Editing Defensive wall (section)

=== Decline ===
[[Image:Tongji Gate of Nanjing city wall.jpeg|200px|thumb|Multiple barbicans of [[Tongji Gate]], [[Nanjing]]]]

In the wake of city growth and the ensuing change of defensive strategy, focusing more on the defense of [[fort]]s around cities, many city walls were demolished. Also, the invention of gunpowder rendered walls less effective, as siege cannons could then be used to blast through walls, allowing armies to simply march through. Today, the presence of former city fortifications can often only be deduced from the presence of ditches, [[ring road]]s or parks.

Furthermore, some street names hint at the presence of fortifications in times past, for example when words such as "wall" or "glacis" occur.

In the 19th century, less emphasis was placed on preserving the fortifications for the sake of their architectural or historical value{{snd}} on the one hand, complete fortifications were restored ([[Carcassonne]]), on the other hand many structures were demolished in an effort to modernize the cities. One exception to this is the "monument preservation" law by the Bavarian King [[Ludwig I of Bavaria]], which led to the nearly complete preservation of many monuments such as the [[Rothenburg ob der Tauber]], [[Nördlingen]] and [[Dinkelsbühl]]. The countless small fortified towns in the [[Franconia]] region were also preserved as a consequence of this edict.