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Title: Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900 (Warfare and History) by David Andrew Graff ISBN: 0-415-23955-9 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: 01 February, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)
Rating: 4
Summary: An indispensable reference, unless you can read Chinese
Comment: This is, for now, the best survey of Chinese military history during the long fragmentation of 300-589, a formative period that saw the introduction of the stirrup, heavy cavalry and siege warfare techniques that later served the Tang army so well. It provides a clear and readable account of the many wars in this period, and indeed is often forced to devote more space to narrative than analysis because of the general readership's lack of familiarity with the subject matter.
David Graff is perhaps the only academic currently specialising in medieval Chinese military history, and his impressive and very helpful bibliography demonstrates the level of research that has gone into the book. Still, the format of a single book can scarcely contain the fruits of that research. The issue of whether the pivotal Battle of the Fei River was a mere myth, first suggested by Michael Rogers and largely ignored since then by experts in both China and the West, at least gets a mention but not the discussion it deserves. Similarly, the evolution of tactics and weapons in response to horse archery and armoured cavalry is briefly described, but not really placed in the context of the key battles narrated elsewhere. Where he does excel is in considering the different problems of logistics facing the cavalry-based North and the riverine South in the chapter "North versus South". In addition, the Introduction's overview of past historiography and scholarship (or rather the lack of it) in Chinese military history is sufficient to make this book a worthwhile read for readers who, like myself, always wondered why the field was so disgracefully neglected.
Graff does make some errors in transliteration, mostly in the tedious process of converting earlier English-language sources from the Wade-Giles system to Hanyu Pinyin. His maps are also too sketchy and few to help the reader much - those fluent in Chinese are encouraged to read Bo Yang's translation of the "Zizhi Tongjian" into modern Chinese (published in Taiwan) for the best available battle maps for this period. Nonetheless, David Graff must be credited for writing a long-needed introduction to early Chinese warfare for Western military enthusiasts. Anyone looking for richer historical detail would proabably have to learn Chinese and read the excellent series by Bo Yang.
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Title: A Military History of China by David A. Graff, Robin Higham, Robin Higham David A. Graff ISBN: 0813339901 Publisher: Westview Press Pub. Date: March, 2002 List Price(USD): $31.00 |
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Title: The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China: Wu Ching Chi Shu (History and Warfare) by Ralph D. Sawyer, Mei-Chun Sawyer ISBN: 0813312280 Publisher: Westview Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 1993 List Price(USD): $37.50 |
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Title: Late Imperial Chinese Armies 1520-1840 (Men-At-Arms Series, No 307) by Chris Peers, Christa Hook ISBN: 1855326558 Publisher: Rank and File Publishers Pub. Date: 01 October, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Imperial Chinese Armies (2) 590-1260 AD (Men-At-Arms, No 295) by Chris Peers ISBN: 1855325993 Publisher: Osprey Publishing (UK) Pub. Date: 01 July, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Medieval Naval Warfare, 1000-1500 (Warfare and History) by Susan Rose ISBN: 041523977X Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: 29 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $32.95 |
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