Constantinople’s Walls—The Strongest Fortress Ever Built

History Unplugged Podcast

History Unplugged

Society & Culture, History

4.2 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 19 September 2017

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

There are many contenders for the strongest fortress in history (Malumat in Iran or the island fortifications of Malta to name a few). But nothing can compare to the Theodosian City Walls of Constantinople. Built in 440 AD, they repelled over a dozen invasions, from Atilla the Hun to the Umayyad Caliphate to the Avars to the Russians. And they allowed Constantinople to develop into one of the richest cities of the ancient world. TO HELP OUT THE SHOW Leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher

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0:00.0	The History of North America podcast is a sweeping historical saga of the United States,
0:09.4	Canada, and Mexico from their deep origins to our present epoch.
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0:27.1	environment, and geography.
0:29.5	I invite you to come along for the ride!
0:59.5	Welcome to the History Unplugged Podcast, the unscripted show that celebrates unsung heroes,
1:14.6	Mythbust's historical lies, and rediscover the forgotten stories that changed our world.
1:21.3	I'm your host, Scott Rank.
1:29.6	Hey everyone, welcome to an in-betweenness odre answer any question that you have about history.
1:34.0	Today's question is, what is the strongest fortress in history?
1:39.3	Fortress is, if you lived in the ancient or medieval world, you needed that to prevent your city from getting sacked,
1:45.7	whether from an invading army, step no mads, barbarians, other people like that.
1:51.8	Let's face it, funding a standing army is expensive.
1:54.9	After the Roman Empire collapsed, nobody was wealthy enough to hold up a standing army outside of wartime.
2:01.3	Means that you have to have pretty good defenses for your most important centers of government,
2:05.9	and commerce, and your state, or empire, or you're just going to get swept over.
2:09.3	You can't accumulate a whole bunch of wealth and not defend it.
2:12.5	Well, there are a lot of different fortresses out there.
2:15.2	One of the first lots I had was Alamut Castle.
2:18.2	Alamut is Persian for Eagles Nest.
2:21.1	And this was a mountain fortress in the Alamut region of the South Caspian province,
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