Interested in the Han Dynasty

**Cachibatches** · 02-20-2007, 06:05 AM

Greetings,

I am an ancient military history nut, and stumbled onto this websight when I found the ROME VERSUS HAN DYSNASTY thread searching for information on the Han armies.

I have been largely unsuccessful in my quest to find detailed accounts of the battles, tactics, weaponary, and formations of the Han. Wikepedia has the names of the battles, and some cursory details. The Chinese repeater crossbow that came out of the era is famous. I have learned that they had steel weapons, and that they used cavalry archers trained like the Hsiong-Nu opponents.

My question: Where can I find good sources for further reading? I would like deatiled accounts of the great battles. I would really love to know about their formations and tactics.

I would appreciate any help.

**BLUEJACKET** · 02-20-2007, 08:52 PM

The best place is your local or university library.

The Han dynasty, after which the members of the ethnic majority in China, the "people of Han," are named, was notable also for its military prowess. The empire expanded westward as far as the rim of the Tarim Basin (in modern Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region), making possible relatively secure caravan traffic across Central Asia to Antioch, Baghdad, and Alexandria. The paths of caravan traffic are often called the "silk route" () because the route was used to export Chinese silk to the Roman Empire. Chinese armies also invaded and annexed parts of northern Vietnam and northern Korea toward the end of the second century B.C. Han control of peripheral regions was generally insecure, however. To ensure peace with non-Chinese local powers, the Han court developed a mutually beneficial "tributary system" (). Non-Chinese states were allowed to remain autonomous in exchange for symbolic acceptance of Han overlordship. Tributary ties were confirmed and strengthened through intermarriages at the ruling level and periodic exchanges of gifts and goods.
After 200 years, Han rule was interrupted briefly (in A.D. 9-24 by Wang Mang or , a reformer), and then restored for another 200 years. The Han rulers, however, were unable to adjust to what centralization had wrought: a growing population, increasing wealth and resultant financial difficulties and rivalries, and ever-more complex political institutions. Riddled with the corruption characteristic of the dynastic cycle, by A.D. 220 the Han empire collapsed. http://www-chaos.umd.edu/history/imperial.html

http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehisto...china/han.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Dynasty

http://www.anu.edu.au/asianstudies/d...y/mil_org.html

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/...nasty+military

**Cachibatches** · 02-21-2007, 05:35 AM

Originally Posted by BLUEJACKET

The best place is your local or university library.

http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehisto...china/han.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Dynasty

http://www.anu.edu.au/asianstudies/d...y/mil_org.html

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/...nasty+military

Thanks BLuejacket! I am going to find these books.

**Ernst** · 03-14-2007, 01:15 AM

These are something wrong with the website.

**szbd** · 03-27-2007, 09:28 PM

I think if you are really serious on this issue, you have to learn Chinese. The best book on ancient Chinese military is Chinese Military History (中国军事通史) by China Academy of Military Science (中国军事科学院)