What if the Roman Empire, throughout its history, built a great wall like the Chinese EMpire did throughout its history. AFAIK, the actual Great Wall that we know of today is a product of the Ming Dynasty, but it was built on top of and added to pre-existing walls that had been worked on by previous dynstaies, as early as the Ch'in. What if the Romans did something similar - perhaps initially they would build temporary fortification as their boundaries expanded and their borders moved futher out, but eventually these may become more solidified and at the point when the Romans are no longer pushing the empire but trying to maintain it, they move on to actually linking them up into a single contiguous line.
Hadrian did this in the British Isles - don't know how well it worked.
WHat effect would the Great Wall of Roma (or in later times, the Great Wall of Europa) have on Roman history and later European history? Where would be the most geographically feasible and advantageous place for the Romans to have done this? When would be the best time for these things to be implemented?
I would suspect that no wall is ever going to work forever, so eventually the Roman EMpire will fall, but perhaps the actual timetable may be changed. Or the partitioning of the empire (East v West) may be effected? What about for later European countries, where some will be inside or outside the walls, some will have the wall running through them and into neighboring nations - will the walls be cannibalized too much and be too decrepit to have much affect? What about the culturual and psychological impact such a wall will have on the Europeans?
Hadrian did this in the British Isles - don't know how well it worked.
WHat effect would the Great Wall of Roma (or in later times, the Great Wall of Europa) have on Roman history and later European history? Where would be the most geographically feasible and advantageous place for the Romans to have done this? When would be the best time for these things to be implemented?
I would suspect that no wall is ever going to work forever, so eventually the Roman EMpire will fall, but perhaps the actual timetable may be changed. Or the partitioning of the empire (East v West) may be effected? What about for later European countries, where some will be inside or outside the walls, some will have the wall running through them and into neighboring nations - will the walls be cannibalized too much and be too decrepit to have much affect? What about the culturual and psychological impact such a wall will have on the Europeans?