the great wall
TO understand the Great Wall of Chinas, we must first learn about the three Greta dynasties that played a vital role during its construction and the planning or lack there of associated with it. The Great Wall was first begun in approximately 221 B. C., not long after China became one unified empire as opposed to its prior loose configuration of feudal states. The first Chinese emperor, Qin Shi Huang restored ruins of older walls and organized the construction of an additional wall portion in order to create a 3,000 foot wall that could protect China's northern border. He also ordered the destruction of all internal walls of China, the one's that separated China into feudal states because he felt they served only as obstacles to the internal movements and administration. Qin Shi Huang was not regarded as a benevolent ruler or one that looked out for the welfare of his people. He was known as a tyrant that wanted to standardize aspects of society such as laws, weights and !measures. He believed that people were inherently evil and that the must live by a strict set of rules. Anyone who essentially wasn't tied down to a piece of land was recruited as a worker on the wall. These people included peasants and enemies. Most o
Much of it has been built from dry laid native stone, but where stone was scarce, engineers built the wall from compacted earth. First they would lay down a bed of red willow twigs at the bottom of a wooden frame. As a time at which European builders were still relying on cut stone, the Ming were using state of the art kiln to mass produce bricks which are as strong as modern day masonry bricks. The Ming wall was of earth that was known as tamped. The ramparts of the passes were faced with huge bricks and stones, with dirt and crushed stones as filler. The next significant set of rulers of China, but not so much the Great Wall was the Mongol dynasty, which reigned from 1206 to 1368. During the Ming dynasty, nine different fighting areas or defense zones were distinguished. 3 feet wide at the base and 19 feet tall. As the work on the wall progressed during the Qin dynasty, workers were forced to rely upon local materials. The Han dynasty accomplished such tasks as establishing the first public school system and crushed the Xiongnu menace once and for all in the 70-year rule. The Ming dynasty was the next great rulers to come to power, and they were by far the greatest of wall builders. The Han began to move the empire in a new and more open direction. Extending beyond this there was usually an additional line of protection, which was often topped by a tower used to watch those beyond the wall and to direct troop movements in battles waged there.
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