One of the oldest walls still standing today the Walls Of Troy was built in the 13th century BC to protect the legendary city of Troy. This wall withstood the famous 10 year siege of Troy.
The Great Wall Of China, China built in the 14th century and protected the northern borders of the Chinese Empire from the attack of nomadic tribes. This amazing construction stretches for 8,850 kilometers and is the the only man made structure visible from space with the naked eye.
The Walls of Ston in Croatia were built in the 15th century, they connected two cities and stretched over a length of 5.5 km. It was built as a defensive wall for the city of Dubrovnik and contained 40 towers and 5 fortresses. This is the second largest wall in Europe.
The longest wall in Europe is Hadrian’s Wall. Built by the Romans to protect their colony Britannia from the tribes of Scotland. It stretches for 117 km across the land from shore to shore.
The Western Wall in Jerusalem, also known as the Wailing Wall is a famous Jewish religious site. The wall dates from the end of the Second Temple period, being constructed around 19 BC by Herod the Great. The wall was the western wall of the temple. In Judaism, the Western Wall is venerated as the sole remnant of the Holy Temple, making it the holiest place for Jewish people and one of the most visited attraction in Israel.
Ancient Babylon in Mesopotamia, situated about 85 km south of Baghdad was surrounded by the famous Walls of Babylon. Their origins reach back to 575 BC and the Ishtar Gate was considered as one of the world wonders of the ancient world due to its grandeur and architecture
Finally, the Berlin Wall, Germany. This wall was built much later than the previously mentioned ones, but remains just as much famous. I find that most people believe that the wall was constructed directly after the end of World War II; however, constructed didn’t start until 15 years later. It’s true that Berlin was a divided city where the Soviet Union controlled the land around the city, but not the city itself. The wall was part of the Cold War in which the two remaining super powers of the United States and the Soviet Union would engage in a series of proxy wars to spread their political belief structure in Capitalism or Communism.
By 1949 NATO was founded, formally splitting Germany into West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany) and East Germany (German Democratic Republic). The People’s Republic of China was formed and replaced the Republic of China (who retreated to Taiwan and remain there to this day) and alligned with the Soviets. In 1953 Nikita Khrushchev took power, creating the Warsaw Pact among the eastern bloc, providing strength to the Soviet Union.
Most of the 1950s in the United States was spent under the Red Scare and McCarthy’s Witch Hunt Trials were he attempted to rid the US of any communist sympathizers. This was a decade of muscle flexing with the two superpowers each showing off their military might, which would lead into the 60’s where race was changed and focused upon space. The Soviets put the satelite into space and followed three years later by launching the first man into space. In response the United States put the first man on the moon six years later.
It wasn’t until 1961 that the East German government convinced by the Soviet Union to build the Berlin Wall. It was built in the middle of the city to stop East Berliners from escaping to the more prosperous west.
And there it stood for nearly three decades. It divided commerce, friends, and family members.
In all, at least 171 people were killed trying to get over, under or around the Berlin Wall. Escape from East Germany was not impossible, however: From 1961 until the wall came down in 1989, more than 5,000 East Germans managed to cross the border by jumping out of windows adjacent to the wall, climbing over the barbed wire, flying in hot air balloons, crawling through the sewers and driving through unfortified parts of the wall at high speeds.
It was finally taken down with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989. The reunification of East and West Germany was made official on October 3, 1990, almost one year after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
This week marks the 25th anniversary of the wall coming down. Remnants can still be found today in Berlin and are one of the biggest tourists attractions.
My challenge to business owners is to consider the walls that they put around their employees. From cubicles to micromanagement there are thousands of things that businesses do to control their people. What would happen if you removed some of the walls and gave your employees a little more freedom? A lot of the rules that we have created in businesses are there for mistakes that happened in the past. They were put in place, but were never scheduled to be re-evaluated. The result is that business are left with a lot of cruft. With technology has come a lot of advances in how we can do business and providing employees with a lot of freedoms.
It’s time to tear down walls.