10. Motilla del Azuer On Spain’s Iberian Peninsula,
there is a 3200-year-old fortress by the name of Motilla del Azuer. It was built in the Bronze Age
and contains the oldest water well in the region. What makes this fortress so amazing isn't just
that it had the very first well in the area, it was also an extremely safe place to live.
The people here were safe within the walled enclosure, and they had access to fresh water
without having to go outside. 3000 years ago, going out into the open meant just
about anything could happen. You could be eaten by a wild animal or killed by roaming marauders.
It's not the biggest fortress in the world, but it's certainly one of the most
impressive considering its age. It's roughly 150 feet (46m) in diameter,
composed of a primary tower, two massive walled enclosures, and a wide-open courtyard. It was
essentially a castle, but extremely primitive. The walls sheltered the water that was collected
through the well. The well was used throughout the times different people occupied the settlement.
It was also vital to store and process cereals on a large scale, to keep the livestock sometimes,
and to produce pottery and other homemade products, that have also been found at the site.
Not many people lived inside the fortress itself, mostly just those who were at the highest echelon
of this ancient society. Most of the people lived outside the walls in makeshift settlements.
It's quite fascinating because the water that kept the people alive was protected inside the walls,
and acted like a beacon to draw wanderers into the outer encampments, thereby strengthening
the small community. 9. Hadrian’s Wall
Hadrian's Wall was commissioned by Roman emperor Hadrian 1900 years ago. The emperor was born
in Spain, and had the privilege of coming into power when Rome was at her mightiest.
He traveled all the way to the edge of the Roman Empire, to Britannia, which is now
modern Britain. And there, in the hills of what would one day be England, he decided to build a
fairly useless military fortification, something that would be more symbolic than practical.
Hadrian's Wall spans 73 miles (117km). It was built from west to east, cutting the United
Kingdom almost in half. Construction began in the year 122 AD, and it was used as a barrier marking
the farthest extent of the Roman Empire. It was equipped with gates, customs posts, and defensive
military barracks. There were also fortified towers erected about every third of a mile.
The wall itself stood an estimated 12 feet (3.7m) tall, making it a pretty imposing structure.
It was all Hadrian's idea to create a wall to keep the Roman Empire intact.
His idea was that building a wall and creating a barrier would prove the power of the empire,
and somehow legitimize its boundaries. The only thing beyond the wall was Caledonia in the north,
yet unconquered by the Romans. The Romans tried multiple times even after the wall was
erected to conquer Caledonia and failed every single time. The wall just kind of ended up
being the final line of scrimmage, which the Romans never managed to push very far beyond.
Eventually, the wall was no longer needed and was abandoned. It was then partially dismantled and
used in the 18th century for building roads. Nobody cared much about it until preserving
history became important in the 20th century. Almost two thousand years later, parts of the
earliest masonry are still in unusually good condition. And with the area set to collect
almost $40,000,000 in government and charity funding this year for better passage links and
a visitor’s center, Hadrian’s defenses will soon be showcased better than ever before.
8. The Tafresh Underground Cave The Tafresh Underground Cave was a stroke
of genius, and a way for the local people of Iran to hide from those who would cause them harm. This
particular cave is located underneath the city of Tafresh in Markazi Province. It was discovered
by accident a few years ago during a construction operation, with workers breaking into a mysterious
cavern carved in the side of a mountain. After a lot of excavating and archaeological research,
we now know this underground city served as a shelter in the 13th century.
All across Iran, Turkey, and other nations in this part of the world, there are underground cities.
It's because their world was always at war, and the people who lived in small villages
and settlements were always the victims of indiscriminate violence. When the Mongol hordes
invaded Persia in the early 13th century, they committed widespread atrocities, massacring humans
and burning cities as they went. And so, many people started building their towns underground.
They started off small, digging tunnels where families could hide when the invaders came.
But as these tunnels grew, they became flourishing underground communities.
And while these dank and dark tunnels may look spooky and ominous, they were safe, cool,
and secure to the Persians who once occupied them. The homemade cave was created to shelter
the people of the cities from ecological calamities and the risk of enemy attacks.
Their unique feature is that they were made without the use of any imitation materials
and only with the aid of hand tools. Many of these caves and tunnels have
yet to be explored! 7. Medieval Castles
The medieval castle was the epitome of security. It didn't get any safer than being inside a
massive stone fortress with ramparts, towers, a moat, and no way to get inside but a drawbridge.
Castles in the medieval era were designed to be as defensive as possible. Not only were they designed
to protect the people inside against the invaders, but also to hold up in times of siege. Because in
the medieval days, you didn't just storm a castle with an army. You camped outside its
walls and waited until they starved to death. It was around the 13th century that medieval
castles really came into their own. And there's no better example of that than the Caerphilly Castle
in Wales, a medieval fortification erected by Gilbert de Clare. Historian Allan Brown
called it the most elaborate defense in all of Britain. It sits on 30 acres, it's the biggest
castle in Wales, and it implemented a very new and remarkably brilliant form of defense.
It was called a concentric castle, meaning it was a castle inside of a castle. It had two
layers of curtain walls, so the enemy couldn't simply bash through one wall and climb inside.
There was an inner wall wrapped around the central castle, creating a gaping no man’s
land between the core castle and its outer defense. Attackers had to bash through stone
that was over 6 feet (1.8m) thick, only to find themselves trapped inside an open area with even
bigger walls directly in front. Battering rams and missiles were useless, while archers inside could
pretty much wipe out any attacking army. 6. The Sparta Strategy
The Spartans first settled in southeastern Peloponnese in the 9th century BC.
Within 200 years, they had conquered the surrounding population in the Pamisos
Valley and subjugated them. The Spartans came, conquered, and forced the people whose lands they
stole to work for them as serfs called helots. The people who lived along the Pamisos were called
Messenians, and they considered themselves to basically be slaves. There was another group along
the Eurotas Valley as well, and the Spartans had both of them working as a type of subclass. These
two groups grew the Spartan’s food, did their chores, and allowed them to focus on being brutal
warriors. In the 5th century when the Persian Wars began, the servant populations outnumbered
the actual citizens of Sparta, people considered to be true blooded Spartans, by roughly 7 to 1.
Policing these people was a huge headache for the Spartans, but it afforded them great luxury.
Without anyone in their population having to do any real work, they were able to focus on
the things they liked doing. Making music, creating art, exercising, dancing, drinking,
joking, and raising their children, thoroughly indoctrinating them to the Spartan way of life.
If you’re wondering what this has to do with ancient security strategies,
it was arguably the greatest strategy the Spartans could have come up with for enhancing themselves.
They cordoned off an entire part of Greece, enslaved the local population,
and then lived luxurious lives. Their lives were better than pretty much any other population of
people at that time, and this was what allowed them to flourish.The Spartans probably would have
gone on living lives of luxury for centuries more if they hadn’t been wiped out by the Persians.
5. The Amorite Wall of Sumer The Amorite Wall, or the Wall of Ammuru,
was built in the 3rd year of Shu-Sin’s reign over the ancient kingdom of Sumer.
This was around the year 2034 BC. He was the King of Ur, ruler of the four regions of Sumer. There
was Sumer and Akkad, Elam, Subartu, and Amurru. But the people of Amurru, known as the Amorites,
were always causing trouble and revolting. So, the ruler of Sumer built a wall to keep them away.
But the wall didn't work. It was supposed to be an impressive military barricade
against the Amorites, but they rapidly established themselves as a great power
and decided to wage war against the rest of Mesopotamia. The wall was expanded to
155 miles (250km) to keep the Amorites out of Sumer. And while this seemed like a good idea,
it backfired. The wall was too long, there weren't enough people to properly maintain it,
and there was nothing at either end of the wall to keep the Amorites from just walking around
it. And in the end, that was exactly what the Amorites did, and the entire region of Mesopotamia
was thrown into bloody war and turmoil. What began as the first border wall in history ended in a
major defeat for the Sumerians. 4. Bodiam Castle
Bodiam Castle has been called the perfect English castle. It has square battlements, secured at
each corner with round drum towers, and wrapped in an almost impenetrable moat. This fantastic
castle was built starting in 1385, but nobody is exactly sure why. Scholars debate whether
Bodiam Castle was designed as a luxurious country home or as the ultimate fortification in battle.
What we do know is that the castle was designed by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge,
who had fought in the Hundred Years War against the French. We can only assume that a military
man like Edward would have designed his castle with defense in mind. Plus, it's located in the
south of England near the French border. It would make sense that the castle’s initial
purpose was to guard against a potential French attack. But since this was 700 years ago, we just
don't really know. But some scholars have argued that the castle is so far from the coastline that
this theory seems implausible and, by 1385, the mainland threat was greatly declining.
Whatever the case, there's no denying that the moat surrounding Bodiam Castle is impressive,
and one of the smarter defensive strategies employed by medieval castles. The water is filled
by a natural spring, which gives it a consistent volume. There's always water in the moat, meaning
it would have been impossible to cross on horse or bring siege instruments to the front gate.
The only way in was and still is across a very skinny wooden walkway, which would have made a
direct attack a pretty futile endeavor. 3. Natural Defense
Egypt was one of the most powerful civilizations in the history of mankind. And yet they're unique
in the fact that they didn't really build walls or massive fortifications. We don't
see any huge castles anywhere in Egypt, nor do we see border walls like the Romans loved so much.
The Egyptians had a few walled cities, but certainly not like Athens in Greece.
The truth was that for the Egyptians, they had natural defenses that allowed them to live in
relative security despite being surrounded by enemies. That’s why they were only ever really
threatened by civil war up until people started coming at them from across the Mediterranean.
But in ancient days before sea warfare, there were three main things that kept Egypt safe.
The Mediterranean Sea to the north meant that invaders could only reach them with warships,
which hadn’t really been developed yet.
Then there was the Nile River along the eastern flank of the entire country, stopping any army
from breaching their borders. And finally, to the west and south is an immense desert that no
army could pass. Thousands of miles of windswept sands would have swallowed any group of attackers.
And so, for much of history, the Egyptians were invincible. It wasn't until civilizations figured
out how to make fleets of ships and bring armies by boat that Egypt started to have serious regrets
about not having fortified their cities. 2. Athenian Masters of the Sea
The Greeks were the first to implement defensive strategies at sea. In modern times,
at the beginning of colonialism, the English may have dominated the world with their navy,
but 2000 years earlier, it was the Greeks who held domain over the sea.
They conquered the sea by using superior strategy. The Athenians evolved an almost democratic way of
fighting wars on the water. They learned that by maximizing oarsmen and minimizing soldiers,
they could use the boats themselves to outclass their enemies.
This was instead of boarding ships and fighting in brutal hand-to-hand combat to the death.
So, Greek boats used rams, projectiles, and rowers to defeat their enemies. The rowers
were even trained to aim their boats directly at the opposing ship’s oarsmen to leave the
other vessel immobile. They spent a significant amount of effort training skilled rowers rather
than depending on skilled fighters. But they did have one major problem. Since the Athenians
didn’t have many skilled marines and depended so heavily on the ram, they were unsuccessful
in hand-to-hand combat. Because of this, one of the strongest naval forces in the world was highly
skilled in ramming techniques but had a giant weakness when it came to one on one fighting.
The end result was that no navy could topple them. This left Athens untouchable, thanks to
its fortified walls, clever geographic position, and the fleets of boats protecting the harbor.
1. The Great Wall The Great Wall of China is
one of the greatest military defense systems ever built. The wall extends for hundreds of miles,
has beacon towers and narrow passes, and it survived countless battles, with many parts
still standing to this very day. And while a lot of people know what the Great Wall is, they don't
actually know what it was used for specifically. The original purpose of the Great Wall was to
protect the Han Chinese living in central China from invasion. Specifically, invasions from the
Huns, the Turks, and the Khitan. And here's what's truly fascinating about the Great Wall of China.
It's not about the clever revelation of using sticky rice to make more stable mortar for the
wall. It wasn't about having the wall manned with the right number of soldiers to deter
possible attacks. It was all about making an unbreakable wall, the first in the world that
had a major impact on one specific culture. When the Huns and Turks invaded other
civilizations, none of those attacks were done to the ancient Chinese People.
China’s potential enemies massacred thousands of people, burned down countless villages and
settlements, but it was always to the west, in the lands of Persia, what is now Russia,
and into Europe. They were never able to go south into China because there was a giant wall
preventing them from making any progress. The wall allowed the ancient Chinese civilization
to make steady progress without the threat of invaders. They had their own internal problems,
but made continual advances as a society all because they had a wall stopping angry Huns
from coming in and attacking their towns. Which ancient society do you think had the
most sophisticated defense tactics? Let me know what you think in the comments and be sure to hit
subscribe! Thanks for watching and I’ll see you again soon for another video on ancient history!