A defense line or fortification line is a geographically recognizable line of troops and armament, fortified and set up to protect a high-value location or defend territory.
A defense line may be based on natural difficult terrain features, such as rivers or marshes, mountain ranges, or coastlines; temporary field fortification works such as trenches; and/or more permanent fortifications such as fortresses and bunkers.
List of defense lines
Some notable defense lines include:
Historical
- Great Wall of China, China
- Sassanian defense lines
- Great Wall of Gorgan, Persia
- Derbent Walls
- Defense lines of the Netherlands
- Median Wall (before 401 BC)
- Limes Germanicus, Germany
- Hadrian's Wall, United Kingdom (122)
- Antonine Wall, United Kingdom (142)
- Offa's Dyke, Wales (early 5th century)
- The Pale, Ireland (late 12th century)
- Serpent's Wall, Ukraine
- The Zasechnaya cherta (Russian: Засечная черта)) on the southern and eastern borders of the Tsardom of Russia
- Western Russian fortresses, Russia
- Civil War Defenses of Washington, United States
- Victoria Lines, Malta (1875)
- Hindenburg Line, France (1916)
- Maginot Line, France (1929)
- Schuster Line, Luxembourg
- Metaxas Line, Greece (1936-1941)
- Siegfried Line, Germany
- Mannerheim Line, Finland (1939–1940)
- K-W Line, Belgium (1939)
- Salpa Line, Finland (1940)
- Gothic Line, Italy
- Winter Line (Gustav, Bernhardt and Hitler Lines), Italy (1943-1944)
- Panther–Wotan line, Russia (1943)
- Pusan Perimeter, South Korea (1950)
- McNamara Line, South Vietnam (1966)
- Bar Lev Line, Sinai Peninsula (1973)
Modern
- Russia–Ukraine barrier, Ukraine
- Wagner Line, Ukraine
- Muhamalai FDL, Sri Lanka
- Nagarcoil FDL, Sri Lanka
- Baltic Defence Line, Baltic states
Notes
References
