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To: Forward the Light Brigade

Walls are generally a poor idea militarily. The very considerable resources needed to build and maintain it are usually better spent on other military options.

A linear wall is useless if breached at any point. Whereas a series of strongpoints can be held and used as bases for a counterattack.


16 posted on 09/05/2013 1:54:55 PM PDT by Sherman Logan (Mark Steyn: "In the Middle East, the enemy of our enemy is also our enemy.")
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To: Sherman Logan

“A linear wall is useless if breached at any point. Whereas a series of strongpoints can be held and used as bases for a counterattack.”

True, if the threat is purely military. But some studies of The Great Wall and Hadrian’s Wall suggest that these barriers served as a kind of “customs station” where tariffs could be assessed and the like. In this way these ancient walls served more like a modern border crossing.


17 posted on 09/06/2013 2:14:08 PM PDT by Tallguy (Hunkered down in Pennsylvania)
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