Great walls and linear barriers / Peter Spring.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Spring, Peter (Financial consultant), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Fortification--History--To 1500.

Fortification.

Military architecture--History--To 1500.

Military architecture.

Walls--History--To 1500.

Walls.

Military field engineering--History--To 1500.

Military field engineering.

Boundaries--History--To 1500.

Boundaries.

Earthworks (Archaeology).

Defensive (Military science)--History--To 1500.

Defensive (Military science).

Nomads--History, Military--To 1500.

Nomads.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (400 p.)

Place of Publication:

Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England : Pen & Sword Military, 2015.

Summary:

Everyone has heard of the Great Wall of China and knows of Hadrian's Wall and the other barriers lining stretches of Rome's imperial frontiers. But Peter Spring's original new study demonstrates that far from being exceptional, the building of walls and other linear defences was commonplace among the peoples and states of pre-modern era. He finds examples virtually all across the globe and analyses their forms and strategic functions. He finds patterns for their distribution, an important recurrent theme being the divide between settled agriculture and nomads. The author argues that it is mist

Contents:

Cover; Title Page; Copyright Page; Contents; Maps and Linear Barrier Lists; Acknowledgements; Technical Matters; Part I: Introductory; Prologue; Introduction - Why Walls?; Nomads; Part II: Survey; Part III: Questions And Issues; Chapter 1: Egypt, Mesopotamia and China - Early Riverine Empires and Irrigation Defence; Chapter 2: Greek World and Roman Empire - Barbarians and Local Nomads; Chapter 3: North African and Middle-Eastern Semi-arid Belt - Unification by Nomads Transcends Walls; Chapter 4: Northern Europe - Barbarians and Ancient Roads

Chapter 5: Eastern Europe - Multiple Barriers where Steppe and Europe CollideChapter 6: Bulgaria, Poland and the Kievan Rus - Early State Formation; Chapter 7: China I - Northern Expansion, Consolidated by Walls, Sets Off Nomad Irruptions; Chapter 8: Byzantine and Sasanian Empires - Collaboration of Foes; Chapter 9: Central Asia - Great Oasis Walls; Chapter 10: China II - Nomad Irruptions and Multiple Great Walls; Chapter 11: Russia - Defeating the Steppe Nomads; Chapter 12: Non-Eurasian Linear Barriers; Chapter 13: Summary of Survey Material Through History

Chapter 14: How Valid Are Those Four Linear Barrier Patterns?Chapter 15: Motivations Other Than Pure Defence - Aggression and Assertion?; Chapter 16: Why Did Some Polities Not Build Linear Barriers?; Chapter 17: Strategies or Barriers - Which Really Defined Relations Between States and Nomads?; Chapter 18: Linear Barrier Building - A Successful or Failed Strategy?; Chapter 19: Visualisation and Functioning; Chapter 20: Construction and Maintenance; Chapter 21: Tactical Use of Static and Mobile Linear Barriers; Chapter 22: Movement of Animals and of People

Chapter 23: Harnessing Nature - Abatis and Hedges, Rivers, Canals and SeasPart IV: Aftermath; Chapter 24: The Naming of Linear Barriers; Chapter 25: Destruction, Discovery and Protection; Chapter 26: Reuse, Marking Borders, Renewed Building; Chapter 27: Linear Barriers - Historiography and Interpretation; Bibliography; Notes; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 328-341) and index.

ISBN:

9781473853843

1473853842

9781473854048

1473854040