How and Why the Great Wall of China Was Really Built

The Great Wall of China was built 2,200 years ago out of military necessity: to combat the Mongolian ancestors of Genghis Khan. Its construction was a marvel of military engineering.

From: SECRETS: Great Wall of China

[danielsong]

i thought the wall was built for matt damon to lead china to victory against lizard monster armies.

[tylerperazzo]

Stopping People getting over the wall wasn’t the walls main function, the wall was only 10 ft in some areas and the gates were practically military fortresses, it prevented pillagers from bringing there horses into China and it kept people who had stolen herds of animals and wagons of loot from leaving with their loot. Pillaging doesn’t seem like a great idea if you can’t get the stuff you’ve stolen home. That’s a pretty big deterrent.

[thomashunn]

IT REALLY BOTHERS ME THAT IT'S NOT JUST A SINGLE LINE!

[currentbatches]

So, after walking on (actually 'climbing up'; the thing is built on hills) the wall, I asked the guide: "How did the Mongols breach the wall?". He said: "Simple. They bribed someone".
I think there is a lesson here regarding walls.

[RobertAustinKelly]

This host is great! Contagious enthusiasm and totally hands on.

[lpnos]

Did this old man build a wall just for this demonstration

[stevenpoynter]

It took a very long time to build I wonder how they kept construction going when the northern tribes started to attack them while they were building the wall

[kev_]

It’s 12:37am April 20, 2020 and this probably the most random video that YouTube has put on my explore page lol. I hope you all are well during this quarantine.

[tuozecarart]

I like this historian he makes history alive

[mtadams]

Show me a 20 foot wall and I will show you a 21 foot ladder.

[marsilingmartian]

The Xiongnu nomad are Calvary on horse back attacking with bow, arrows and long spears. The Chinese are mostly infantry and without the help of any walls, they will need a 10:1 ratio with shields and long spears to defeat the Xiongnu. The Xiongnu avoid direct confrontation with the Chinese troops, when they don't have an advantage. preferring to do hit and run raids at different area and take the Chinese by surprise. That is why it is very difficult to defeat the Xiongnu. The great wall help the infantry troop to temporary stop the Xiongnu advance until reinforcement arrive. The great wall is also a communication line. During the day, the troops can burn and create smoke signal to let others know they are under attack. During the night, the troop create a huge fire signal. Both smoke and fire signal can be seen miles away. The capitol city will knew about the attacks within hours and the emperor will send his generals to lead an re-enforcement to counter attack. However, this strategy are not effective in the Han dynasty. Han Wu Ti change the strategy and create strong Calvary troops to attack the Xiongnu's capital. Forcing them to flee to the west.

[hardondolo]

The 'XiongNoo" (simp. & trad. Chinese 匈奴; pinyin XīongNú) is a pronunciation of the Chinese characters in modern Mandarin. In ancient Chinese when the walls were built, and connected, the pronunciations of the same characters were closer to "Hunu" or "Huno" (depending on the time & region it's spoken), which is much closer to 'Hun". Wonder how they were linked to the Huns who appeared in Central Asia and Europe?

[wallacewood]

Well, Genghis had this brick factory thing going on...

[tg-toneworks]

hi there, may i use some sequences of the footage for a Music Video trailer...of course including full credits! best thilo

[danferdwu]

Please make more videos of ancient China, I love it

[kingrayzeng]

I am a Chinese. The biggest difference between Chinese and Mongolian, huns is that they are nomads, lived in tents and raise cattle and sheep, living on the grassland. And we build cities, every city has a wall, the wall can only protect our city, there is no way to protect agricultural areas outside the city.

[ktmad]

"but while they're being cleared, men up there are shooting at you"

It's brighter here! (every Smithsonian video ends with a dramatic often morbid statement followed by the joyous jingle)

[antlife]

I went to China one time and I'm black with dreads and people would just walk up to me and ask me to take a picture with them and can they touch my hair

[manpluscamera]

Actually, according to Australian legend, it was built during the time of the Emperor Nasi Goreng, to keep the rabbits out.

[rayaanmahim]

Really, this host is great. It is so wonderful.