﻿FAR 
  EASTERN 
  CIVILIZATIONS 
  — 
  BISHOP 
  497 
  

  

  Principles 
  of 
  strategy 
  were 
  well 
  understood 
  and 
  applied, 
  but 
  tactics 
  

   were 
  undeveloped. 
  According 
  to 
  our 
  evidence, 
  battles 
  were 
  confused 
  

   affairs, 
  with 
  no 
  attempt 
  at 
  maneuvering. 
  Various 
  simple 
  strategems 
  

   were, 
  however, 
  employed, 
  especially 
  feigned 
  flights, 
  meant 
  to 
  throw 
  the 
  

   foe 
  off 
  his 
  guard. 
  Attacks 
  were 
  usually 
  directed 
  against 
  the 
  weakest 
  

   part 
  of 
  the 
  hostile 
  line, 
  and 
  particular 
  efforts 
  were 
  made 
  to 
  kill 
  or 
  

   capture 
  the 
  enemy 
  commander 
  or 
  seize 
  his 
  standard. 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  Occident, 
  mounted 
  troops 
  and 
  iron 
  weapons 
  began 
  to 
  appear 
  

   toward 
  the 
  end 
  of 
  the 
  second 
  millennium 
  B. 
  C, 
  but 
  in 
  China 
  not 
  

   until 
  around 
  500 
  years 
  or 
  so 
  later. 
  The 
  idea 
  of 
  riding 
  almost 
  certainly 
  

   came 
  to 
  the 
  latter 
  country, 
  as 
  it 
  may 
  already 
  have 
  done 
  in 
  the 
  west 
  

   also, 
  as 
  a 
  culture 
  loan 
  from 
  the 
  nomad 
  peoples 
  of 
  the 
  steppe 
  belt 
  

   of 
  inner 
  Asia. 
  For 
  example, 
  there 
  are 
  indications 
  that 
  the 
  western 
  

   "barbarians," 
  who 
  around 
  770 
  B. 
  C. 
  expelled 
  the 
  Chous 
  from 
  their 
  

  

  Figure 
  15. 
  — 
  Modern 
  dragon 
  boat, 
  Yangtze 
  River; 
  from 
  a 
  photograph. 
  

  

  old 
  seats 
  in 
  Shensi 
  and 
  drove 
  them 
  eastward, 
  were 
  already 
  in 
  pos- 
  

   session 
  of 
  mounted 
  troops. 
  

  

  The 
  earliest 
  Chinese 
  cavalry 
  seem 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  light 
  lancers 
  riding 
  

   bareback 
  and 
  employed 
  for 
  scouting, 
  skirmishing, 
  and 
  foraging, 
  not 
  

   in 
  battle. 
  Around 
  300 
  B. 
  C., 
  however, 
  the 
  northwestern 
  Chinese 
  

   states 
  adopted 
  the 
  use 
  of 
  horse 
  archers 
  from 
  their 
  steppe 
  neighbors. 
  

   (See 
  fig. 
  14.) 
  Such 
  troops 
  were 
  far 
  more 
  formidable 
  than 
  chariotry, 
  

   on 
  account 
  of 
  their 
  mobility 
  and 
  speed, 
  and 
  soon 
  supplanted 
  the 
  use 
  

   of 
  chariots 
  in 
  war. 
  They 
  thus 
  contributed 
  to 
  the 
  downfall 
  of 
  the 
  

   already 
  crumbling 
  feudal 
  system 
  by 
  depriving 
  the 
  Chinese 
  nobles, 
  

   preeminently 
  charioteers, 
  of 
  much 
  of 
  their 
  prestige 
  in 
  war. 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  Yangtze 
  basin 
  and 
  along 
  the 
  southern 
  Chinese 
  coasts, 
  wars 
  

   were 
  often 
  waged 
  in 
  fleets 
  of 
  large 
  dugout 
  canoes, 
  ancestors 
  of 
  the 
  

   later 
  dragon 
  boats 
  (see 
  fig. 
  15) 
  ; 
  for 
  in 
  that 
  region 
  chariotry 
  seems 
  

   to 
  have 
  been 
  unknown 
  until 
  introduced 
  by 
  Chinese 
  refugees 
  from 
  the 
  

   north, 
  while 
  the 
  great 
  rivers 
  provided 
  abundance 
  of 
  waterways. 
  

  

  Armor 
  and 
  weapons. 
  — 
  The 
  nobles, 
  fighting, 
  as 
  has 
  already 
  been 
  

   said, 
  from 
  chariots, 
  wore 
  hide 
  armor, 
  with 
  helmets 
  of 
  leather 
  or 
  

  

  