Great Wall of China

series of fortifications built along the historical border of China

11 dated entries naming Great Wall of China, drawn from 11 separate years between 256 BCE and 1644 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

Also written as Great Wall, The Great Wall of China in the source articles; Wikipedia redirects those to the same subject, so their entries are on this page.

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3rd century BC

256 BCEThe Great Wall of China construction starts.source
220 BCEQin Shi Huang begins a system of tree-lined roads to interconnect all parts of China, and begins to join regional walls to form the beginnings of the Great Wall (Wan li chang cheng).source
209 BCEModun khaan inherits Teoman's Hunnu confederations and founds the Xiongnu Empire in Mongolia proper. Modu's forces push into Northern China, threatening the Qin Empire and forcing them to further fortify the Great Wall.source

2nd century BC

195 BCEFacing the suspicion of Emperor Gaozu of Han, Lu Wan, the king of the State of Yan, flees north of the Great Wall of China.source

1st century BC

99 BCEAutumn – The Han general Li Ling leads 5000 crack infantry and a cavalry force from Juyan Lake into the eastern Altay Mountains but is pursued by Qiedihou Chanyu. After a desperate fighting retreat across more than 500km of Xiongnu territory, the Han expedition runs out of arrows. Li Ling surrenders and his force disintegrates in the Tihan Mountains, about 50km from the Great Wall of China.source

2nd century

195In China, the Xiongnu federation crosses the Great Wall and establishes itself in Shanxi Province.source

6th century

594Emperor Wéndi repairs and expands sections of the Great Wall in the north-west, which is undertaken by using forced labour. During the years, thousands of civilians are killed.source

13th century

1211Spring – Genghis Khan summons his Mongol chieftains, and prepares to wage war against the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in northern China. He advances across the Gobi Desert with a massive army of 100,000 warriors with 300,000 horses, strung out in perhaps 10–20 groups of 5,000–10,000 men each, each with camel-drawn carts, and all linked by fast-moving messengers. Meanwhile, the Jin Government mobilizes an army of 800,000 men, most of which are untrained peasants with low morale, and some 150,000 highly-trained cavalry. This vast army, however, is spread across the Great Wall, and garrisoned separate fortresses.source

14th century

1368January 23 – Zhu Yuanzhang establishes the Ming dynasty with himself as the Emperor Hongwu. The new dynasty will last until 1644. The Emperor immediately orders every county magistrate to set up four granaries, and halts government taxation on books. Work begins later year on restoring the surviving Great Wall of China.source

16th century

1550October 16 – Altan Khan crosses the Great Wall of China and besieges Beijing, burning the suburbs.source

17th century

1644May 25 – Ming general Wu Sangui forms an alliance with the invading Manchus and opens the gates of the Great Wall of China at Shanhaiguan Pass, letting the Manchus through towards the capital Beijing.source