Walls don’t work. Anyone who says they will
solve a problem, hasn’t learned from history.
The World’s most famous wall, The Great
Wall of China, started its life as a series
of not so great smaller walls built when China
was divided into warring Kingdoms.
In 220 BC, Emperor Qin Shi Huang ordered that
these walls be connected in hopes of keeping
out the barbarians to the north.
The labor force which built the wall was largely
soldiers and “convicts.” An estimated
400,000 people died during the wall’s construction.
Many of these workers were buried inside the
wall itself.
After the death of Emperor Huang, the wall
fell into disrepair and eventually in the
1200’s, it completely failed its purpose
when Genghis Khan and the Mongolians invaded.
Kahn got busy and ended up controlling most
of China. Today, 1 in 200 people are direct
descendants of the man.
The Great Wall tourist attraction of today
was largely built in the 14th Century during
the Ming Dynasty.
And while we are at it, it can’t really
be seen from space, unless you have a telescope.
Meanwhile, by the 2nd century AD, the Roman
Empire had control of most of the isle of
Britain aside from the unruly north. The Romans,
who had taken control of more of the World
than anyone in history, had met their match
with the Picts in modern day Scotland.
In 122 AD, Emperor Hadrian decided that the
north was no longer worth their time, but
building a 73 mile wall from the North sea
to the Irish sea to keep the Picts from invading
was.
The wall had 14 forts with up to 1000 troops
each. People could pass if they paid a tax,
but its seems like the Northerns didn’t
seem to care much, as there were no major
breaches.
When the Roman Empire fell apart in the 5th
century and left distant Britain to itself,
ironically, the people started to dismantle
and use the wall to build up their fledgling
England’s buildings and roads.
And Hadrian’s Wall would become the inspiration
for George R. R. Martin for The Wall in Game
of Thrones. And you can still visit it to
this day.
But we never learn, after World War II, Germany
was divided into districts for each allied
country. The UK and America allowed their
districts to form freely into Western Germany,
while the Soviets turned their Eastern Germany
into a communist state connected to their
own.
This even divided the German capitol Berlin
into two, turning Western Berlin into an island
inside East Germany and a symbol of the Cold
War, which was at its height.
To keep it short, East Germany wasn’t a
great place to live, especially compared to
the US and UK consumerism/pop culture filled
West. By 1961, 3.5 million East Germans had
fled to the West, many of them educated young
people.
This brain drain was the last straw for the
East, and at midnight June 15, 1961, the construction
of the Berlin Wall began to keep East Germans
from entering West Berlin, where they had
things like Elvis and hola-hoops… also freedom.
The wall went right through the city, splitting
streets, even buildings in two. As East Germany
kept improving it, the wall eventually became
two walls with what became known as The Death
Strip between it.
By the late 1980’s, with help from external
pressure from President Ronald Reagan, but
more importantly concerts of David Bowie and
Bruce Springsteen, the East German people
became more restless than ever.
In 1989, Russian President Gorbachev and East
Germany announced they were loosening the
travel restrictions between the two sides
of the city. The population took that announcement
quite literally and started to tear the wall
down with their own hands… also David Hasselhoff
was there.
So walls don’t work.
Well, unless you are an Australian rabbit.
In 1859, this guy, Thomas Austin, released
14 wild european rabbits on his land in eastern
Australia, thinking hunting some wabbit would
make him feel more at home. The rabbits do
what rabbits do best, eat and make more rabbits
and the population surged epically destroying
endless flora and fauna.
In 1907, fearing the western march of the
rabbit would decimate their crops, Western
Australia built a fence from the north to
the south, over 1,000 miles, the longest fence
in the world.
By the 1920s, Australia’s Rabbit population
had swelled to 10 billion… from 24. Western
Australia, thanks to their fence, has been
mostly saved.
Oh, and guess what, The Rabbit Fence can be
seen from Space, at least as much as the Great
Wall can.
So walls don’t work. They divide us, they
make us weaker, and eventually we find a way
for people and culture to tear them done.
That is, unless you are an Australian Rabbit.
Fun Fact!
The latin word Picti stands for Painted Person,
which kind of is cool because The Picts painted
their faces.
