The Great Wall was constructed thousands of years ago. It was built over a span of 2,000 years and measures to be over 5,400 miles long. Over the 2,000 years of its construction, many dynasties would help construct it. Some of them were the Qin and Han dynasties. The wall would act as a barrier to help keep enemy’s out. The benefits of the Great Wall did not outweigh the costs. The reason being the amount of deaths and ineffectiveness to keep people out.
During the construction of the wall many soldiers died and suffered. Both the Qin suffered during the construction. The soldiers suffered: “According to the poverty legend tens of thousands of soldiers died from hunger, sickness, and extreme cold or heat” (Document E) Many people were taken from their families and were forced to work on the wall. The horrible conditions there caused them to suffer. They would never return home to their families. Not only did the Qin soldiers suffer, the Han soldiers did as well. There was heavy fighting against the Xiongnu:”One campaign in 104 BCE reported 80 percent Han casualties”. (Document E) More than 80 percent of the Han
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Despite the many gifts of silk the Xiongnu still continued to want more and they continued to attack. In 51 BCE the Han were giving the Xiongnu 8,000 bales of silk. By 1 BCE the Han were giving the Xiongnu 30,000 bales. (Document C) The Hans efforts were clearly not working. All this did was cause the Han to give up precious silk . After the Hans efforts to keep the Xiongnu out with silk they decided to do something else: “He extended the wall three hundred miles” (Document D) Since the Xiongnu were still coming over the wall the Han decided to expand the wall. The Xiongnu kept coming. No matter what Han did, the Xiongnu just couldn't be kept out. Overall the wall was not very good at keeping the Xiongnu out. Even after the Han gave them silk and expanded the