1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910958199203321

Autore

Sterling Brent L

Titolo

Do good fences make good neighbors? : what history teaches us about strategic barriers and international security / / Brent L. Sterling

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Washington, D.C., : Georgetown University Press, c2009

ISBN

9781589017276

1589017277

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (369 p.)

Disciplina

355/.033

Soggetti

Fortification - History

National security - History

Security, International

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

"In cooperation with the Center for Peace and Security Studies, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University."

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction -- Athens' long walls: lifelines to the sea -- Hadrian's wall: Rome's foremost frontier fortification -- The Ming Great Wall of China: a dynasty's unending pursuit of security -- The Pre Carre: fortifying France's northeastern frontier -- The Maginot line: France's great folly or reasoned response to the German threat -- The Bar-Lev line: citadels in the sand -- Conclusion: lessons learned about the use and abuse of strategic defenses.

Sommario/riassunto

A number of nations, conspicuously Israel and the United States, have been increasingly attracted to the use of strategic barriers to promote national defense. In Do Good Fences Make Good Neighbors?, defense analyst Brent Sterling examines the historical use of strategic defenses such as walls or fortifications to evaluate their effectiveness and consider their implications for modern security.Sterling studies six famous defenses spanning 2,500 years, representing both democratic and authoritarian regimes: the Long Walls of Athens, Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain, the Ming Great Wall of China,