A two-part study of the dynamic response to horizontal base shaking of vertical, rigid and flexible walls retaining a uniform soil stratum is presented. The first part deals with available pseudostatic, limit-state methods of analysis; specifically, the Mononobe-Okabe method and its extension by Richards and Elms. Following a detailed review of these methods and of their underlying assumptions, comprehensive numerical data are presented that elucidate the effects and relative importance of the various parameters involved. Next, the design provisions for such systems recommended in different building codes are reviewed, and their interrelationship is discussed. Both unyielding and yielding walls are examined. In the second part of the study, the different experimental programs on retaining walls that have been carried out over the years are reviewed, and the results obtained for selected tests on walls with a non-deflecting base are compared with appropriate theoretical predictions. The agreement between the experimental results and analytical solutions that do provide for the flexibility of the wall is found to be reasonable.