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Since ancient times, war is an inevitable thing, whether it is in ancient China or in ancient European countries, wars are frequent, so according to historical records, when it comes to the scale of wars, the scale of wars in ancient China is far more than that of European countries in the same period, is this true? Or is it a bit of a boast in the history books? Today, let's analyze the reality of this situation in detail.
The organizational form of Chinese society is very different from that of European countries.
In ancient China, since the Qin Dynasty, it has basically been in the era of great unification, even if there have been many dynasties in the middle, but they are basically in a unified state, there may be some foreign tribes like the Xiongnu and the Turks, and there will often be a lot of wars with the Central Plains, but the number is relatively small.
But Europe is different, since the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe has been in a state of chaos, there is no unified **, various forces are fighting endlessly, in addition to many pirates, bringing great turmoil to the society, which is also the reason why there were many wars in ancient Europe.
China's scale is still very large.
If you want to say that China's relatively large war has to talk about many battles in the Three Kingdoms period, such as the Battle of Guandu, the battle of Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, Yuan Shao's troops had 700,000 troops at that time, it is said that the front army at that time has arrived at the battlefield, and the rear army has not yet left its own door, but in the end, Yuan Shao's 700,000 army has not beaten Cao Cao's army of 70,000, and the later Chibi War is also like this, the scale is extremely huge.
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According to historical records, the scale of warfare in ancient China far exceeded that of Europe in the same period, which is a fact and not a bragging. After the unification of China in the Qin Dynasty, it was still in a unified state for a long time, and the military strength of the imperial court was naturally the most powerful. In Europe, the local forces are evenly matched, fighting each other, coupled with piracy, the aristocracy and the manors only care about self-preservation, their own strength is not strong, and the resources that can be mobilized cannot be mobilized, so there is a gap with China.
After the Han Dynasty, China established the imperial examination and establishment system, and the local nobles could mobilize local social resources through these nobles in order to enter the political system. The reason why the imperial court can have more social resources to mobilize is also because the world is relatively peaceful, and the stable social environment and more and more perfect system provide the prerequisites for social and economic development. Although the common people will still be oppressed, the overall economy is still relatively developed.
With a developed economy, there will naturally be more resources to mobilize.
In addition, the statistical caliber also has a certain relationship. The Yellow Turbans were outcasts, and although they did not have professional military training, they were still counted in the total number of battles. Before the Song Dynasty, these Yellow Turban troops were ready and needed to participate in the war when the war was necessary.
At the same time,The power of logistics is also inseparable from the scale of the war. China has the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, so the water transportation is relatively convenient, which allows the logistics to provide supplies in a timely manner, ensuring the military needs of the front-line army.
To sum up, we can see that,The scale of warfare in ancient times was influenced by many factors. In history, there are often records of a war involving hundreds of thousands of people. These may be the result of a combination of mobilized social resources, statistical caliber and logistical capabilities.
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In terms of the scale of the war, why ancient China far surpassed Europe in the same period, this is true, because ancient China has achieved unification since the Qin Dynasty, with a large land area and a large population, even if the data in Chinese history books are exaggerated, but the number of people who joined the army is indeed very large, and ancient Europe was not unified, plus the population was small, the scale of the war was small.
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Not to brag, because we are one of the cradles of ancient civilizations, there are a lot of people, but they are not unified, so there will be a lot of wars.
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There is no bragging in the history books, the military forces in ancient China were in a large-scale state, and the military was well-trained, while the European countries of the same period were in chaos and fighting, and China was still fine.
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Ancient China had not yet been unified, wars were frequent and large-scale, and the Yellow River and Yangtze River provided reserve resources between the north and the south, so the battle line could be stretched very long and wide.
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History books are written by victors, and the scale of the number of people on the battlefield in ancient times was not at all as accurate as it is now, and there will be some exaggeration, and the specifics are unknown.
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History is written by the victors, and historical records are sometimes inaccurate, so the scale of warfare in ancient China is unknown.
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There shouldn't be, but the information in ancient times was not as developed as in modern times, and it is possible that the situation of the other party is not clear.
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How do history books brag? At that time, transportation was inconvenient, and historians only wrote their own history, would they still go to see the history books of Europe?
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Historically, the scale of China's wars far exceeded that of Europe in the same period because of the centralized physique of various dynasties and the development of agricultural scale, the former could effectively gather the army, and the latter could ensure that the army had continuous combat capability.
China is a traditional agricultural country, and the agricultural daze represents the strength of military logistics capabilities, soldiers combat production purely consumes food, if the food reserves are insufficient, can not support the war at all, so there was no professional army in the period before the week, they were all temporary conscription, and were dismissed after the war. In the Spring and Autumn Period, a chariot of 2-3 people, the total strength of about 20,000-30,000, this is the power of the country, this is due to the limited productivity, can not prevent the large-scale army caused, at the same time Europe in the ancient Roman period, the city-state system, a city-state army of 3,000 people is considered a big city, at that time as strong as Sparta dispatched 300 people can also be counted as a campaign, this is agricultural production limited the expansion of the number of troops.
In the Warring States Period, the vassal states were annexed, the great powers were tilted against each other, and Qin unified the world to establish the most centralized power, and the scale of the war at this time became larger, and the importance of food production was greater. Qin State through a series of water conservancy facilities to increase production, domestic special legislation to manage grain production, including not an acre of how many seeds, plant spacing, etc. have fixed requirements, the construction of gallop roads, wartime can be a steady stream of food to the front line, this can support the army to fight abroad, the battle of Qin and Zhao both sides of the army sent 800,000 troops, the late war Zhao State has been unable to ** grain and grass, can only defeat without a fight.
Since the Qin Dynasty, the Chinese Dynasty has no restrictions on vassal states, the ability to mobilize for war is extremely strong, through the centralization of power, you can quickly achieve resource allocation, quickly raise troops, this is the role of centralization, and China's territory is vast, abundant products, grain reserves can support large-scale operations. However, when the imperial court weakened, the ability to allocate local resources weakened, and it was no longer possible to organize large-scale legions.
Europe rarely appears in the same period, and the country has been a lord for a long time, the country's mobilization capacity for war is insufficient, and the distribution of resources leads to the inability to support large-scale operations, which is about equivalent to the Spring and Autumn Period in China, and Europe's agricultural production has been lagging behind China's, so for a long period of history, the size of the European army in the same period is far inferior to ours. After the Industrial Revolution, the productivity of Europe increased substantially, and the scale of World War I and World War II was very grand, which is the confidence brought by national control and national productivity.
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In terms of the scale of war, ancient China far surpassed Europe in the same period because the scale of war and strategic plan in ancient China were very wise.
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That's because in ancient China, there were actually many scattered countries, and wars often broke out between them, and wars were also very cruel.
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Because many dynasties at that time were unified in the system, they were all deployed by the emperor, and China's territory was large and the population was large, so the scale would be relatively larger.
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The main reason is that the countries in Europe are too small, and the battles between countries usually take place in the scale of tens of thousands, while in China during the same period, any rebellion of any vassal king can pull out the scale of hundreds of thousands.
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The war of the Han Dynasty of China against the Xiongnu, and the Mongol iron cavalry of the Yuan Dynasty fought directly to Europe. The impact on Europe is the greatest. Some countries in Asia, including those founded by the Mongols, were founded by the Mongols.
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The Han Dynasty went to the Western Regions, Genghis Khan went west to Europe, Zheng He of the Ming Dynasty went to the West, and the Qing Dynasty fought back in the Northeast War.
Then there was the Eight-Nation Alliance's war of aggression against China.
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Battle of Diaoyu City: The Mongol army besieged Diaoyu City, but could not conquer it for a long time, and the Mongol Great Khan Meng Ke was killed, resulting in the Mongol king's struggle for power and profit, the western expedition was blocked, and the Mongol conquest of Egypt and North Africa failed.
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Diversity is deep! The complexity of Europe is definitely more complex than the complexity of the change of power in China's five dynasties and ten states. There are many nationalities:
Germanic, Anglo, Jewish ......There are too many nationalities, and there is no such thing as one monopoly. A lot of powerful peoples. There are many disputes:
There are many wars in Europe, and the relationship between interests is complicated, and it is impossible to achieve unity of interests, and only through violent means can integrate them, but no nation can do it.
Rome did the best of the best. But it is not a united Europe in the full sense of the word, but only a part. Even the Holy See, which in the Middle Ages covered the sky with one hand and held the faith of the people, did not dare to speak of a unified Europe, except in terms of faith.
Even the current European Union. In fact, in the eyes of the top leaders of all parties, it is nothing more than an alliance united by economic interests. As long as the fundamentals - the euro, collapse, the EU will disintegrate. The unification of Europe, it is too difficult!
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Cultural diversity. Ethnic pluralism. It's not like China, where the Han people are dominant.
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So: why did ancient China keep fighting? Let's talk about Europe in the light of that.
Note: This question is pure. It's actually quite simple:
The land is large, the things are abundant, and there are many people. .You probably don't know the history of Europe, Europe.
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Pluralism, and no one can conquer other regions without stabilizing the regions they rule, and then reaching unity.
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Europe's culture is too complex and lacks a strong nation.
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In fact, not only in Europe, but also in Asia, there were many wars, most of which were due to conflicts of interest.
War is an activity in which more than one group or organization, due to a question of common interest in rights or interests, cannot reach a reconciliation or equilibrium by normal non-violent means, and has an initial beginning with violent activity and ends with the active or passive incapacity of one or more parties, in which spiritual activity and material consumption or production coexist.
In addition, because it is often politicians rather than military personnel who trigger wars, war is also seen as an extreme political and diplomatic tool.
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Because China is an agrarian nation and takes great unification for granted, its mobilization power is astonishing, and the size of the army that goes to war is huge. Many people in the West are nomadic peoples who have turned into agrarian peoples, and there is no plot of great unification, and Europe in the Middle World is fragmented, so there are not many times when the scale of wars is large.
Since Sun Wu, China has paid great attention to "trickery" to win, that is, it likes strategic deception and tactical surprises; And the West prefers to go head-to-head and crush its opponents with absolute strength.
Chinese are generally tolerant of religion, but do not believe much, so Chinese history rarely waged wars over religious issues, but religious wars are common in Western history.
All dynasties are different, look at the history books for this one.
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