by 1566. Besides that, Rangoon in 1755 had stockades made of teak logs on

3000-771: The criss-crossing trunk canals in Khuzestan and the northern extension of the Nahrawan Canal , known as the Cut of Khusrau , which made the Sasanian capital Ctesiphon virtually impregnable in the late Sasanian period. In the early period of the Sasanian Empire , a number of buffer states existed between Persia and the Roman Empire , which played a major role in Roman-Persian relations. Both empires gradually absorbed these states, and replaced them by an organized defense system run by

3075-527: The defense of the city. These areas were often inhabited by the poorer population and held the "noxious trades". In many cities, a new wall was built once the city had grown outside of the old wall. This can often still be seen in the layout of the city, for example in Nördlingen , and sometimes even a few of the old gate towers are preserved, such as the white tower in Nuremberg . Additional constructions prevented

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3150-457: The defensive strategy of the city (e.g. Nuremberg , Zons , Carcassonne ), or the cities were directly outside the castle as a sort of "pre-castle" (Coucy-le-Chateau, Conwy and others). Larger cities often had multiple stewards – for example Augsburg was divided into a Reichstadt and a clerical city. These different parts were often separated by their own fortifications. Sasanian defense lines The defense lines of

3225-417: The early Middle Ages also saw the creation of some towns built around castles. These cities were only rarely protected by simple stone walls and more usually by a combination of both walls and ditches . From the 12th century AD hundreds of settlements of all sizes were founded all across Europe, which very often obtained the right of fortification soon afterwards. Several medieval town walls have survived into

3300-455: The empire, but all these paled in comparison to contemporary Chinese walls, which could reach a thickness of 20 metres (66 ft) at the base in extreme cases. Even the walls of Constantinople which have been described as "the most famous and complicated system of defence in the civilized world," could not match up to a major Chinese city wall. Had both the outer and inner walls of Constantinople been combined they would have only reached roughly

3375-623: The energy of artillery shots. Walls were constructed using wooden frameworks which were filled with layers of earth tamped down to a highly compact state, and once that was completed the frameworks were removed for use in the next wall section. Starting from the Song dynasty these walls were improved with an outer layer of bricks or stone to prevent erosion, and during the Ming, earthworks were interspersed with stone and rubble. Most Chinese walls were also sloped rather than vertical to better deflect projectile energy. The defensive response to cannon in Europe

3450-685: The expansion of the Persian defensive system by Shapur II ( r.  309–379 ) was probably in imitation of Diocletian 's construction of the limes of the Syrian and Mesopotamian frontiers of the Roman Empire over the previous decades. The defense line was in the edge of the cultivated land facing the Syrian Desert . Along the Euphrates (in Arbayistan ), there was a series of heavily fortified cities as

3525-404: The flanks could fire parallel into the opposite bastion's line of fire, thus providing two lines of cover fire against an armed assault on the wall, and preventing mining parties from finding refuge. Meanwhile, artillery positioned on the bastion platform could fire frontally from the two faces, also providing overlapping fire with the opposite bastion. Overlapping mutually supporting defensive fire

3600-436: The invention of gunpowder rendered walls less effective, as siege cannons could then be used to blast through walls, allowing armies to simply march through. Today, the presence of former city fortifications can often only be deduced from the presence of ditches, ring roads or parks. Furthermore, some street names hint at the presence of fortifications in times past, for example when words such as "wall" or "glacis" occur. In

3675-846: The largely extant Aurelian Walls of Rome and the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople , together with partial remains elsewhere. These are mostly city gates, like the Porta Nigra in Trier or Newport Arch in Lincoln . In Central Europe, the Celts built large fortified settlements which the Romans called oppida , whose walls seem partially influenced by those built in the Mediterranean. The fortifications were continuously expanded and improved. Apart from these,

3750-457: The least space in between them, and are rooted firmly in the ground. The top of the wall is often protruding and beset with barbed wire in order to make climbing them more difficult. These walls are usually built in straight lines and covered by watchtowers at the corners. Double walls with an interstitial "zone of fire", as the former Berlin Wall had, are now rare. In September 2014, Ukraine announced

3825-462: The like, tend to be referred to as ramparts or banks. From very early history to modern times, walls have been a near necessity for every city. Uruk in ancient Sumer ( Mesopotamia ) is one of the world's oldest known walled cities. Before that, the proto-city of Jericho in the West Bank had a wall surrounding it as early as the 8th millennium   BC. The earliest known town wall in Europe

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3900-486: The main threats to the empire lay elsewhere. However, in 633, the empire's ultimate conquerors actually came from this direction. Massive fortification activity was conducted in the Caucasus during the reign of Kavad I ( r.  488–496, 498–531 ) and later his son Khosrow I ( r.  531–579 ), in response to the pressure by people in the north, such as the Alans . Key components of this defensive system were

3975-414: The mentioned wall, between modern cities of Bandar-e Gaz and Behshahr . The Wall of Tammisha is considered to be the second line of defence after the Gorgan Wall. Recently, Touraj Daryaee has suggested the defensive walls may have had symbolic, ideological and psychological dimension as well, connecting the practice of enclosing the Iranian ( ēr ) lands against non-Iranian ( anēr ) barbarians to

4050-497: The modern age, such as the walled towns of Austria , walls of Tallinn , or the town walls of York and Canterbury in England, as well as Nordlingen , Dinkelsbühl and Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Germany. In Spain, Avila and Tossa del Mar hosts surviving medieval walls while Lugo has an intact Roman wall. The founding of urban centers was an important means of territorial expansion and many cities, especially in central and eastern Europe, were founded for this purpose during

4125-507: The natives experienced great difficulty in uprooting European invaders. In China, Sun Yuanhua advocated for the construction of angled bastion forts in his Xifashenji so that their cannons could better support each other. The officials Han Yun and Han Lin noted that cannons on square forts could not support each side as well as bastion forts. Their efforts to construct bastion forts, and their results, were limited. Ma Weicheng built two bastion forts in his home county, which helped fend off

4200-555: The nearly complete preservation of many monuments such as the Rothenburg ob der Tauber , Nördlingen and Dinkelsbühl . The countless small fortified towns in the Franconia region were also preserved as a consequence of this edict. Walls and fortified wall structures were still built in the modern era. They did not, however, have the original purpose of being a structure able to resist a prolonged siege or bombardment. Modern examples of defensive walls include: Additionally, in some countries, different embassies may be grouped together in

4275-571: The north; whence the name " Gate of Alexander " and the "Caspian Gates" for the Derbent pass. Location: 41°07′59″N 49°03′07″E  /  41.133°N 49.052°E  / 41.133; 49.052 . The second known Sasanian reconstruction of the fortifications in the Caucasus is attributed to the second reign of Kavadh I ( r.  498–531 ), who constructed the long fortification walls at Besh Barmak (recorded as Barmaki Wall in Islamic sources), Shabran and Gilgilchay (recorded as Arabic Sur al-Tin in Islamic sources), also called

4350-400: The period of Eastern settlement . These cities are easy to recognise due to their regular layout and large market spaces. The fortifications of these settlements were continuously improved to reflect the current level of military development. While gunpowder and cannons were invented in China, China never developed wall breaking artillery to the same extent as other parts of the world. Part of

4425-504: The reason is probably because Chinese walls were already highly resistant to artillery and discouraged increasing the size of cannons. In the mid-twentieth century a European expert in fortification commented on their immensity: "in China ... the principal towns are surrounded to the present day by walls so substantial, lofty, and formidable that the medieval fortifications of Europe are puny in comparison." Chinese walls were thick. The eastern wall of Ancient Linzi , established in 859 BC, had

4500-427: The size and number of cannon placements because the rooms could only be built so big. Notable surviving artillery towers include a seven layer defensive structure built in 1480 at Fougères in Brittany , and a four layer tower built in 1479 at Querfurth in Saxony. The star fort, also known as the bastion fort, trace italienne , or renaissance fortress, was a style of fortification that became popular in Europe during

4575-452: The status and independence of the communities they embraced. Existing ancient walls are almost always masonry structures, although brick and timber-built variants are also known. Depending on the topography of the area surrounding the city or the settlement the wall is intended to protect, elements of the terrain such as rivers or coastlines may be incorporated in order to make the wall more effective. Walls may only be crossed by entering

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4650-570: The strategic passes Darial in the Central Caucasus and Derbent just west of the Caspian Sea , the only two practicable crossing of the Caucasus ridge through which the land traffic between the Eurasian Steppe and the Middle East was conducted. A formal system of rulership was also created in the region by Khusrow I, and the fortifications were assigned to local rulers. This is reflected in titles like " Sharvān-shāh " ("King of Shirvan"), " Tabarsarān -shāh", " Alān -shāh/Arrānshāh", and " Lāyzān-shāh ". The pass of Derbent ( Middle Iranian name

4725-503: The time of Silla until the end of the Joseon dynasty . Throughout the period of the Joseon dynasty eupseongs were modified and renovated, and new eupseongs were built, but in 1910 Japan (the occupying power of Korea) issued an order for their demolition, resulting in most being destroyed. Studies of the ruins and reconstructions of the ancient city walls are currently being undertaken at some sites. In ancient Greece , large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece , such as

4800-546: The top of the walls occasionally had a roof. In addition to this, many different enhancements were made over the course of the centuries: The defensive towers of west and south European fortifications in the Middle Ages were often very regularly and uniformly constructed (cf. Ávila , Provins ), whereas Central European city walls tend to show a variety of different styles. In these cases the gate and wall towers often reach up to considerable heights, and gates equipped with two towers on either side are much rarer. Apart from having

4875-447: The wall. The morning came with most of our unit still behind us, but we were beyond the wall. Behind the gate great heaps of sandbags were piled up. We 'cleared them away, removed the lock, and opened the gates, with a great creaking noise. We'd done it! We'd opened the fortress! All the enemy ran away, so we didn't take any fire. The residents too were gone. When we passed beyond the fortress wall we thought we had occupied this city. As

4950-443: The walls of the Forbidden City in Beijing were established in the early 15th century by the Yongle Emperor . According to Tonio Andrade , the immense thickness of Chinese city walls prevented larger cannons from being developed, since even industrial era artillery had trouble breaching Chinese walls. Eupseongs (Hangul: 읍성), 'city fortresses', which served both military and administrative functions, have been constructed since

5025-404: The walls of the marketplace of Chang'an were thicker than the walls of major European capitals. Aside from their immense size, Chinese walls were also structurally different from the ones built in medieval Europe. Whereas European walls were mostly constructed of stone interspersed with gravel or rubble filling and bonded by limestone mortar, Chinese walls had tamped earthen cores which absorbed

5100-415: The world, and the most important fortification in Persia. The garrison size for the wall is estimated to be 30,000 strong. The Wall of Tammisha (also Tammishe ), with a length of around 11 km, stretched from the Gorgan Bay to the Alborz mountains, in particular, the ruined town of Tammisha at the foot of the mountains. There is another fortified wall 22 km to the west running parallel to

5175-478: Was "almost impervious to the efforts of horizontal fire." In fact twentieth century explosive shells had some difficulty creating a breach in tamped earthen walls. We fought our way to Nanking and joined in the attack on the enemy capital in December. It was our unit which stormed the Chunghua Gate. We attacked continuously for about a week, battering the brick and earth walls with artillery, but they never collapsed. The night of December 11, men in my unit breached

5250-418: Was also the seat of a Sasanian marzban . Derbent Wall was the most prominent Sasanian defensive structure in the Caucasus. Later Muslim Arab historians tended to attribute the entire defense line to Khosrow I, and included it among the seven wonders of the world . In the Middle Ages, Alexander the Great was credited with having sealed off the Darband pass against the tribes of Gog and Magog advancing from

5325-432: Was apparently governed by a marzban . In the second half of the Sasanian history, the Lakhmid /Nasrid chiefs also became its rulers. They would have protected the area against the Romans and against the Romans' Arab clients, the Ghassanids , sheltering the agricultural lands of Sasanian Mesopotamia from the nomadic Arabs . The Sasanians eventually discontinued the maintenance of this defense line, since they perceived

5400-427: Was based on a three-tier system that allowed the enemy to penetrate deep into the Sasanian territories and to be channeled into designated kill zones between the tiers of forts. The mobile aswaran cavalry would then carry out counter-attacks from strategically positioned bases, notably Nev-Shapur ( Nishapur ). Kaveh Farrokh likens the strategy to the Central Asian tactic of Parthian shot —a feigned retreat followed by

5475-431: Was the greatest advantage enjoyed by the star fort. As a result, sieges lasted longer and became more difficult affairs. By the 1530s the bastion fort had become the dominant defensive structure in Italy. Outside Europe, the star fort became an "engine of European expansion," and acted as a force multiplier so that small European garrisons could hold out against numerically superior forces. Wherever star forts were erected

5550-609: Was the main defense for Gelgel . For cities that did not have city walls, the least it would have had was a stockaded citadel . This wooden walled area housed the royal citadel or aristocratic compounds such as in Surakarta and Aceh . Large rammed earth walls were built in ancient China since the Shang dynasty ( c.  1600 –1050   BC), as the capital at ancient Ao had enormous walls built in this fashion (see siege for more info). Although stone walls were built in China during

5625-438: Was to build relatively low and thick walls of packed earth, which could both withstand the force of cannon balls and support their own, defensive cannon. Chinese wall-building practice was, by happenstance, extremely resistant to all forms of battering. This held true into the twentieth century, when even modern explosive shells had some difficulty in breaking through tamped earth walls. The Chinese Wall Theory essentially rests on

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