How come....

[Banks]

How come we don't have walls anymore like those in medieval ages cities had?

 

Imagine with all the technology today and knowledge, we probably could build the strongest one than ever before made...

Edited February 18, 2012 by Banks

[ajb]

How come we don't have walls anymore like those in medieval ages cities had?

 

 

We tend to have less warring at a local level and far less risk of invasion. Well here in the West anyway.

[Phi for All]

Fortified walls were made superfluous by many advancements, the biggest of which was probably armed aircraft. But constant expansion was a factor too. Cities grow, so the outer walls became inner walls, and more outer walls were needed.

 

You reach a point of diminishing returns. Strong walls don't keep everything out.

[ajb]

You reach a point of diminishing returns. Strong walls don't keep everything out.

 

 

There must be some exceptions, but in the modern world a fortified wall is going to be hugely expensive and a general hindrance.

 

Big walls in Israel and parts of Northern Ireland may classify as exceptions.

Edited February 18, 2012 by ajb

[iNow]

How come we don't have walls anymore like those in medieval ages cities had?

We do, though. It's between the US and Mexico.

 

 

 

 

Also, as ajb noted, in Israel:

 

 

 

 

Fortunately, as a general rule, walls have tended to come down more than they've tended to go up.

 

[michel123456]

How come we don't have walls anymore like those in medieval ages cities had?

 

Imagine with all the technology today and knowledge, we probably could build the strongest one than ever before made...

 

Paradoxally, as technology evolves, one can observe a reduction of the size of construction elements. Megalithic construction is characteristic of very ancient civilizations, today we build with gypsum board.

 

An thick wall in a medieval fortress consists in fact in 2 parallel walls of rectangular stones filled in with rough material. You need good artisans only for the external parts, the inside is filled by unexperienced workers. have a look at this thread.

 

Also, as technology evolves, you can observe a substantial increase in the ratio empty space/ filled space.

An extreme example is a pyramid, where the filled space is huge regarded to the empty space (the space for the funeral chambers). Another example is the hall of columns at Karnak (Egypt)

 

 

Already in the middle ages, the will for creation of large spaces is represented by the structure of the gothic cathedrals.

 

The very thick walls had a defensive purpose that has been lost due to technological achievements in offensive military art.

You can still encounter some, made of reinforced concrete (hochbunkers or blockhouses).

 

----------------

edit.

 

Now if you ask about city walls, there are other reasons.

The city walls were a frontier: to enter the city, you had to pay a fee, like customs. Society in and out of the city was different, or at least tried with huge efforts to be different. The society we are living right now is a by-product of the spirit cultivated in these cities, contrasting with the feodarchic model.

Not to be confused with the walls of a castle or citadel that belonged to the Duke, Earl or Vicomte.

Edited February 18, 2012 by michel123456

[ajb]

A "Peace Line" in Belfast.

 

Note the armoured police station.

 

 

 

Another "Peace Line".

[Banks]

Okay guys, I think you all nailed this thread pretty much.

 

Thanks!

[JohnStu]

Due to capitalism and walls fall easily to explosives.

 

Capitalism has made volunteer work basically "stupid". If the wall cannot profit and/or does not receive funding, then it won't appear.

 

 

[ajb]

Capitalism has made volunteer work basically "stupid". If the wall cannot profit and/or does not receive funding, then it won't appear.

 

The walls in Northern Ireland and Israel were put up to separate waring peoples. This is a good idea in the very short term, but segregation generally leads to more mistrust and feeds further violence.

 

Although you today hear less about the trouble Northern Ireland, most of the walls do remain. The society is still generally fractured.

[JohnStu]

The walls in Northern Ireland and Israel were put up to separate waring peoples. This is a good idea in the very short term, but segregation generally leads to more mistrust and feeds further violence.

 

Although you today hear less about the trouble Northern Ireland, most of the walls do remain. The society is still generally fractured.

 

 

Yes, especially when the wall is cheaply built and has grafittis on it. And also at the middle of an urban zone. Even if that wall were not build between borders, people'd still smash it down

[swansont]

Fortified walls were made superfluous by many advancements, the biggest of which was probably armed aircraft.

 

Tanks, too. The whole Maginot-line way of thinking went by the wayside from those two.

[michel123456]

Current barriers

Baghdad Wall,Belfast Peace Lines,Botswana/Zimbabwe,Brunei/Limbang,Ceuta border fence,China/Hong Kong,China/Macau,China/North Korea,Egypt-Gaza barrier,Malaysia-Thailand border,Melilla border fence,Indo-Bangladeshi barrier,Indo-Burma barrier,Indian Kashmir barrier,Iran-Pakistan barrier,Israeli West Bank barrier,Kazakh-Uzbekistan barrier,Korean Wall,Kruger National Park,Kuwait-Iraq barrier,Pakistan-Afghanistan barrier,Russia/Chechnya,Saudi-Yemen barrier,Sharm el-Sheikh,Turkmen-Uzbekistan barrier,United Arab Emirates-Oman barrier,United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus,United States–Mexico barrier,Uzbek-Afghanistan barrier,Uzbek-Kyrgyzstan barrier,Berm of Western Sahara.

 

Natural barriers are not enough for mankind, as it seems.

[ajb]

Natural barriers are not enough for mankind, as it seems.

 

I think they were at one time. Now we have made rather artificial countries after the cutting up of the Ottoman Empire post WWI as well as the dismantling of imperialism post WWII.

 

This has meant trying to force otherwise independent peoples to form countries in a geographically artificial way.