What were some significant military advancements in medieval and ancient China?

solarz

Brigadier
Time period: the founding of Qin dynasty (221 BC) to the First Opium War (1839).

The most well known ones are probably advancement in cannons, and the use of rifles. I'm looking for advancements aside from those.

I know that both Song and Ming deployed a variety of firearms, but they were not really game-changers and were mostly used as support for the traditional infantry-cavalry combo. For example, though the Ming deployed firearms, they never fielded entire armies of riflemen like in the Napoleonic wars.

I am looking for technological advancements that had a profound impact on the way China conducted war. For example, the invention of stirrups, or the widespread use of steel weapons. I'm not sure when either of those advancements happened.

Any other examples?
 

delft

Brigadier
I understand stirrups were invented in China and introduced in Europe several centuries later, around AD 700 iirc.
I think rifled guns were inspired by arrows that rotated due to inclined tail feathers. They were first used in Europe in the 16-th century for hunting and only were used in war during the 18-th century when hunters ( in German Jaegers ) were used, for example by the British King, who also was Duke of Hannover, against the revolting colonists in North America. I never heard of rifles in China at an early age.

This is an interesting topic and I hope there are many contributions to come.
 

getready

Senior Member
Yep the introduction of stirrups is a big one. And plenty more, which eurocentric historians dun usually mention, I remember reading in chinhistoryforum.com that I had forgot now.

In the age of fragmentation period, warfare was pretty brutal. There were several new kinds of warfare not seen before elsewhere in the world iirc
 

Kurt

Junior Member
China was not outstanding in individual firearms and guns after their initial boost, but they did have a number of interesting own developments.

11th_century_basketry_fire_arrow_rocket_launcher.jpgMulti-Barrel-Gun.jpg
The rocket launcher
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was a technology the French might have liked to copy during the 100 Years War against the nasty English archers. The European counterpart was a more expensive and unwieldly system with multiple barrels.
It was part of a wider Chinese development of fixing rocket engines on arrows and crossbow bolts. Shooting a rocket engine powered projectile from a crossbow gave good range, accuracy and penetration. The Chinese rocket engines for these devices were likely very cheap with rapidly burning explosive powder, more like a jumping cracker than a conventional rocket. This Chinese development was a dead end and not as much energy was invested into gun barrel based technologies like pistols for reiters (that developed in Europe out of mounted crossbowmen).
The biggest overall obstacle for Chinese development was the canceling of the Treasure Fleets due to political reasons. Behind that stood a perception of the world as Sino-centric that made it hard to integrate outside input of systems and ideas. While the rest of the world integrated Chinese input, for the Chinese there didn't seem much to learn from the barbarians or explore barbaric lands for trade. In technological terms, the Treasure fleet was an outstanding achievement of ship size in comparison to the Portuguese ships. That makes the Portuguese voyages more outstanding seamanship than the Chinese travels. Especially the watertight bulkheads were Chinese contribution now copied worldwide. The German High Seas Fleet reintroduced that invention with great success on their warships, giving them an edge over the Royal Navy in surviveability.
Another great Chinese development is the rapid firing crossbow, a very effective tool for police action, introducing rapid shooting non-lethal ranged weapons.
treasure_fleet_1.jpg03_bulkhead.jpgrapid-fire-crossbow.jpg
 
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solarz

Brigadier
China was not outstanding in individual firearms and guns after their initial boost, but they did have a number of interesting own developments.

View attachment 8560View attachment 8561
The rocket launcher
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
was a technology the French might have liked to copy during the 100 Years War against the nasty English archers. The European counterpart was a more expensive and unwieldly system with multiple barrels.
It was part of a wider Chinese development of fixing rocket engines on arrows and crossbow bolts. Shooting a rocket engine powered projectile from a crossbow gave good range, accuracy and penetration. The Chinese rocket engines for these devices were likely very cheap with rapidly burning explosive powder, more like a jumping cracker than a conventional rocket. This Chinese development was a dead end and not as much energy was invested into gun barrel based technologies like pistols for reiters (that developed in Europe out of mounted crossbowmen).

The rocket arrows are a good example of an invention that was not much of a game changer. Sure it added some range and penetration power, but it was also unwieldy and more expensive.
 

rhino123

Pencil Pusher
VIP Professional
Not sure where it came from, some say it was invented by the Chinese, others thinks otherwise... but in my opinion, the crossbows are one of the greatest military invention of ancient time. The Qin uses their crossbows ranks to great effects and the design of the crossbow allowed the soldiers to shoot more accurately, can hold on to a position for a longer period of time and every farmer and semi-trained conscripts could use it to great effect unlike traditional archery which needed more training.
 

siegecrossbow

General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Time period: the founding of Qin dynasty (221 BC) to the First Opium War (1839).

The most well known ones are probably advancement in cannons, and the use of rifles. I'm looking for advancements aside from those.

I know that both Song and Ming deployed a variety of firearms, but they were not really game-changers and were mostly used as support for the traditional infantry-cavalry combo. For example, though the Ming deployed firearms, they never fielded entire armies of riflemen like in the Napoleonic wars.

I am looking for technological advancements that had a profound impact on the way China conducted war. For example, the invention of stirrups, or the widespread use of steel weapons. I'm not sure when either of those advancements happened.

Any other examples?

I think you mistake rifles for handcannons since rifles require, you know, rifling? It was an European innovation designed to keep the powder and charge in but the gunsmith figured out that it also stabilized the projectile during flight.
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
That happened with the advent of the Mini ball, the conical shaped bullet, developed by the French. It increased range accuracy and when partnered with smokeless powder and eventually the self contained cartridge would prove the basis for all modern military fire arms.

might I make a suggestion?
the American national anthem might in this case offer a technology pertinent to the thread, and I quote " by the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air. Gave proof though the night that the flag was still there..." the rockets illuminating the flag were English copies of a Indian design captured from the raj. The Indians took the technology from the Chinese.
 
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solarz

Brigadier
I think you mistake rifles for handcannons since rifles require, you know, rifling? It was an European innovation designed to keep the powder and charge in but the gunsmith figured out that it also stabilized the projectile during flight.

Hence why I said they never fielded armies of riflemen. I was making the dual point that Ming firearms were not as effective as rifles or muskets and they were never used on a large scale.
 

rhino123

Pencil Pusher
VIP Professional
Don't think it make too big an impact in Chinese ancient warfare. But the Chinese did created something pretty interesting at that era.

Multi-stage rockets - 火龍出水 (Fire Dragon out of the Water).

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[video=youtube;nrdbYD8Acdg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrdbYD8Acdg [/video] (go to 1.52 minute)

W020080408393655656624.jpg


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Actually if the Chinese continued to do research and development of these type of weapons and make used of them in vast numbers, we might be seeing game changers in those time.
 
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