Hadrian's Wall Essay

The Great Wall of China is often regarded as one of the man made wonder of the world. The wall was built over a 2,000 year period. Such a big and sturdy Wall did not come cheap in terms of many people killed, a huge investment, and a lot of time spent working on the wall. Although the wall did serve many of its purposes, was it really worth the cost? There are three main reasons the construction of the wall did not outweigh the cost. Many died in the making, huge investment for china, did not keep invaders out.

How many people do you know who would gladly sacrifice their life to protect a dirt wall? Probably no one. The Great Wall of China was built by the Qin (221-206 BCE) and the Han (206 BCE-220 CE) to keep out the Xiongnu, their rivals in the north. It is estimated that the Qin built approximately 1,500 - 2,500 miles of the wall and the Han built 4,000 miles of it.  There is no query that building the wall provided people with jobs, but did the benefits truly outweigh these human costs? Of course not! The price was too costly to pay. The Great Wall wasn’t worth all the struggle. There were three main costs paid by the people of China: forced labor, death from starvation/hunger, and the loss of valuable resources.

At its peak, the border of the Empire measured over 20,000 km from the Atlantic coast of northern Britain, through Europe to the Black Sea, and from there to the Red Sea and across North Africa to the Atlantic coast. Therefore in order to guard this huge expanse many soldiers were required. The one hundred and eighteen kilometer stretch of border known as Hadrian’s wall, guarded at all times by at least fifteen thousand men, is a prime example of just how far from Rome and just how many soldiers were needed. However, unable to recruit enough soldiers from the Roman citizenry, Emperors like Diocletian and Constantine began hiring foreign mercenaries to prop up their armies. The ranks of the legions eventually swelled with Germanic Goths and other barbarians, so much so that Romans began using the Latin word “barbarus” in place of “soldier.” While these Germanic soldiers proved to be fierce warriors, they also had “little or no loyalty to the empire”, and their power-hungry officers often turned against their Roman employers. However this claim can be rebuked by looking at Ammianus Marcellinus’ review in 370 AD of the army in action, in which there is no evidence whatsoever that the standard of discipline or loyalty had fallen in any severe way,

The Great Wall of China is often regarded as one of the man-made wonders of the world. The Great Wall of China was constructed by two early Chinese dynasties; the Qin Dynasty (221 BCE-206 BCE) and the Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE). Emperor Qin was considered to be cruel and brutal. Cruel rulers invite rebellion and in 206 BCE, his successors were overthrown by the Han Dynasty. Both dynasties shared a common concern, border security. The wall was constructed over a period of 2,500 years and stretch to be 5,488 miles long. The wall was built to increase security, impress visitors and enhance the glory of china. However the wall also required much sacrifice on the part of the Chinese people. Overall did the benefits outweigh the costs? There were both costs and benefits into building the Great Wall of China, but the benefits outweigh the cost. The great walls benefits outweighed the costs by providing protection, create new towns

To begin, the wall provided more security for China. In other words, the wall was used as a shield. The wall was about 4,000 miles long acting as a barrier against the Xiongnu to the north (Doc.A). It appears that the wall was built so the sides of the wall would

Building the Great Wall was not worth the cost. The Great Wall of China is a long series of walls on China’s border that was built to protect them from getting attacked. The Great Wall was built to keep out the Xiongnu and other groups that attacked them. The Xiongnu was the main group that attacked China. People want the Great Wall built because it protects the Chinese states and empires. I believe they are wrong because it cost a lot of money and labor, it didn't work, and there was a ton of harsh working.

Emperor Hadrian was the 14th Emperor of Rome between 117-138 CE, Hadrian is also known as the 3rd of 5 good emperors. Born in Hispania like Trajan Hadrian came into power as an Emperor after being adopted by Trajan’s wife. Historians believe that one reason for the adoption was the ethnicity that Hadrian and Trajan shared. At an early age Hadrian like Trajan joined the army and became a tribune under the command of emperor Nerva. When Nerva died Trajan took the throne and when Trajan died Hadrian took the throne. Hadrian’s popularity in Rome was attested as Hadrian spent the better part of his reign absent from Rome. Professor D. Brendan Nagle writes, “ Hadrian spent most of his reign (twelve out of twenty-one years) traveling all over

One reason why the Great Wall was not worth building, is because it caused many deaths. In a chart it says “According to poetry and legends, tens of thousands of soldiers died from hunger, sickness, and extreme heat or cold. No exact number of deaths are available.” (Document E). This source shows that many people died from defending the wall and cruel temperatures, hunger and sickness. For doing this you earn nothing in return. That the wall couldn’t even defend it self. In a poem it says “ The cavalry fight to the death,... If rice isn’t harvested, how will you eat? Although we are willing to serve loyalty, how can we live this way”. (Document F) This source shows

The issue of conflict in the roman empire was very prominent and it ultimately was one of its factors for its downfall. “The Nystrom Atlas Of World History, Herff Jones Education Division” (Document 2) exhibits multiple tribes like the Visigoths, Vandals, Alans, Sueves, Anglo-Saxons, and the Huns who all invade the western Roman Empire. These invasions of Rome cause not only conflict with the tribes but also caused

And don't forget the belt of scattered camouflaged pits with sharpened poles lay between all the trenches and if anyone did get past all that they'd find themselves facing a 12 feet wall with projecting stakes. In late September, the expected relief army of Gauls arrived, commanded by Commius of the Atrebates and Vercassivellaunos of the Averni. When they arrived they saw another wall around the wall that was enclosing Alesia. On 2 October, Vercassivellaunos attacked the weak spot (which was a steep hill that the Romans could not build through) in the Roman outer wall, with Vercingetorix attacking the inner wall. Caesar realized the attack would be difficult to beat off and

Why was this wall even put up? Well, this was built to keep antifascist from entering East Germany. Germany was divided by this wall and sadly taken over by Soviet control. This means it was under communist leadership. During this Reagan challenged Gorbachev to tear down the wall.  He gave the answer to how and why Gorbachev should tear down the wall in his famous speech.

In addition to the works of Trajan, Hadrian’s Wall can also superficially symbolize the happiness and prosperity of the Roman Empire as asserted by Gibbons. The emperor Hadrian built Hadrian’s Wall after returning from his visit to Britain. The construction of the wall was an attempt by Hadrian to set up permanent borders for the Roman Empire and show the strength that the Roman Empire had during the reign of Hadrian by doing so. The construction of the wall, while showing strength and wealth, also can symbolize the empires struggle with its borders, and even more so, citizenship. The wall itself symbolized the Roman Empire’s tensions with the peoples surrounding the empire. The wall showed how the empire needed a structural device to maintain some level of peace within the empire.

The Great Wall showed that China was strong a strong nation, country, etc., to other countries. Because of this, other neighboring countries probably wouldn’t have been able to ever build something like the Great Wall because of how it’s ruled. Even though the other neighboring countries may have been strong enough to fight off their enemies, the Chinese had proved that they were strong enough despite their harsh ways of living. The Great Wall also showed that the ruling dynasty was quite powerful. Even while living in harsh times, the three different dynasties that had managed to continue building despite the harsh conditions they may have been through. This is something none of the other countries could ever do. Not only did the Great Wall work for things like this, the wall had also used as a deterrent to foreign invaders. It worked because people back then from foreign places probably weren’t used to thing such as the Great Wall. The Great Wall immensely intimidates foreign invaders because of how they aren’t used to sizes such as the Great Wall. The wall seemed to overpower them since it intimidates them, and because the wall is probably too tall to

Walls are constructed to separate people because of religious reasons, other world views, different types of government views, and also to protect from invaders/war happening. The Berlin wall was built to separate East and West Germany because fascist were coming from Italy to Germany to overthrow the communist so that East Germany can become a Socialist state. The Belfast Peace walls were built because of religious reasons. The Catholic and Protestants built a wall to separate themselves because they had different views of their own religion. They also believed that if they were to tear the wall down violence would ignite. Walls can also be built for good reasons like from invaders. China built, The Great Wall of China, to defend themselves from the Northern invaders. People build walls to separate people for good and also bad reasons.

I viewed your presentation. Hadrian’s Wall is fantastic. You could have provided more text or audio to provide information to your audience. I agree with Christopher’s review that he has audio in his presentation, although I have more text in mine. If you provide information about Hadrian’s Wall, such as why Hadrian built it, how the wall was done, and how important the wall was, your audience would get better information.