Terror

|A. Built in 1961 to prevent East German citizens crossing to the West, the Berlin |B. Stretching for several thousand kilometres from the east coast of the country to|
|Wall initially consistedmainly of barbed wire and armed guards. Within months a |the Gobi Desert, the Great Wall of China is said to be the only man-made structure |
|concrete wall began to appear, to be replaced on threeseparate occasions by ever |visible from outer space. The oldest section was begun in 221 BC, using soldiers |
|more sophisticated versions, increasingly resistant to breakthroughs. On the east|and local people, as well as intellectuals who had been sentenced to forced labor |
|side of the wall, tank traps and ditches were built as protection against attack, |under repressive Qindynasty. Not surprisingly, the layers of compacted earth used |
|and as a further deterrent to would-be escapees. |to construct the wall soon began to crumble, and itwas left to the later Han |
|Although over 170 people lost their lives in Berlin trying to flee to the West, |dynasty to restore and add to it.|
|human will and ingenuity often prevailed, with a number of successful escape |By now the wall had evolved from a mere defence system for keeping out marauding |
|attempts via tunnelsand, on one occasion, in a home-made hot air balloon. The |tribes into a safe haven where trade could flourish, and bustling market towns |
|107-kilometre-long structure lost its relevance in1989, when Hungary allowed East |sprang up at the many busy gates. But the ornate and imposing structure with which |
|Germans to pass through their country on their way to Austria and West Germany,and|we are familiar from photographs was not added until the fourteenth century by |
|after travel restrictions were lifted, people began to demolish whole sections of |Ming, using advanced...