To The Reader’s Forum:

I present this information for your consideration.

The Great Wall of China was not built to repel the Mongols. The wall was commissioned by the first emperor who died in 210 BC, long before the emergence of the Mongols around AD 800. The threat was from Xiongnu, who possibly became the ancestors of the Huns. The classic confrontation with the Mongols occured only from the late 14th century, when the Mongols were chased out of China by the Ming. The point is the wall was effective for the purpose it was designed. It is true the Mongols inflicted a defeat on the Ming south of the wall in 1449, some 1,000-plus years later. However, it fell to the Manchus in 1644 when a local Ming general opened the far eastern gate, Shanhaiguan, to invaders.

Other walls that were successful in halting invaders: Rome’s Hadrain Wall, the Sumerians Amorite Wall, the long walls of Athens, the walls of Constantinople, the Great Wall of Gorgan and many more. To state walls don’t work to prevent invasions is not accurate. History proves they do work.

Rex V. Willard,

Falconer