Moscow and the Ming: A Comparison of Strategic Wall-Building in 16th and 17th-Century Russia and China

This article examines the strategic wall-building policies of two post-Mongol imperial formations: Moscow (c. 1400 to 1700) and the Ming (1368 to 1644). It argues that the Mongols left behind a steppe frontier that was dangerous and difficult to control and, faced with similar geopolitical circumstances, both Russia and China erected walls and defensive fortifications along those frontiers. These walls served similar functions in defending the capital region from nomadic raids, protecting agricultural lands and pastures, controlling interactions with the nomads, and stopping taxpayer flight. However, evolving geopolitical and climate conditions caused Moscow’s policies to begin diverging from the Ming’s. Whereas the Ming continued to utilise their walls for static defence, the Russians turned wall-building into a tool for aggressive expansion and colonisation of the steppes.