The Barricade Still Stands

In medieval history, due to nobility and social status, conquering other races of people made nations appear stronger and even invincible. The fastest and strongest race had to remain pure in order to continue being the best. To protect themselves from sieges of “lesser” races, it only makes sense to build a barricade. For some kingdoms walls did the job, but if the walls were not properly defended, the nations were up for grabs. In today’s society, there is not a lot of conquering happening, and most countries are on equal ground with each other. However, if crime is pouring in from another country, a wall can still be beneficial. While its usefulness has shifted, walls are still used to protect countries from perceived danger.

In The History of the Kings of Britain, the Romans command the Britons to build a wall stretching across the width of the country. They comply with these orders, hoping the wall will protect them from invading Picts, Scots, and other people considered to be barbaric, lesser races. This wall was called Hadrian’s Wall, named after the reigning emperor of Rome at the time. After the wall was completed, the Romans grew weary of Britain, and pulled out of the country. None of the Britons knew how to fight, and people, who did not know how to properly defend it, manned the wall.

Hadrian's Wall

Similarly in HBO’s Game Of Thrones, an enormous wall of ice separates the country of Westeros from the mythical inhabitants beyond. According to the lore presented in the show, the wall was originally built thousands of years ago in order to prevent an invasion of the White Walkers. An order called the Night’s Watch was created to guard the wall. While the White Walkers’ army of the dead and other crazy magical beings live beyond the Wall, multiple tribes of people also live in this icy world. The Wall came up and they happened to be on the wrong side. These people, known as Wildlings, are branded as enemies and are believed to be an uncivilized race of people. As viewers spend more time watching these people, they see that they are as civilized as many of the people in Westeros. They just don’t live in castles.

It's 700ft tall and 300 miles wide, in case you're curious.

In Westeros, no one, except the Night’s Watch, believe there is a threat looming. Instead of sending well-trained soldiers to the Wall, the Lords of Westeros send criminals to the Wall as punishment. Only a small number of people in The Watch have any sort of training. While the Romans completely pull out of Briton, leading to an invasion, the Rulers of Westeros remain in the country but grow careless and neglectful of the Wall. 

Walls in today’s society are not built to stop sieges. Instead, they are built to prevent crime. While walls do not always put a halt to invasions, they have been proven to lower crime rates. During the 2000s, the Israeli government built a wall known as the Israeli West Bank Barrier. This barrier was constructed because of the large amount of suicide bombers coming in from Palestine. Between 2000 and 2003, 72 suicide bomber attacks occurred in that area, killing 293 Israelis and injuring nearly 2,000. As the wall continued to grow in size, the number of attacks decreased significantly. After its completion, the number of attacks is now almost non-existent on the west bank, but the wall is causing several problems for Palestinians. The wall cuts through Palestinian lands and is causing economic and health care problems for many people.

Israeli West Bank Barrier

Recently, while debating and campaigning for a spot on the ballot for president, many of those running, Donald Trump specifically, have brought up building a wall on the Mexico border. With illegal immigration being a growing problem in the United States, it is an idea worth looking into. Since it is undecided if this wall will be built or not, it's not possible to know whether it would help in this case. However, it cannot be denied that, walls, though an imperfect defense, have proven to be useful in multiple mediums.