Byzantine Walls Pros And Cons

Philip Sherrard, author of The Great Ages of Man: Byzantium, said, “The elaborate defense works that surrounded Constantinople made it in its day the best-fortified city in the world,” (Doc B). Even the massive castles in medieval manors could not compare to the strategic systems of the Byzantines. They had three walls surrounding their city that withstood Persian and Arab invaders from the East and Avar and Slav invaders from the North (Doc A). Their technology was so advanced and their techniques so secure that out of the twenty-four efforts made to capture the city during one thousand one hundred years, only two were successful. The Byzantines military technology was so far ahead of the rest of the world

Philip Sherrard states that the Byzantine Empire of Constantinople was “ the best fortified city in the world…” because of “ it’s towers [housing] more archers and missile throwers.” (Document B) Because of the architecture the empire was well equipped and safely guarded. In document note of Justinian’s code it states that Justinian’s modification of the Byzantine Empire’s laws shaped “our basic ideas about law and justice today.” and created a more “ unified empire.”

During the Warring States Period more walls were built to defend the borders of the different kingdoms. Qin Shi Huang united the various parts into one empire and had all the walls joined up to defend off the invasions from northern invaders.

On a broader scale, however, Han China and Imperial Rome had much difficulty managing their empires and protecting their borders from attack. Some causes of problems for both civilizations arose from very long borders that were far away from the capital and slow communication, which meant that notice of attacks on the borders could take days or weeks to reach the capital before help could be deployed. To address this, both civilizations built walls to protect their borders, such as Hadrian’s Wall in central England and the Great Wall of China in Western China, and they also stationed small garrisons at outposts to protect against wandering marauders. However, this action led to an economic depression in both empires because of the high cost of maintaining the outposts and barriers. Both Rome and China had an effective way of managing their growing empires initially, but as they continued to expand it eventually contributed to their downfall.

One reason why the Byzantines should be studied is because they protected Constantinople. In Document B: The Great Ages Of Man , The walls of Constantinople were built to protect the city. Primarily, to prevent attacks from the Huns and other enemies. Also, it was difficult for the invaders to break through the wall because they would face another set of walls and troops. The agriculture advanced and they were well prepared to keep invaders out. This helped aid the process of keeping Christianity alive.

Constantinople was built by Constantine, Justinian’s predecessor. Justinian built barriers on all sides of the city to protect it from invasion. The two water barriers on opposite sides of the city had thick walls to protect the city (Document 5). On the back side of the city where the palace and Hagia Sophia are located, massive walls were built and the opposite side has a moat and a wall. Therefore, the only easy entrance into the city was the Golden Gate (Document 5).

In Document B it states that in Constantinople the elaborate defense worked to create a surrounding wall around Constantinople. The walls were erected in the 5th century to protect the city against the Goths and Huns. The Goths and Huns, captured Rome. They served their purpose well, holding off invaders for nearly one thousand years, a single wall bounded the city’s seaward sides, which were defended by the Byzantine fleet. On the landside, the Byzantines constructed a moat and three walls that were 25 feet thick. Invaders were faced first with the moat some 60 feet wide and 22 feet deep that was normally dry but could be flooded by pipes. Behind the moat was a low wall to shield a line of archers. If the attackers could overcome this first defense, they were confronted by a second wall, 27 feet high, which sheltered more troops. Beyond the second the third and strongest bulwark. Its towers, some 70 feet high, housed more archers and missile throwers. Only the force of gunpowder finally demolished the protecting walls, bringing Constantinople down. During 1,100 year history of the Byzantine Empire, 24 efforts were made to capture the city of Constantinople. Only two were successful. The Crusaders entered the city in 1204 but were eventually thrown out a few decades later. The Turkish invasion in 1453 marked the end of the Byzantine Empire. A couple examples of architecture in the Byzantine Empire

To begin with, the wall protected the people of China. The wall was comprised thousands of watchtowers and they had pulley systems for raising fire signals, according to the map on Document A. Chao Cou (document b), an advisor to multiple Han emperors, was highly respected for his ideas about military defense and border security, also had recommended building the wall to protect the Chinese people from a threat.

these walls, it decreased the amount of harm such as invasions from the city. In Document B, it

The walls surrounding it were there to protect the city against the Goths and Huns, who had captured Rome already. These walls were able to hold off those trying to invade for almost one thousand years. There was one wall that bounded the city's seaward sides. “The Byzantines built a moat and three walls, each 25 feet thick, on the land side. ”(Doc B) Invaders were first faced with the moat that was 60 feet wide and 22 feet deep.

Usually walls are put into places to avoid people to cross borders and keep peace but they destroy peace. Recently one could have heard in the News that Trump wants the Mexicans to pay for a wall between Mexico and the United States. This Wall should make it impossible for people to cross the border unofficially. As one could know from history classes, we had a wall in Germany for many years which was built by the winner countries of the second world war for a similar reason. Before the Wall, many people from East Germany tried to escape to West Germany where they had obviously better living conditions. It divided Germany in East and West Germany. Additionally, there was a part of Berlin, what was in the East German part, isolated from a huge wall that belonged to West Germany. This wall made it hard for the citizens of East Germany to visit West Germany. The Government of East Germany had other principles than the government of West Germany and it was not in the interest of the East German government to show their citizens how good their life could be in West Germany. After the falling of the Wall, it was possible for everyone to travel in Germany whenever they want without standing in line at the borders. But there was a big gap in wealth between East and West Germany. Even today the loans in West Germany are lower and the federal states have less money than the ones in West Germany. But in Berlin, one can visit ruins of the Berlin Wall which are colored and painted. As one could know from visiting Berlin, there is only a small part of the Wall left but at other parts, one could find the position of the wall with marked flagging on the ground. Additionally, one could buy a piece of the wall as a souvenir. Standing in front of the ruins of the Berlin wall inspires this realization: Peace is about breaking barriers not building them.

The Great Wall is made out of a series of wall that “were built to increase security, impress visitors and enhance the glory of China” (Background Essay). People in the cities were always frightened by the idea of the Mongols invading China. However, the wall prevented this from happening due to the amount of people “selected to settle along the border areas permanently” (Document B). The people that were selected were to remain there incase of invasion. Due to the brilliant idea of the wall Chinese people were able to continue their lives in peace.

The fact that the wall is still able to be found and that we are learning about the lives of the people in ancient times as well as their abilities to overcome great challenges should inspire those of today to dream big and accept the help of others to meet those challenges. So the wall was both defensive thanks to the military and a project not only for the Roman soldiers, but for the local populations and as they worked together the wall became more than a simple place but a home and a place for everyone to have pride

One way of putting things in perspective and evolving orderliness with in the empire was to make the people feel safe and secure; this resulted in building a wall between boarders, Hadrian’s Wall (McKay, et al., 2014, p.167). Hadrian narrowed the military’s job down from a conquering empire to a defending empire, he was a devout dedicated military man himself and expect no less from his military. Security began with the military changes and peace, Hadrian felt,

At first glance of the masonry of the wall, the composite structure shows that some parts are not attributes to the reconstruction during the sixteenth century but can be attributed to another series of repairs made by Mamluke, Ayyubid or other earlier Islamic rulers. Meanwhile, lower sections such as the base sections, give evidence of construction committed by Roman or Byzantine builders. Reading through Hamilton’s excavation report, a person can correspond each different style and set of masonry to reconstruct the sequence of the wall’s construction. According to Hamilton’s report, there were two distinct styles of surface treatment that predominated over all others, and there was a third important class of masonry represented by three individual stones. The earliest detected type of masonry was Style A which is represented by three individual stones. Style A was found below courses 11 and 12 of the curtain. As Hamilton’s team excavated the area, they found remnants of an area they had limited information about.