The Great Wall is majestic, and he has protected the people of the Central Plains to live and work in peace and contentment.
As the dividing line between nomadic and agrarian civilizations, the Great Wall is a wonder of the world.
The impregnable Great Wall!
The Great Wall is great and meritorious!
But in the long river of history, the Great Wall has not always existed.
The Great Wall first appeared in Chinese history, during the Warring States period.
Because the Zhou royal family was weak, various princely states were in chaos.
The Great Wall is like a dragon, protecting the world
The nomads outside Serbia lost their oppression and gradually became stronger. And constantly harassing the borders of countries.
At this time, the focus of the various princely states was on the struggle for hegemony in the Central Plains, and there was no extra energy to pay attention to those barbarians.
Therefore, the policy of internal hegemony and external defense was implemented by various countries.
Existing Ming Great Wall attractions
The Great Wall was born!
Countries began to build the Great Wall at dangerous points along their borders.
To protect the country's inhabitants and property from looting.
Later, after the State of Qin destroyed the Six Kingdoms and unified the Central Plains, it connected the Great Wall built by various countries.
An ancient emperor, portrait of Qin Shi Huang
This is the origin of the Great Wall of Qin!
During the Qin and Han dynasties, the nomads outside Serbia became more and more powerful, and attacks on the Central Plains became more and more frequent.
When the Han Dynasty was first established, the army was tired and the people were scarce, and the country urgently needed a period of recovery.
At this time, the construction of the Great Wall was once again put on the agenda.
This is the Great Wall of Han!
The second emperor of the ages, Emperor Wudi of Han. And called the Qin Emperor Hanwu!
It was not until the time of Emperor Wudi of Han that the Han Empire, which could not bear it, finally launched its first large-scale counterattack against the nomads.
The Han army drove straight in, tens of thousands of miles deep into the grassland, and incorporated the vast Western Regions into his own territory.
Stop the war with war!
The Han Empire used iron and blood means to ensure the safety of the Central Plains civilization for hundreds of years.
The Great Wall was no longer built because it lost its military defense significance.
The third emperor of the ages, Emperor Taizong of Tang
However, in the late Western Jin Dynasty, the Central Plains regime weakened again, and the grassland nomads gradually grew again.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, nomads even occupied the entire northern part of the continent.
It was also called the Southern and Northern Dynasties together with the Han regime of the Southern Dynasty.
Territory of the Tang Dynasty
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Central Plains regime became strong again.
After Tang Taizong Li Shimin came to the throne, with his strong national strength, he fought in the south and the north, and won the title unanimously recognized by the grassland peoples - Heavenly Khan!
The Tang Empire once again ruled the entire northern steppe and vast area of the Western Regions.
Map of the territory of the Great Tang Dynasty made by netizens
The capital has been established in the east, west and north of the mainland.
The powerful Tang Dynasty did not need the protection of the Great Wall!
The so-called Great Wall of Tang does not actually exist.
At most, it is only a few Guancheng passes established in the early Tang Dynasty.
After hundreds of years, the Tang Empire declined again due to civil strife and finally disappeared into the long river of history.
Liao, Western Xia, and Song are tripods
The Song Dynasty, which was divided in the southeast of the Central Plains, was once again under military pressure from the east, west and north.
The sad Great Song Dynasty, due to the loss of Gansu, Ningxia and other war horse breeding areas, although the Great Song army was well equipped, it became an out-and-out infantry.
Hexi, Gansu, the most important military horse farm in Chinese history
When the infantry fought against the cavalry, the disadvantage was very obvious, the victory could not pursue, the expansion of the victory and defeat could not escape and flee, and the whole army could only be destroyed.
This doomed the military strategy of the Great Song Dynasty, which could only be defensive and then unable to attack.
During this period in the southeast of the Great Song Dynasty, the northern grassland region was an era of turmoil and heroes.
In the era of turmoil, there are many countries
Western Xia and Daliao each set their eyes on the Great Song regime and wanted to replace it.
However, before the two of them could pick the fruits of victory, the Dajin Kingdom, which was born in the north of the Khitan heart land, stabbed Daliao in the back.
Under the strategy of the Song Dynasty to destroy Liao, the most elite cavalry units of the Liao state were pinned down in the Hebei region.
The Jinlian Song annihilated Liao, and then the Northern Song Dynasty
The Great Golden Kingdom took the opportunity to encroach and completely destroy the Great Liao.
This great gold country is said to be the same clan of the future Manchu Qing Dynasty.
However, Daikin Guo did not jump for a few days.
In the northern steppes, another regime rose rapidly.
The Great Han Temujin began to lead the Mongols to dominate the northern steppe.
Not only destroyed the invincible Great Golden Kingdom and Western Xia, but also conquered Europe in the west.
Ruled vast areas of Europe, including Russia.
Of course, Russia at that time did not exist, only a few small principalities called the Muscovite principality and the Kiev principality.
The road map of Mongolia's western expedition laid down a large number of rivers and mountains
With its strong military strength, Mongolia eventually destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty and entered the Central Plains.
Kublai Khan, the Mongol co-ruler, implemented a policy of national integration and changed the name of Mongolia to "Yuan".
This directly led to the split between the other four Mongol khanates that despised Han culture and the Yuan Empire.
The Mongol Empire was eventually devastated by its division.
At the end of the Yuan, the Red Turban Army revolted.
Zhu Yuanzhang's political strategy of building walls and slowing down the throne preserved and developed his military strength to the greatest extent in the chaotic times, and finally won the world.
Opened the Daming Dynasty!
The Daming Dynasty was the first unified dynasty in mainland history to defeat the north from the south.
After the Yuan court withdrew from the Central Plains, the ethnic groups continued to split, and the Mongol Empire no longer had the majesty it once had.
After Zhu Yuanzhang's death, the Ming Civil War broke out soon after.
After that, the Ming Dynasty's military strength shrank and it was no longer able to march north.
Instead, he began to implement the defense strategy of the nine-sided heavy town.
A nine-sided town connected by the Great Wall
This is the origin of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty!
The Ming Dynasty vainly tried to block the north with the Great Wall offensive of Yonggu, and the Ming Dynasty vainly tried to use the Great Wall fortifications of Yonggu to stop the northern attack.
But reality gave the Ming Dynasty a resounding slap in the face.
Although the Great Wall can stop attacks from the north, the defense is always passive.
The truth is, you can keep it for a day, you can keep it for a year, but you can't keep it for a lifetime!
So there is a military term called:
Offense is the best defense!
The Daming Dynasty abandoned the Han and Tang dynasties and changed from an offensive national policy to a defensive national policy.
Invasion map of the Ming Dynasty
In fact, it was Daming's biggest mistake.
War is a money-burning thing.
In offensive operations, we can also "take from the enemy and use it for the enemy."
Make up for the deficit by plundering.
Even the stronger the Vietnam War, the richer the Vietnam War.
At that time, the premise was that the war was won.
However, in defensive operations, the consumption required for combat comes from one's own country.
Wanli resisted the Dynasty and aided the DPRK
Whether it is defensive success or defensive failure, it is the national strength and finance that loses or loses!
Beginning in the later period of Ming Jiajing, years of endless defensive wars gradually exhausted national and financial resources.
Coupled with man-made disasters, the once powerful Daming Dynasty finally collapsed in the wave of peasant uprisings.
Early Qing Dynasty Formal Drawing
The majestic Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty ultimately failed to protect the Ming Dynasty.
After entering the customs of the Great Qing, he regained the majesty of the Han and Tang dynasties.
Offensive operations against the steppe.
Incorporate the Mongolian steppe and the Western Regions and even Tibet into its territory.
Formal diagram of the surrounding area in the early Qing Dynasty
The Great Qing Dynasty did not build the Great Wall.
He believed that the Great Wall was of little use, but limited the connection between the Central Plains and the grasslands.
And limit their use.
Map of the heyday of the Qing Dynasty
Since the Qing Dynasty, the Great Wall has long lost its role as a military barrier.
The Great Wall is very influential today, because in the War of Resistance, the broken Great Wall also exerted a certain influence to prevent the Japanese invasion.
In the well-known Anti-Japanese Wars such as the Great Wall War of Resistance and the Pingxingguan Ambush War, the Great Wall once again became a household name.
Map of the Battle of Pingxingguan during the Second Sino-Japanese War
As a result, the Great Wall has changed from a single military defense system to a calling card of the Chinese nation's spirit of resistance.
The Great Wall has transformed from a military defensive castle into a Chinese spiritual fortress symbol!
Map of China's political districts
Before:
The Great Wall is long, inside the Great Wall is our hometown!
Right now:
The Great Wall is long, inside and outside the Great Wall is our hometown!