Broke down ? Bwahaha...go back and slap your History teacher upside the head ! President Reagan pressured Gorbachev to Tear down the wall after we won the Cold War , so East and West Berlin could be reunited , but until then it worked for 40 years ! The Great Wall of China Stopped the raids and invasions of the various nomadic groups of the Eurasian Steppe. Other purposes of the Great Wall have included border controls, allowing the imposition of duties on goods transported along the Silk Road, regulation or encouragement of trade and the control of immigration and emigration. It has lasted over 400 years !