Successive dynasties have fought very frequently, how to deal with the remains of soldiers who died

The corpses that died in the war were generally disposed of by the victorious side, some would be eaten by some primitive tribesmen, and some would be made into various frightening specimens to frighten the enemy, and the most common way to deal with them was to dig a large pit in the field and bury the corpses.

After the battle, the battlefield is cleared, and the corpses of soldiers are usually buried nearby, and if there are relics on the deceased, they are brought back to his family.

The bodies of soldiers killed in battle were very easy to deal with, and they were basically buried by the victorious side, digging a big pit and burying them directly.

Soldiers who died in battle were basically filled in the pits or burned in a fire. In ancient times, many mass graves were used to bury corpses.

Although wars were frequent in ancient times, the two sides were also relatively humane. After the war, soldiers from both sides were allowed to haul away the bodies, and most chose to bury them on the spot.

When they die, they are buried on the spot, because after they die, there is no one to collect their bodies, so they are buried on the spot. Give a little allowance to the soldiers' families.

In ancient times, most of the wars were in the era of cold weapons, and the number of soldiers who died in each large-scale war was very considerable, generally speaking, the soldiers who died after the war were buried on the spot, in order to reduce the occurrence of plague, after burying them underground, many problems could be solved.

Usually the victorious side will send someone to clean the battlefield, and then bury the dead soldiers' bodies on the spot, or send someone to clean up.

They would be buried on the spot, as it would be easier to dispose of the corpses of the soldiers.

In the course of the development of human history, what has never been avoided is war, and war brings not only victory, but also death. In a large-scale battle, the number of soldiers who died was as few as thousands, or as many as tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands, and after the battle, how were the bodies of the dead soldiers disposed of?

After the end of the war, the victorious side has the right to decide, and in most cases the victorious side will first clean the battlefield and loot, while collecting the loot, it will also check whether there are any soldiers alive, when they see that their soldiers are still alive, they will be treated, and if they see that the enemy soldiers are still alive, they may mend the sword again. And how to dispose of those corpses, there are often five ways to deal with them.

The first way to deal with it is to fight and collect it, this treatment method is suitable for small-scale wars when there are few people, generally both sides will arrange special personnel responsible for collecting corpses, and those recovered corpses are either buried on the spot or cremated on the spot, and there is a more inhumane one, that is, it is transported back to relatives for disposal.

The second type of collection is the case of the victorious side in which the situation is one-sided and the defeated side is gone, and the victorious side will dig a pit and bury the corpses collectively at the first time, or build them up and burn them, in order to prevent the corpses from decomposing and causing the plague.

The third way is to collect and dispose of them separately, and the victorious side will facilitate the defeat to allow a few people to come to collect the corpses out of humanitarianism, which will also save the victorious side a lot of trouble.

The fourth is left there, where there are many parties involved in the war and there are not for the purpose of occupying territory or there are multiple battlefields, and these corpses can only be left there and eaten by wild beasts, or disposed of by nearby villagers.

The fifth is used as military rations, although this method is more cruel, but it is also a helpless move, and in the case of a shortage of military rations, the corpse can only be turned into military rations. This situation may be more exterminating and inhumane to bear, but it exists historically.

In fact, no matter which of the above ways is not the best, the best is that there is no **, no war.

Generally in ancient times, the two sides went to war, and the scene was very cruel. After all, in the era of cold weapons, everyone stabbed the enemy's body with real knives and guns, and the opponent must be killed in the shortest possible time, otherwise it will be very dangerous for them. But after the war between the two sides is over, the scene will definitely be a mess, so what to do with the corpses of these soldiers?

The ancients were still very particular about integrity, burying the enemy soldiers together or turning them into a **. Of course, this also depends on the dynasty, if it is like the period of the five wildflowers, it may not be realized.

There were so many soldiers who died in wars in ancient times, why didn't archaeology find large-scale bones? The truth is brutal!

As we all know, war was inevitable in ancient times and was a skill that every general had to master. In addition to leading troops well, fighting also pays attention to the right time, place and people. Because the ancient ** is relatively single compared to the present, wisdom and hardware have become the biggest confrontation conditions.

In ancient times, when people fought wars, it was true that they saw blood. Generally speaking, as long as there is a war, there will be a shortage of **. Unless something like surrender without a fight happens, how can we bend the ants without a fight?

As long as there is a war, a large number of soldiers will die on the battlefield. Many soldiers died in battle. Why haven't large-scale bones been found in archaeology? In the vicinity of those famous battles, it was also not found.

In fact, the truth is very cruel. First of all, most of the defeated sides were ** miserable, and they were all defeated. Naturally, they could not return to the place of defeat and drag the corpses of the soldiers back for a good burial.

If the defeated burial party sometimes appears**, after winning the battle, in addition to celebrating and meeting good generals, they will also order people to bring back those soldiers who died on the battlefield, cremate them uniformly, bring the ashes to their families, or dig a pit on the spot to bury them.

If it is buried, and there is no coffin or other preservation, it will naturally be quickly eroded and decayed, and the last bones will also be buried in the dust, which is also very sad.

Some of these corpses will be taken away and a special place to dig a pit and bury them. If it's too late, bury it on the spot, or even leave it alone. Others cremate the bodies or bring them back to their families for burial.

The corpses did not move, they were left there waiting for the wind and the sun to shine, and over time the corpses would be divided and merged into the soil.

There are two fates to these corpses. The first outcome is that the ashes are brought back to their own country by their own generals for burial. The second fate is to be full of bones, to stay on the battlefield, to stay in another country, which is also the sorrow and glory of the soldier.

The corpse, if left untreated for a long time, will decompose, with the potential for the formation of a plague.

Spreading out, or even polluting water sources, is very serious for the people who live around. However, it is very normal for hundreds or even tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people to die on the battlefield. It is very troublesome to dispose of so many corpses.

In ancient armies, there were soldiers who specialized in cleaning the battlefield, and they were responsible for disposing of corpses, and there were generally the following methods:

1.Burial. Ancient China.

Pay attention to "entering the soil for safety", for the dead soldiers, they will dig a big pit directly near the battlefield, throw all the soldiers' corpses into it, and then bury them with soil, which is simple and convenient.

2.Cremate. Burial also requires digging pits, and if there are many corpses, it will take a lot of time.

And cremation is more convenient and trouble-free, and once the fire is burned, it will be a hundred. Cremation appeared relatively early in China, during the Spring and Autumn Period. Sometimes when fighting, both sides are relatively large, and they both walk over the corpses of their own soldiers.

Sometimes, for the sake of convenience, they would send people to cremate the corpses while fighting.

3.Tsukiyo view.

There are many records of pit killing in ancient books, and many people mistakenly think that pit killing is to be buried alive, but in fact, this is not right, it should be Zhujingguan. It is to pile the bodies of the dead together, tamp them with earth, pile them into mounds, and show them off.

4.Corpses in the wild. Sometimes, because it is too late to dispose of the corpses of soldiers killed in battle, they are directly in the wilderness and even eaten by animals.

This is also a more tragic scene, a few people on the battlefield returned, as the poem said: You don't see, the white bones are exposed in the wilderness, there is no rooster crowing for thousands of miles, there is nothing to see when you go out, and the white bones cover the plain.

Maybe many people have said, isn't there a saying called "horse leather shroud"? Of course, each of the fallen soldiers was wrapped in a horse skin and transported back to his hometown for burial. But the only people who can enjoy the treatment of "horse leather shroud" are generally high-ranking generals - and this must have a premise, that is, it must be the winning side.

If you lose the battle, it is up to you what to do with the corpses of the high-ranking generals.

After the war, someone will clean up the battlefield and bury them en masse, probably together.

Generally, the people in the headquarters will be pulled to a place to bury on the spot, and there is a battlefield where no one cleans, so there will only be corpses scattered all over the field.

Nothing will be done to them, they die in **and have been** until they are completely weathered.

Historically, there have been many ways to dispose of the bodies of the war dead in war, and here are some of the usual practices and several special ones.

Ordinary way of burying a corpse:1. Bury the body.

This is the most common practice of the war dead in wars throughout the ages. After the end of the war, the victors or other official and non-governmental organizations buried the war dead separately.

Generally, the victorious war dead will be treated more ceremoniously, and most of the generals and ordinary soldiers can be buried separately. The defeated side of the war generally dug a long pit, threw the corpses together and buried them, some in an orderly manner, some in a disorderly burial, a small number of defeated sides will be buried alone, and erect a monument to show respect for the other side.

Whether it is ancient history or today, most of them have been disposed of in this way.

The excavation map of one of the places where the bones of Zhao Jun were buried in the Battle of Changping has only a thin layer of soil.

2. Cremation(It has only emerged in modern times.)

Cremation of the war dead is a common practice in the Japanese military on a large scale, and its purpose is very simple: the bodies of the dead cannot be brought back to their own country, and they are collectively cremated by cremation, and then packed in jars or ceramic jars, marked with names, and transported back to Japan in a centralized manner.

There is a saying in Japan that the souls of the soldiers and generals who died in the war are basically brought back, but they are nothing more than ashes. The ashes jars, bottles, or other wraps are marked with the number and name of the troops, and they are transported back to Japan and then buried, indicating that they are buried in the ground and that their souls are returning to their hometowns.

3. Disposal of heads, ears, noses, and hands in corpses

In ancient wars, how did the soldiers who fought show their achievements? There are generally several ways, and the opponent's head, ears, nose, and hands become the best way to show military exploits.

Regardless of which side of the war, the heads, ears, hands and other parts of the war dead are usually cut off, and then reported as their own military exploits. The corpses of these war dead will be inspected by officers and soldiers who have specialized military merits, and after basically all the military merits are processed, these human body parts will be disposed of, buried, incinerated, or the heads will be delivered to the king or ** who needs to be examined.

For example, in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, after Guan Yu was beheaded, he was sent by Sun Quan to Cao Cao's place for inspection. Sometimes, in order to show off their martial prowess, some monarchs would display the heads of soldiers killed in battle, and then bury them in a centralized manner.

Most of the corpses of the soldiers on the defeated side in the war are mutilated, not intact, one is because of the war, and the other is evidence of military merits on both sides of the war.

4. Abandon it

Due to the fierce fighting between the two sides of the war, many of the bodies of the war dead were discarded, especially in some remote areas. There are no main transportation routes here, and no one wants to live and cultivate in these places, and the corpses are generally discarded, and the beasts and nature decompose these abandoned corpses.

In the long history of human history, it has also been accompanied by war, which brings not only victory, but more death. Historically, the disposal of the corpses of dead soldiers was not as humane as the treatment methods we have now, and at that time there were mostly three ways to dispose of them: one was collective burial; the second is to burn them all; The third is to abandon it and ignore it, and the wilderness of violence.

For the corpses of the war that have been unrecognizable, they are generally buried on the spot. However, if the body is relatively intact, it may be returned to its hometown and then disposed of afterwards.

Most of the soldiers' bodies would be dug in a large burial pit after the war and the bodies would be buried directly in the pit.

Usually these bodies are buried somewhere after the war is over, and sometimes their remains are brought to their relatives for disposal.

I think that the dead soldiers will be buried together, some may be burned, and some may be just like this.

They are usually buried in situ to prevent the occurrence of plague. Or it is also possible to carry out cremation and bring the ashes back to the country.

There are three methods: the first method is to bury all the remains on the spot, the second method is to bury the body in a ** and the third method is to eat the body as food.

01. Method 1 is to bury all the remains on the spot

In ancient times, once there was a war, then it can be said that there were countless casualties, so the question is, how did they deal with so many deaths, it was impossible to just leave it like this, let the corpses be scattered everywhere, if this would not take a few days, the environment of this place would become very bad.

You must know that the corpse will slowly decay, it will emit a foul smell, and if the dead soldier has some kind of disease, accidentally flowing into the river, and the people drink water, it will cause a plague in minutes, which is a very terrifying thing, so the ancient army chose to bury the corpse on the spot. To put it simply, it is good to ask the soldiers to dig a big pit, throw all the corpses into it, and then bury the soil, which is simple, convenient and trouble-free.

02. The second method is to put the body in a ** burial

In addition to burying the corpse on the spot, the ancients also came up with another method to bury the corpse in a **, so that there is no need to worry about plague, polluting water sources, polluting the environment, etc., which is a very good way. However, in ancient times, this method was generally applied to enemy soldiers.

Because we must know that in the minds of the ancients, they felt that burning a person's body was very disrespectful to the other party, so they would not use it on their own people, and could only choose to bury the body on the spot, as long as the corpse of the enemy soldier, they would do so.

03. Method 3 is to eat the corpse as food

In ancient times, once the war started, then a lot of food was needed, if the food ** was insufficient, there would be a situation where soldiers ate corpses, this situation was relatively rare, but there were still occurring, it was a very cruel practice.