Great Wall Of China History

Of all the historical places of this world, none is as amazing as the Great Wall of China History.  We hear of places like Stonehenge, the Roman Colosseum, or the Pyramids of Giza, but one structure, the Great Wall of China, is equally as amazing though it is far from the eyes of the western world.  The structure itself, which can be seen from space, has such a deeply rooted history, one of struggle, division, unity and strength, that it serves as a symbol to the resilience and ingenuity of the Chinese people.  

What is the Great Wall of China?  The Great Wall of China is a series of military fortifications that are located mostly on the northern border of the People's Republic of China, separating the mainland China and Mongolia.  The first noted constructions are theorized to have begun in 221 BC, during a period of time known as the Period of Warring States.  Over the course of a millennia, the wall was completed in around 1460, at the cost of almost one million lives, most of which were slaves, prisoners of war, or peasants.    

Beginning of Construction.  In this era of Chinese history, most of the Chinese mainland was susceptible to attack from nomadic raiders, most notably the raiders from northern China and Mongolia, due to a lack of unified government and the presence of several territorial warlords who fought for supremacy.  In 221 BC, the warlord Qin Shi Huang successfully conquered the majority of the warlord states of China, including the powerful Wei, Qi, and Zhao states.  After being crowned emperor, Qin decided to begin the process of connecting the vast network of fortifications on the northern border in order to create a barrier that prevented invaders from reaching into his territory.  However, after the collapse of the Qin dynasty, the work on the Great Wall ceased as the raiders of the north became less of a threat.  

Revitilization.  The "need" for a physical barrier between the north fell out of the Chinese thought until around 1440, when Mongolian raiders began to attack the nation underneath the Ming Dynasty.  After the Battle of Tumu, the defeated emperor decided to revitalize the contraction of the wall, which at the end of its building spanned the course of over 5,500 miles; the rough distance of China's northern border.

Transformation From Barricade to World Wonder.  Over the course of several dynasties, the Great Wall became too much of a burden to maintain.  Eventually, through several hundred years of political strife and colonization by the western world, the mainland China overthrew the Qing Dynasty in 1911, beginning several decade Chinese Civil War.  After the establishment of the People's Republic of China shortly after World War II, the nation began a series of economic and structural reforms that culminated in the Great Leap Forward under Deng Xioping, which propelled the PRC onto the world economic stage.  After a series of economic and political alliances with the western world, the PRC began to invest in its ancient history in order to attract tourists.  This ultimately culminated in UNESCO declaring the Great Wall a World Heritage Site and one of the Seven Wonders of the Medieval World.