Book contents
- The Cambridge History of Strategy
- The Cambridge History of Strategy
- The Cambridge History of Strategy
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Maps
- Contributors to Volume I
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Introduction to Volume I
- 1 China to ad 180
- 2 Teispid and Achaemenid Persia (c. 550–330 bc)
- 3 Ancient Greece
- 4 Philip II, Alexander III and the Macedonian Empire
- 5 Ancient Rome: Monarchy and Republic (753–27 bc)
- 6 China ad 180–1127
- 7 Ancient Rome
- 8 The Gupta Empire (ad 400–500)
- 9 The Sassanian Empire’s Strategies
- 10 The Rashidun, Umayyad (661–750) and Abbasid (750–1258) Caliphates
- 11 Byzantine Strategy (ad 630–1204)
- 12 Strategies in the Wars of Western Europe, 476–c. 1000
- 13 Latin Christendom in the Later Middle Ages
- 14 Chinggis Khan and the Mongol Empire, ad 1206 to 1368
- 15 Hindu and Buddhist Polities of Premodern/Early Modern Mainland South-East Asia (1100–1800)
- 16 Pre-Columbian and Early Historic Native American Warfare
- 17 Ottoman Expansionism, 1300–1823
- 18 Strategy in the Wars of Pre-colonial Sub-Saharan Africa
- 19 Strategies of the Mughal Empire
- 20 China, 1368–1911
- 21 Early Modern Europe: The Habsburgs and Their Enemies, 1519–1659
- 22 Naval Strategies
- 23 The Strategy of Louis XIV
- 24 Hohenzollern Strategy under Frederick II
- 25 American Warfare in the Eighteenth Century
- Summary of Volume I
- Further Reading
- Index
1 - China to ad 180
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 January 2025
- The Cambridge History of Strategy
- The Cambridge History of Strategy
- The Cambridge History of Strategy
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Maps
- Contributors to Volume I
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Introduction to Volume I
- 1 China to ad 180
- 2 Teispid and Achaemenid Persia (c. 550–330 bc)
- 3 Ancient Greece
- 4 Philip II, Alexander III and the Macedonian Empire
- 5 Ancient Rome: Monarchy and Republic (753–27 bc)
- 6 China ad 180–1127
- 7 Ancient Rome
- 8 The Gupta Empire (ad 400–500)
- 9 The Sassanian Empire’s Strategies
- 10 The Rashidun, Umayyad (661–750) and Abbasid (750–1258) Caliphates
- 11 Byzantine Strategy (ad 630–1204)
- 12 Strategies in the Wars of Western Europe, 476–c. 1000
- 13 Latin Christendom in the Later Middle Ages
- 14 Chinggis Khan and the Mongol Empire, ad 1206 to 1368
- 15 Hindu and Buddhist Polities of Premodern/Early Modern Mainland South-East Asia (1100–1800)
- 16 Pre-Columbian and Early Historic Native American Warfare
- 17 Ottoman Expansionism, 1300–1823
- 18 Strategy in the Wars of Pre-colonial Sub-Saharan Africa
- 19 Strategies of the Mughal Empire
- 20 China, 1368–1911
- 21 Early Modern Europe: The Habsburgs and Their Enemies, 1519–1659
- 22 Naval Strategies
- 23 The Strategy of Louis XIV
- 24 Hohenzollern Strategy under Frederick II
- 25 American Warfare in the Eighteenth Century
- Summary of Volume I
- Further Reading
- Index
Summary
This chapter turns to the accounts of the campaigns of the Spring and Autumn Period (771–476 BC), followed by those of the Warring States Period (475–221 BC) that ended with the creation of the first imperial state in China in 221 BCE, and finally the campaigns that created, maintained, lost, restored and then permanently lost the Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220). War for rulers, generals and statesmen required them to devise and execute strategies that were not ideal, often failed, and seldom accommodated higher moral values. This reality was portrayed clearly in most of the histories, even in the stylised and moralised anecdotes that are often all that is left to us.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of Strategy , pp. 21 - 39Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025