Historydraft LogoHistorydraft Logo
Historydraft
beta
Historydraft Logo
Historydraft
beta

Great Wall of China

The end of the Ming

1644
Liaodong, China

Towards the end of the Ming, the Great Wall helped defend the empire against the Manchu invasions that began around 1600. Even after the loss of all of Liaodong, the Ming army held the heavily fortified Shanhai Pass, preventing the Manchus from conquering the Chinese heartland. The Manchus were finally able to cross the Great Wall in 1644, after Beijing had already fallen to Li Zicheng's rebels.


<